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Many small-medium businesses (SMBs) struggle to drive traffic and sales, especially in the early stages when their businesses are newly launched. After looking at how fast fashion giant, SHEIN, was able to quickly rise to fame, we found that affiliate marketing was arguably one of the key factors that led to its rapid success which everyone can take reference from. 

 

But first, what is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a type of online marketing in which businesses reward affiliates for promoting their products or services. Affiliates can include anyone from your inner circle to high-profile influencers or Key Opinion Leaders (KOL). 

Although influencer marketing and affiliate marketing are not quite the same, 59% of companies still use influencers as affiliates to not only help promote their products and increase brand awareness but to also increase their sales and conversion.

In SHEIN’s case, they offer free clothes to influencers every month to blog or even post on social media about them. In just 9 years, they have hit over 28 million followers on their main Instagram account alone – a true testament to the power of their influencer marketing campaigns.

If SHEIN’s success is still unable to convince you why affiliate marketing works – we’ve compiled 5 more reasons why:

1. Increased Sales: Affiliate marketing can help increase your sales without the need for additional or costly marketing efforts. By partnering with affiliates who have a loyal and large following, you can tap into their audience and leverage their influence to generate more sales and traffic to your business.

2. Cost-Effective Marketing: Affiliate marketing can be a cost-effective way to promote your products or services to the masses. With affiliate marketing, you pay commissions solely on sales generated by your affiliates, making it a highly cost-effective use of your marketing budget.

3. Improved SEO: When affiliates link to your website, it can help improve your search engine rankings. This is because search engines view backlinks from reputable websites as a sign of relevance. The more high-quality links or backlinks that you have, the higher your website will rank in search results. When engaging affiliates, doing some research as to how their websites are doing can help you make a more informed decision.

4. New Audiences: By working with affiliates, you can reach new audiences that you may not have been able to reach otherwise. Such influencers / KOL typically have their own loyal following, which means they can introduce your products or services to a new group of potential customers.

5. Brand Awareness: Since people are often easily influenced by those they trust, partnering with an affiliate who has a larger following can enhance your brand’s credibility and increase its visibility. As affiliates promote your brand and they recommend your products or services, this helps build familiarity among their followers. 

 

Affiliate marketing with SHOPLINE

Now, here comes the big question – how can you leverage off affiliate marketing through SHOPLINE’s affiliate marketing app?

The affiliate marketing app that we have developed empowers businesses to customize their commission and discount structures, enabling them to establish different levels of affiliates and set special rates for specific products. The flexibility of the app enables merchants to configure their affiliate program according to their unique requirements and preferences.

Data tracking is also made easier with our analytics as well as the bills feature to see how much sales your affiliates have been bringing in and the amount of commission they have earned. 

Another feature that you can make use of when using the affiliate marketing app is our ‘Discover’ feature. This allows you to research information about influencers from different platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

As an example, Amazon has its own affiliate program, Amazon associates that allow individuals to be an affiliate. With its easy sign-up process and large following, Amazon is able to leverage its affiliate program to gain extra traffic and revenue from referrals from its affiliates. 

 

Conclusion

All in all, affiliate marketing when done right can be a valuable addition to your marketing strategy as a business owner. By leveraging the power of affiliates, you can increase sales, reach new audiences, and improve your search engine rankings, all while keeping your marketing costs low.

 

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