Pablo Luna
Of the many business models which have had a marked effect on E-commerce, one of the most enduring has been affiliate marketing. This allows retailers to offload sales of their products to third parties via affiliate programs.
This is a straightforward enough process, allowing you to defer responsibility for any promotional costs while providing anyone with a web platform an outlet giving access to a range of popular products; not to mention the ability to cash in on the demand for these by encouraging their own customer base to invest. The marketer is further incentivized by the fact the retail organization will pay commission on every sale, with rates varying from good to generous.
Choosing a product
From the point of view of each of the marketers, that are two basic aspects of marketing to consider – the products within the programs, and the tenacity with which they get to grips with the promotional campaign. In many ways, the products themselves can be incidental. It is the web content, rather than the links you provide to direct traffic back to the purchase pages on your E-commerce site, which will engage with customers.
Rather than focusing on proven bestsellers, a good idea would be to concentrate on more niche areas. Promoting items which have an enthusiastic but not necessarily widespread fanbase would normally take a sizeable chunk from any marketing budget. With this business model, you are deferring advertising responsibility to your affiliates. Basically, the better they are at disseminating news of your products, the more revenue will be generated.
Using your E-commerce site as a marketing tool
The first stage of the marketing campaign will be to allocate the affiliate programs to marketers and encourage individuals to sign up to promote on your behalf. Practically, this entails sending out hyperlinks which will lead customers back to your site. But any marketer who is ahead of the game will appreciate what has to be done to make a success of this type of E-commerce. It is not about promoting your links, but rather fostering a strong sense of engagement with these products as far where their own customers are concerned. The more vigorously they create original and compelling web content based around the hyperlinks, the better it is for you in the long-term
You can apply software solutions to determine which of your outlets are providing the greatest traction. When you analyze this feedback it will give you a better idea of which affiliate programs are most successful, which of your marketers are serving you best; and conversely, those whom you might not consider asking to sign up again in future.
Attracting more web traffic
Some retailers are content to set up these affiliate programs and let them run their course, adopting a hands-off approach and waiting for sales to tick over. You have a better chance of running a successful E-commerce operation if you collaborate with the individuals who have the responsibility to promote your items. If you can establish a healthy two-way engagement, touching base now and again to review strategies, you can not only monitor your marketers, you can encourage their endeavors.
Harnessing social media platforms
For your E-commerce business to have the potential to generate considerable revenue, it is also recommended you engage with social media. This is an activity which your marketers can certainly take part in; after all, it is by their efforts that news of your wares are being stoked and shared via their own social platforms. But you can also make the most of this method of free advertising by encouraging your own customer base to check out your affiliated websites.
