Business are limited to a finite number of channels for marketing, which often have high costs associated. This can make a return on investment challenging. This is further exacerbated if the operating nice is competitive.
The core marketing channels are:
• Organic search
• Paid search advertising
• Other paid advertising (print, online etc)
• Word of mouth
• Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing can be an attractive proposition for businesses as it passes the costs of marketing to another business or member of the public, who, in return are paid a commission. Entrepreneurs can build very successful businesses by simply promoting an established companies products and services.
Operators of affiliate programs have the deployment choice of running the program directly or via a broker / affiliate network. Direct programs will need a suite of reporting tools allowing affiliates to understand the programs effectiveness as well as an in-house affiliate manager. In both direct and broker implementations, companies will need to generate creative media, often in the form of web banners as well as make modifications to their e-commerce system to track sales and commissions.
1,754 members of the public who use online social networks were surveyed to establish a ‘State of the Industry’ report for affiliate programs and affiliate marketing. The following areas were analysed.
Market Penetration:
The aim was to find out if the general public were aware of affiliate programs. Is there potential for growth in the affiliate channel or was it saturated?
Most lucrative niches:
Existing affiliates were asked what niche markets had made them the most income.
Affiliate opinions:
For each niche market, existing affiliates were asked what they thought of the programs. The question asked included:
Do you trust program to pay you the correct sales and commission?
How good are the statistics and reporting tools?
How good are the media and banners?
How good are the payout options?
Do you prefer to work directly with a company or via a broker / network?
The results were collated within an infographic, enabling, existing business, entrepreneurs and start-ups a quick an easy way to understand the potential for affiliate programs in each niche and how the competition are performing.
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