When you have a business of any size, having a constant revenue stream is what helps keep you afloat and keep your business up and running. When you first begin your business, however, it can be difficult to reach a certain customer base so that you can achieve the revenue that you need. Now, however, the importance of creating affiliate partnerships is assisting business owners in increasing their sales and in growing as a business, with as much as 30% of their sales coming from these partnerships. You can grow more specifically with affiliate partnerships in the five ways listed below.

1. Greater Reach

The first and possibly most obvious way an affiliate partnership can grow your business is to expand who can learn more about your business. This means that you will reach a later number of people with the more partnerships that you have, as each partner will have his or her own audience too. If you build a partnership with someone with even a few thousand followers, a few more thousand potential customers can learn more about your business. Make sure that any promotions your affiliates have seemed natural, however, as something that appears to be fake will be a turnoff to your potential customers.

2. Positive Reputation

Customers will likely buy from a business that has a positive reputation as they feel they can trust that business. When you are searching for a new doctor or a new company to meet your needs, for instance, you probably go to a search engine or social media page and look at reviews. You also are prone to ask those you know about a certain business that you are leaning towards to learn their opinions. An affiliate partner can give a positive opinion of your company, and that partner is likely someone that their own audience members already trust.

3. Give Benefits

In order to attract the most customers from affiliate partnerships, you will need a large number of partners from different sectors. You may also want to lean towards those individuals who are more well-known and who are looking to gain a profit from being an affiliate. Try to offer at least 10% profit for every sale that comes through their page or their followers. Make sure there are other benefits to them too though to attract more including specific discounts and more to ensure you keep the affiliates who are good for your brand.

4. Promote Niche Products

It could be that your business is doing okay selling your most popular products on its own without a partnership. You still need to sell the less popular items or the niche products so that you can make at least your manufacturing costs back. Use an affiliate partner with these products, and incentivize the partners with larger bonuses so that they are more likely to promote them. Again, customers will notice their favorite influencers using the products and will feel as if they can benefit from those more niche products as well.

5. Engage with Affiliates

Finally, in order for potential new customers to see the sponsorships that your affiliate partners are making, they have to be posting. Partners will not feel inclined to post though if they do not feel as if you are engaging with them, just like customers. Make sure that they have all the materials they need to know how to market your products well and that they receive news about the latest sales first. Chat with them about any problems they may be facing and even about selling tips that they can incorporate into their platform of choice.

Final Thoughts

In order to grow as a business, you have to grow your customer base, and in turn, grow your profit margin. IF you are struggling to find ways that you can find new customers, sign up for a partnership program. You can work directly with influencers to showcase your products so that customers can see them being used by someone that they can trust. Plus, you may reach a customer base that you had never even thought about reaching out to before when you are finding the influencer’s followers buying goods from you.

 

 

 

Rayanne Morriss is currently working towards her BA from Oregon State University. She loves to write, read, travel, and paint. Check out more of her work on Twitter! @MorrissRayanne