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Pixabay.com
As the years
tick by, increasing numbers of digital marketers have often wondered
when the affiliate marketing "bubble" will burst. You may
have heard stories of how “affiliate marketing is dead” or
articles titled “it’s not possible to make money from affiliate
marketing in 2017” (or 2016, 2015 and so on). So, as we come to
within 18 months of the end of the decade, it’s a good opportunity
to review the concept of affiliate marketing as it stands today and
its long-term viability.
There is one
impressive statistic that demonstrates affiliate marketing is alive
and kicking in 2018. According to Extra Paycheck, four-fifths (80%) of all American retailers
operate some kind of affiliate program. Some $5.3 billion was spent
on affiliate marketing in 2017, up from $4.7 billion in the previous
year. Annual spending is also set to reach $7 billion by the turn of
the next decade. How can it be possible that affiliate marketing is
“dead” if brands are spending so much money on it? There’s an
easy answer to that – it’s actually not dead. The opportunity to
profit from affiliate marketing exists just as much today as it did
ten years ago. One thing that has changed, though, is the way in
which affiliates work.
Bloggers and
content marketers that can become an expert or build a brand in their
niche are far more likely to attract the attention of the most
profitable affiliate marketing agencies and programs. The power of
the written word and the influence bloggers now have on a company’s
reputation means that affiliate programs need affiliates more than
ever to broaden brand exposure in front of the right audience. You
only have to look at failed retail giants such as Sears and Toys R Us to see why affiliate
programs are so important. Neither of these corporations operated an
affiliate program and their resulting online retail experience
diminished as a result.
Affiliate
marketing is going incredibly social in 2018. Affiliates are not just
using blogs or websites to write their news and reviews, they are
taking to YouTube and Facebook to create timely and useful video
content. Becoming a social media affiliate and a personality is
another good way of building your affiliate brand and enticing bigger
companies to reach out to you. What hasn’t changed in affiliate
marketing is the ability to scale up your profits if you can provide
companies with a steady stream of customers. Take the Mr Green affiliate program for instance, which gives affiliates a
25% revenue share of all money spent by the first new customer they
can get to sign up. This increases on a sliding scale to 45% revenue
share for enticing more than 30 new customers a month, receiving
lifelong commission on their revenue in the process.
The founding
principles of affiliate marketing remain the same in 2018 as ever.
Provide effective solutions to common problems that your readers or
viewers encounter; giving them a compelling reason to sign up to your
affiliate programs. With more content platforms for consumers to
digest than ever before, it’s never been easier to disseminate your
affiliate marketing messages.