Affiliate marketing industry came into existence during the mid-90s and has now become one of the most preferred career option over the web; though a lot competitive as well. While it seems ostensibly simple as you don’t have to produce a product yourself, still there lies a challenge in the pivotal role of linking up the consumer and the merchant.
The Customary Concept of Marketing
Since olden ages, it has been the most widely accepted and established form of marketing where people used to get paid for connecting buyers and sellers. Online Affiliation is purely about making some commission in terms of sales percentage or fixed money. Whenever a product referred by you over the website or through emailers, is bought online; you get your commission.
Knowing the Market Needs
Although Online Affiliate Marketing seems very lucrative and rewarding however; to stand apart in the rivalry, it’s imperative to understand what the “Bazaar” needs, and accordingly promoting the suitable products. In order to be successful in the province of Affiliate Marketing, you must realize what works best for you and what does not.
- Acquaint yourself with the Recent Market Trends
- Recognize the latest fascination for most customers
- Identify similar products offered by other merchants to compare
- Before joining an Affiliation Program, confirm the Merchant’s rating
- Opt for a change if required, to keep your growth sustainable
Challenges and Opportunities
The Affiliate Marketing Industry is almost 20 years old now and has its exclusive groups of admirers and detractors emphasizing on their individual opinions. According to research by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), by the year 2012, Affiliate Marketing represented 6% of total online economy in the UK, and contributed more than £9 billion in sales.
The most recent market statistics also reveal that people are already willing to spend nearly $4.5 billion in Online Affiliate Marketing in the coming year 2016. Concurrent promotions using various traffic sources will also help while building up the much-sought revenue.
The Right Approach
With a factual Strategy and correct technique, you can turn the challenges of Affiliate Marketing into financially sound opportunities. The plethora of tests and prospects makes the world of marketing pretty tempting and hard to resist, yet it’s not at all simple to roll the eyeballs towards your side.
One of the key factors is to spot a handful of worthy products and services to promote in harmony with the customers and the website needs. Building the synergy to align with the market requirements also makes it a very puzzling and frightening task. Needless to say, it’s also essential to target the right audience who will buy the offered products online.
Catching the Attention
It’s a tough task to bring traffic to your website. A bigger number of sales will result from an innovative website that is full of high quality, creative and interesting content. Your content must be pertinent to the products or services offered by the merchant and it should also add value to the promotional material.
An Affiliate Program only helps in bringing traffic to the website or business which has to be turned into conversions. While the Indian Affiliate Market is still in its budding phase, the lower risks and higher rewards are drawing the attention of many individuals and businesses, especially with the incipient E-Commerce success in the country.
Use of Mobile Devices
Affiliate Market size may be smaller in size, yet the patience and persistence gives the best results from this market eventually. Another expanding opportunity being observed in these markets, is the growing reputation of mobiles for Digital Marketing. The Affiliate Marketing also seeks a paradigm shift with burgeoning mobile traffic.
The marketers require a conscious effort to keep up with the trend, and to optimize all major affiliates and creatives for cross mobile platforms and devices. Research indicates that without optimized platforms, almost 72% of Mobile Transactions fail to complete. Also it has been observed that the Affiliates have created Mobile Apps especially for Merchants or even bought Advertising Spaces in popular mobile apps and games; that has increased the numbers in total sales. With such revolution of the trends this year, 2016 seems to open up a sea of fresh prospects in this domain.
Handling the Risks
Due to the increasing need for Online Marketing, it has become vital in the growing digital space today, to prioritize the detection and prevention of fraudulent activities. Concerns have been raised time and again about the potential for online deceits; and instances have occurred occasionally in the Affiliate Marketing space.
Merchants who have already taken steps towards Fraud Prevention, will benefit the most from Affiliate Relationships. Also, the efforts made in order to strengthen the association between the merchant and the partner across multiple platforms, will also help the detection of online frauds.
The Bottom Line
If the challenges and opportunities in this space are dealt in the appropriate manner, Online Affiliate Marketing holds the potential to reinvent and alter a number of industrial paradigms. Expectedly, there is an extensive variety of Electronic and Mobile Commerce technologies available in the market today that can help Merchants and their partners to track and analyze the buying behavior of various consumers.
Also, new software and equipment used for this, will fetch the Sales Performance directly from mobile apps and apply the results to new performance models, which will definitely bring many more brands to Affiliate Marketing Industry and motivate them to use the new models to increase their overall business potential.
