Affiliate marketing was yesterday, partner marketing is the future [Anzeige]

Affiliate marketing is now part of the marketing mix in many companies. But what is actually behind the form of marketing, what is partner marketing all about and what are the advantages for companies? We clarify in this article.

†Many associate affiliate marketing with Amazon. Many years ago, Amazon started paying website operators a commission if they advertise the products on Amazon and they are then bought. This principle still applies to affiliates today, but it has long gone beyond Amazon products.

In addition, affiliate marketing is developing rapidly. With partner marketing, the next level of affiliate marketing has now been reached. But how do the two forms of advertising differ and what does the future of partner marketing look like?

How does affiliate marketing work?

Affiliate marketing is a success-based concept. This means that a referral commission is paid if the referral is successful. Two parties are always involved: the advertiser and the publisher. The advertiser (or retailer) wants to market their own products or services, provides banners and links for this and pays a commission.

The publisher uses its advertising space (such as a website) to present the advertiser’s products or services. He mediates between the advertiser and the potential customers.

The customers buy the products, for example, via a recommendation link from the partner. Once a purchase (or other form of conversion) is completed, the commission is due. This can take the form of various types of remuneration (e.g. pay-per-sale, pay-per-click or pay-per-lead).

What are the advantages of affiliate marketing?

For many companies, the low risk of affiliate marketing is particularly important. Because whether the advertising of the products and services actually works or not has no major financial consequences. In this way, you can test what works well, especially at the beginning.

In addition, affiliate marketing can increase awareness and reach new target groups. The advantage is that publishers usually write high-quality content related to advertisers’ products. That automatically creates trust.

What is partner marketing all about?

As already mentioned, affiliate marketing is constantly evolving. In addition to affiliate marketing, the term partner marketing is also used today. In addition to end consumers in the B2C sector, this marketing channel also includes influencer, B2B cooperation or media and publishing partnerships.

This allows advertisers to expand their reach far beyond affiliate marketing. In the future, too, and in a world without third-party cookies, this will ensure that we can address specific target groups.

The many possibilities in the world of partnerships

There is strength in diversity – this is especially true in the world of partner marketing. You’ve seen how partnerships grow and how to effectively integrate them into a business, but what do partnerships look like in practice? You’ll be amazed at how many ways there are to work with partners to help grow a business.

“Partnerships” refers to the full spectrum of business relationships and alliances, including strategic B2B partnerships, native software integrations, loyalty programs, social influencers, app-to-app integrations, CSR/charities, traditional partnerships, Premium -Publishers and brand ambassadors. Let’s take a look at how each of these types of partnerships works in practice.

1. Strategic B2B partnerships

These partnerships leverage complementary industries or customer needs to increase revenue for all parties involved. They aim to increase sales, customer loyalty and consumer awareness. The company entering into the partnership usually welcomes new customers, while the company providing the partnership receives compensation for the traffic they deliver.

2. Software Integrations

These integrations offer technologically advanced strategic B2B partnerships. They help to share relevant data with the partner (or vice versa) to create a personalized customer experience. This is not advertising, but an improved customer experience.

3. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs represent a special type of strategic B2B partnership. Consumers often state that their choice of retailer is influenced by where they can earn loyalty points or rewards. That’s why many companies choose to partner with different merchants through their loyalty program.

4. Social influencers

Influencers are people with a large number of followers on social media who promote a company on various channels, blogs and newsletters. They typically receive a fixed fee per post and/or a commission for sales generated. Influencer partnerships provide an excellent opportunity for businesses to connect with younger consumers. This target group often orients itself towards peers and opinion leaders on social platforms in order to make an informed purchase decision.

5. App-to-App Integrations

Mobile marketing is currently a very popular form of partnership. The mobile app market accounts for a majority of all mobile transactions, which is not surprising given that users are three times more likely to complete a purchase through an app than through a website. Therefore, companies are very interested in their partners inspiring potential customers with their app.

6. CSR/charity organizations

Charity partnerships are part of a purposeful brand strategy or support a well-founded CSR program. Although smaller businesses may have to pay dearly to make a direct donation, this form of partnership offers them an economically affordable way to collaborate while supporting causes close to their hearts.

7. Traditional partnerships

Traditional affiliates focus on businesses looking to increase traffic to their proprietary channels by offering discounts or other incentives to their audience. Typically, they receive a commission for generated leads and/or sales.

8. Premium Publishers

This type of partnership provides an efficient way for publishers to differentiate themselves from traditional advertising and is often referred to as commerce content. In this relationship, the company capitalizes on the trust of a publication’s audience by offering relevant brands and services through edited content around the products and services it represents.

9. Brand ambassadors

Brand ambassador partnerships include customer and employee referral programs, offline locations promoting your products, influencers, and more. Brand ambassadors represent your brand and can be either individuals or standalone businesses.

What does the future of partner marketing look like?

“Traditional” forms of advertising are increasingly unpopular with consumers, people are fed up with being bombarded with ads and the future of third-party cookies doesn’t look very promising either. In our digital world, consumers are in complete control and determine for themselves how and when they engage with brands. They base their purchasing decisions on research and trusted partners.

As a result, the still relatively new form of advertising, partner marketing, will be treated as a decisive model for success in the future. This is partly because the discipline includes not only end consumers, but also B2B sales partners, for example, and thus includes a greater variety of partnerships than “classic” affiliate marketing.

On the other hand, partner marketing offers a high degree of automation, which makes numerous processes leaner and brands can save valuable resources. There are now solutions that specialize in partnership automation and make the management of partnerships easier and more efficient using proprietary software.

impact.com: The experts in partner marketing

impact.com is the leading provider of partnership automation. If you want to take your performance partnerships to the next level, impact.com is the right expert for you. Affiliates, influencers and media groups are represented on the platform and you get detailed insights into your successes. Convince yourself now of the technology platform and enter the world of partner marketing in an uncomplicated way.

Convince yourself now