Affiliate programs and JV partnerships are not just for individuals or small companies. There are benefits that larger, established businesses can also gain from them. If your company is looking for ways to increase their bottom line, this is a viable option that can yield really good results when done properly.
The Benefits of an Affiliate Program
When a company participates in another company’s affiliate program, this tells the customers that the company supports the one they are an affiliate for. Because of this endorsement, it is very important that a company wisely choose the companies, products, and services to become affiliates of.
Affiliating for a less than stellar product or service can reflect badly on your company so choose with care and do research first.
- Provides Additional Revenue – If your business is looking for ways to increase the bottom line and bring in more revenue, being an affiliate is one way this can be accomplished. Because your business is the one promoting this other product, service or company, it is imperative that you choose excellent, high quality products and services to affiliate for. Choosing the wrong one can make your business take a hit and that is not something you want to do.
- Adds to Your Company’s Offerings – Having great affiliate products to offer your existing customers means that you have expanded what they can get from you and that means more revenue for your business. If you’ve built a good relationship with your customer base, they will trust your judgment and endorsement and more than likely purchase that product because you suggested it.
- You Can Set Your Own Marketing and Income Goals – When a company chooses to become an affiliate of another product or company, it does not mean they become partners with that company, per se. They can still set their own marketing goals and income goals related to their chosen affiliate products and services. This can lead to increased productivity in the workplace and even add to your company’s incentives for your own employees.
Do’s and Don’ts When Becoming an Affiliate
Once you’ve decided to add affiliating for another product or service to your business’s income streams, there are a few things to remember that will make this additional means of increasing your bottom line a great experience for your company.
- Take Some Time to Find the Right Product – The product or products you decide to become an affiliate for need to be those that you will be proud to have your company name attached to. Do the proper research on the product, the company, and most importantly, try the product out yourself. When you actually have the product in your hand, even if it is a digital product, you will know just what you are marketing and promoting and it will give your affiliate marketing efforts total credibility as well.
- Pick and Choose What You Become an Affiliate For – One of the things you will be doing is sharing your affiliate products with your own customers and email lists. You don’t want to have a new product every other day. You will only succeed in irritating your customers and losing credibility, as they will think you are always pushing the next best thing.
Continue to add value to your customers by introducing your affiliate products once in a while, not constantly. Give them the same excellent information you always have and when you DO recommend an affiliate product to them, their response rate will be very favorable.
- Look For Affiliate Products That Enhance YOUR Product or Service – Ideally you will look for affiliate products that enhance your own products or services in some way. Whether the connection is direct or indirect, having it be a supporting product that is relevant to what you provide encourages customer trust in both your product and the affiliate product you are promoting.
If you can’t find something that is closely related in some way, look for the indirect connections and go with those. Don’t affiliate for companies that sell the same product or service you do. Affiliating is not about competing with your own business; it’s about enhancing it.
- Make Sure the Company is Reputable – It does not benefit your company in any way to affiliate for a product or service when the company doesn’t support their affiliates…or pay them. The whole reason you added affiliating to your business income streams is to make money. There are a lot of scams out there, so ensuring that the companies you affiliate for are legitimate and good to their affiliates protects your company’s name and its time.
These are just a few of the many benefits and tips to being an affiliate for another product or service or entering a JV partnership. The main things to take away from this are that both can provide excellent revenue streams that your company did not have before, which will increase your bottom line without large amounts of expense on your company’s part.
Never jump into a JV partnership or an affiliate program without doing your research. It’s your company’s name out there as well and you want the choices you make to enhance and increase your own company’s standing with your existing customers and the new customers you acquire through these avenues as well.
