There are many reasons why a company chooses to run affiliate marketing campaigns. Here are a few of my favourites:
It is a Low Cost Option
Affiliate Marketing is relatively low cost to start if you already have e-commerce store. Some Shopping Carts will already have affiliate programmes built in or as upgrades. This software will then manage all sales tracking, affiliate sign ups and much, much more….
Low Risk Option
Depending on what your commission payment model is, Affiliate Marketing removes the risk in paid offline advertising as you are only paying the affiliate when the sales has been made.
Acquire a Large Multi-Skilled Sales Force
If you join a large affiliate network to use as your affiliate management programme, you will have access to a ready made army of affiliates. Some of these networks have over 100,000 affiliates. Imagine these all working to promote your products. In fact, imagine 5% working for you!
I have mentioned that these people are also skilled. Affiliate marketers are some of the smartest people around and know all the best ways to promote a product online. They will also have diverse skills, some will have huge lists to mail offers too, others will be Pay-Per-Click (PPC) experts, others SEO experts. An affiliate programme allows you to tap into that market.
Free Branding Exercise
Having your banners, text links, product logos etc all over these affiliate sites, you are getting your business some great free exposure and this should not be overlooked. While you should benefit from this do not exploit your affiliates. Do not add direct urls or phone numbers to your banners. This will cause lots of affiliates to leave your programme and also give you a bad name in the industry.
Can develop your Product and Services into International Sales
Your affiliate programme can truly turn your local business into an international sales machine very quickly. Larger affiliate networks have affiliates around the world and not just English speaking parts. An affiliate programme will also be able to soft launch your product into Asia, or into Europe.