The PR Net Digital Event Recap: Affiliate Marketing: Essential Intel, Part II

Affiliate marketing has become a key strategy for brands and organizations, with PR pros doubling down on this opportunity for clients. To capitalize on the benefits, it’s crucial to know the ins and outs of setting up and optimizing these lucrative programs. We heard from Juliana Mejia, whose agency CADA Consult has developed its own affiliate program with over 300 brands and partners, and Sarah Karger, partner at Comm Oddities, Inc., who co-developed the course Affiliate for Publicists (use code PRNET for 20 percent off!).

The takeaways:

• Affiliate marketing is not only for physical products, it’s anything that is available online (can be an app or service, for example)
• Affiliate is not advertorial, it’s editorial with a kick-back. Journalistic standards still apply (fostering consumer trust)
• A commision-per-conversion model is better for brands and publications because it offers synergy between the product and a piece of content
• Pro tip: Set competitive commission rates
• Overview on popular platforms:
  • Amazon Associates is a favorite because it offers basket side commissions: if a purchase happens after the reader clicks on an affiliate Amazon link, the publication gets a commission on the entire purchase
    • If you link out to a mascara, and the person puts additional items their cart, you get commission on the entire purchase (not only the mascara)
  • Skimlinks is a subnetwork like LTK or RewardStyle (like shopping all the stores in the mall in one place, instead of individually by store) - 99 percent of publications use this
    • Can be frustrating for PRs as you can’t just onboard your client, you have to go through a platform like Rakuten first
  • ShareASale - popular and inexpensive go-to network with a helpful recruitment tool for brands/PRs to connect with affiliate managers, but lower quality publishers
• Questions to ask when helping clients decide on the right affiliate network: What is their price range? Do they need support or do they have affiliate experience? What are the goals and how important is affiliate to their overall marketing strategy?
• The difference between affiliate managers and e-commerce editors: In a Venn diagram, e-commerce editors are in one circle, the commerce team is in the other, and the overlapping section is the affiliate manager (they provide insights to these teams, so it’s smart to build relationships with them)
• If a client pushes back on affiliate because they want mentions for free, take it as your opportunity to educate them on the industry’s changes
  • If a story has 10 spots for best gifts for mom, a publication is likely going to include affiliate links in all 10 spots
  • Affiliate is still earned coverage as you are still pitching to editors. They aren’t required to include your product/link in stories, you’re just offering commission (and competing against others doing the same)
  • Even broadcast is now using affiliate, through QR codes you can scan from your TV screen
• Offering a coupon code to a publication's readers is a great relationship builder and also helps track conversions
• Coupon codes that include your agency or brand name helps increase brand awareness
• Pro tip: It is easier to pitch a product and get coverage for a new brand when they are on an affiliate
• Best practices for pitching: Keep it concise and subscribe to editors’ substacks for insider intel