“If you’re not growing, you’re dying”.
You’ve probably heard this quote before. Everyone from Tony Robbins to Marcus Lemonis (CEO of Camping World) has said this famous line.
This is especially true for affiliate marketing businesses. You need to always be seeking new customers, perfecting and creating new products, and recruiting new affiliates.
We’ve worked with hundreds of startup affiliate marketing companies, as well as established industry leaders, and the ones that fail do so because they don’t follow these 5 crucial factors to recruit and retain affiliates. And while continued growth is necessary, so is passion.
When it comes to affiliates, sometimes quality is more important than quantity. A small number of passionate representatives of your brand can invigorate your company more than a vast number of half-hearted affiliates.
How can you recruit passionate members to your business?
Here are 5 ways to recruit, and retain, passionate members to your affiliate marketing business:
1. Viral Inviter
Do you remember when Facebook first started in college dorms, and you needed to be invited to sign up? How about the infancy of Gmail, when you needed to request and an invite, or be invited by a current member?
Invite systems work, and work well, because they create a sense of exclusivity for your business. And they allow you to control your business growth. These are two crucial components to the success of a new affiliate business.
When current members have a limited number of invites, it makes the ability to sign up more appealing. Scarcity drives up value. And the more perceived value of being an affiliate of your business, the more excited people are going to be about being part of it.
In the same way, controlled growth allows you as business leaders to focus on your technology and invigorating your base. Just like too much money in circulation dilutes the value, too many uninspired or inactive affiliates will eventually dilute the pool and create discontent.
A viral inviter is the software that allows your affiliates to have a specific number of invites to recruit new affiliates with an exclusive code.
Increase the value of your affiliate marketing business to potential members by using an invite system. Here is an example of our invite system in use for CryptoComics.com:
2. Strong Brand Message
Creating a memorable, likeable brand is another crucial step to recruiting passionate affiliates. This is especially important as affiliate marketing becomes increasing competitive.
Spend the time perfect your logo, website, and the overall message of your brand.
What do you stand for as a business? Are you about helping people realize their full potential? About natural, environmentally safe products? Make sure you clearly communicate how your brand is working to make the world a better place through your products. It is much easier for people to get excited about a positive message than just selling products (even if the products are pretty awesome).
Connect your brand with positive change. Find a way your brand can do good for your communities. Not only will this help your affiliates become more excited about your brand, it will also help sell products. Everyone wants to feel they are doing good while buying something they want.
A positive, cohesive brand message will make people proud to be representatives of your organization. It will help them recruit more passionate affiliates, and make them feel good about being part of your business.
How can you create a memorable, cohesive brand message?
Use replication to make sure your reps have a professional website and landing pages to send potential customers or new affiliates that is on brand.
Provide training and motivational videos or messages in your virtual academy to help affiliates understand your brand message, teach them how to share it, and keep them excited about your business.
Show how you are doing good on a regular basis. As often as you highlight your products, also talk about your message, and how you are making the world a better place.
Carefully consider each photo, word, and color chosen to represent your brand. Hold some focus groups and see what impression people get from your website design or the colors of your logo. First impressions are formed in a matter of seconds, and can be difficult to change.
Check out this great story by our client
Lili Clarke Hair. The founder’s message is inspirational, and sets the tone for the entire brand – how women can be empowered and regain confidence.
The website depicts personal stories of how the brand is changing people’s lives through their products.
3. Social Media worth Sharing
Part of a strong brand message means having a memorable social media presence.
Social media is a powerful tool in shaping public perception of your business. Take the time to create a presence on social sites that is appealing, professional, and contains content worth sharing.
Make sure you work with your affiliates on the best way to represent your company. Include training on social media marketing, provide professional images they can use on their accounts to help with brand cohesiveness, and generate your own content that shares the message you want new affiliates to see.
Social media should not be a place to spam people with your products, or talk about how amazing your opportunity is. Trust me, I’ve seen hundreds of those posts and nothing stands out about them. Social media is where you should be talking about how you’re making the world a better place. Share humor and inspiration. Share videos and images about your exciting events to make potential members and customers see how fun and amazing your business is.
You can share new products or user generated content about your. But make it a soft sell, and focus more on your company culture and brand message rather than the hard sale.
Funny or inspiring social media content is more likely to be shared and generate engagement, and this will appeal to members and inspire passion in current members.
Our client
Newborn Feathers has a strong social media presence. They do a great job interspersing special promotions with user-generated content to create a strong brand persona on social, and present “social proof” of their power as a brand.
4. Great Products
Passionate affiliates are usually also passionate customers. It is easy to sell a product you love and are using regularly.
Using the example of Newborn Feathers from above, many of their affiliates are also their most loyal customers.
Great products are easy to sell, and make your affiliates excited to brag about them.
A great product is more than just the contents. It is also about the presentation and packaging. Investing in testing, focus groups, and perfecting your packaging will pay off. Our client
EveryonesMD offers virtual doctor calls, as well as prescriptions and products. They've spent considerable time perfecting their products, as well as making sure the package reflects the quality of the product within.
5. Exciting Events
Affiliate marketing is all about networking. The Internet is a great place to reach a vast audience, but digital connections can never quite replace the physical, face-to-face networking events.
Retreats, seminars, or conventions are all great ways to get your affiliates fired up and excited about your business. And these are also ways to show potential new affiliates the kind of community your business encourages, and the support you offer to your members.
By encouraging affiliates to attend events, you can help build their passion. Make sure your events are affordable, and in locations that are attainable yet appealing to all members.
It is worth the investment to hire a professional team to create videos at your events. This is one of the best opportunities to build your brand and show potential affiliates the passion and community behind your business. These videos can be used again and again throughout your marketing, and members will be excited to share these professional videos they were part of.
You can also encourage your affiliates to attend local events to represent your brand. Perhaps include a list of relevant events they can purchase a booth at, offer them materials like banners they can grab and get printed, and even include tips on how to make the most of an event in your training academy. You can see the professional videos created by Lili Clarke featured on their website.
Looking to start a new Affiliate Marketing business, or just need better ways to attract new affiliates to your brand? Ask us how TitanAffiliate can help you grow your affiliate business with affiliate tracking and management software, as well as amazing marketing tools.
