Affiliates: A Valuable Resource!

In interactive marketing, strategy is the key to a successful campaign! There are many aspects to be considered in that strategy, and affiliates are one of those factors. Now, many people think “Why would I want to incorporate affiliates in my marketing plan?” The answer? For multiple reasons!

First, let me say that affiliates are not just people who own random websites or companies that put offers up anywhere they can find space. When we talk about affiliates, we are talking about those people or companies who demonstrate the knowledge, ability, and skills to successfully market to the correct audience in a credible and legitimate way. Sometimes these are small one-man operations and other times they are large companies with a plethora of websites and marketing practices. There are a number of traits that we look for when determining if someone is qualified to be an affiliate. Those traits are credible and unique content, organization, relevant traffic, transparency, and responsiveness. Details of those traits can be found in a post by Megan Roth entitled “What Makes a Good Affiliate?” A true affiliate will possess all 5 of these traits.

Now that we have clarified what comprises an affiliate, we still have the question of “Why would I want to incorporate affiliates in my marketing plan?” Affiliates offer some unique and important benefits in marketing; variety, brand awareness, and options are just a few.

“Variety, really?”; Absolutely. Every affiliate has the ability to attract a specific audience. These audiences may have matching demographic profiles, but differing interests. By utilizing affiliates, your campaign, institution, or product can be found by a wider variety of individuals who represent the target audience you are trying to reach. Consider traditional media marketing for a moment. Would you only run your commercial during one program on a T.V. station? Or would you want your commercial to air during multiple programs in order to reach a similar audience with differing interests that all relate to something you offer? Affiliates provide traffic variety for your campaign in the same way that different T.V. programs provide variety.

Brand awareness is another benefit that affiliates bring to the table. Think about the commercials, store displays, and paraphernalia you see when a company releases a new product or wants to boost consumer response. Each one of those pieces of marketing is creating brand awareness. Affiliates are the commercials, store displays, and product paraphernalia of interactive marketing. Each website your school is represented on is another avenue to introduce the world to what you have to offer those people you are looking to educate. The best part is, in interactive marketing, often times you do not have to pay for each individual branding element, but only for the valid inquiries you receive from it. Talk about a win-win situation.

Who has ever heard the term “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”? Affiliates provide lot’s of baskets for those proverbial eggs. By utilizing affiliates, we are able to offer options of where leads and inquiries come from. The more source options you have, the more security you have when testing new strategies to find what works. Additionally, those options help minimize any negative impact that can be felt if one website is getting a face lift over a few days or a new marketing method is being tested.

In the end, once it’s been determined that a website or company possess the qualifications to be an affiliate, incorporating them into a marketing strategy can help improve your audience variety, brand recognition, and placement options effectively minimizing risk, and improving the likelihood of success. After all, one website may not reach every potential student, but every potential student looks for information somewhere!