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What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a process in which a brand pays external influencers – known as affiliates – to promote the brand on their website, blog or other online channel or social media handle. The affiliate receives a commission once the sale is completed.
The process of a typical affiliate marketing program can be shown graphically as below:
What is a B2B affiliate program?
A B2B affiliate marketing program connects a B2B brand with respected influencers in the specific industry. These influencers promote the B2B brand on their digital channels (website, social media handles or blogs) by placing a link to the brand’s website within their content so that readers can click on it.
A typical B2B affiliate marketing cycle works as depicted below:
Image source: https://www.thundertech.com/blog-news/february-2021/10-best-practices-for-b2b-performance-marketing-success
Best ways for B2B brands
B2B marketing relies on word-of-mouth for customer leads and business. It is easy to think that affiliate marketing is an extension of an existing referral program, but in this case, the brand’s promotion and visibility are limited to existing customers.
The best way for B2B brands to do affiliate marketing is to find suitable partners who can contact buyers and manage the B2B marketing cycle, which is much longer than a B2C marketing cycle. Affiliate marketing for B2B brands must have sufficient resources to manage the program professionally, give a good incentive for affiliates to promote the brand, and identify the best affiliates to promote the program properly to the B2B target audience.
What are the best ways for B2B companies’ to implement affiliate marketing?
There are specific essential requirements to run a successful program, which are as follows.
The first step for a B2B brand planning an affiliate program is to evaluate the viability of such a program. The B2B brand should also be clear that an affiliate program can help increase its reach and visibility beyond its existing customers. It can also help convert leads into sales through well-designed content.
However, managing a successful affiliate program requires time, effort and money, and a brand needs to ensure that adequate resources and budget are available for affiliate programs. Smaller brands often do not have the resources to manage a full-scale affiliate program, and they must decide if they can assign scarce resources to affiliate marketing or whether they should explore other promotional methods.
Next, identify the right affiliates. This is important because potential affiliates may not find the brand’s program on their own and need to be tracked and identified because they are well-established already.
The right affiliates can be sourced from suitable sources. A brand should check for reputed professionals and influencers already followed by the target audience. It should also ensure that the proposed affiliate is not working with a competitor.
Once potential affiliates have been identified and signed up, the brand should use them smartly. Buyers in the B2B industry do a lot more research on different products and services before making a purchase decision and consult many other stakeholders. A well-chosen affiliate who is a trusted authority in their specific area will build trust among prospective buyers. Therefore, any B2B brand using affiliate marketing must know how to use its affiliates smartly and in the right places.
Incentives for the affiliate are a vital way of ensuring quality content. Affiliates for a B2B brand tend to be well-respected influencers in their spheres of activity and are known for their industry knowledge and influence. There is intense competition for their services because they can influence a brand’s lead generation, conversions and sales. Thus a B2B brand using affiliates must offer the best possible incentives to the affiliate to make sure they generate top-quality content.
A brand must also use clearly defined processes to decide the incentives and how to give them to its affiliates. This will help the affiliates stay interested in the brand and motivate them to generate quality content to drive leads and sales.
Once the B2B brand has decided how to use the affiliate program and locked in eligible affiliates, it must help the affiliate understand its sales cycle. B2B sales cycles are much longer and more complex than B2C sales cycles. The B2B brand should associate with affiliates who operate in the same industry. Hence, they understand the sales cycle and develop content suited to the long process of the B2B brand.
As the sales cycle of a B2B brand is extended, every B2B marketing campaign needs to have measurable outcomes. A B2B brand must set appropriate KPIs for its affiliates – numerical goals for qualified leads and sales for each affiliate that it is associated with. This approach provides concrete numbers to determine whether the affiliate program is working as per expectations or needs to be modified. KPIs could include the following: the amount of revenue per affiliate, number of qualified leads per affiliate, conversion rates or number of special sales.
Finally, a B2B brand must not ignore its existing customers. In the excitement of getting new customers through an affiliate program, a B2B brand can sometimes forget existing customers. But it is important to remember that existing customers can be effective affiliates in their own right because they are already brand users and can easily influence new customers. They are also the best advocates for the brand because of their direct and authentic experience with the brand.
The benefits of affiliate marketing for B2B brands
Affiliate marketing is a valuable marketing tool for B2B brands. B2B brands, especially small and medium businesses, must use affiliate marketing because there are no upfront costs involved in setting up an affiliate program. A brand’s website can be structured for specific affiliate programs to generate high-quality B2B leads, which can be converted in less time than traditional marketing methods.
Affiliate marketing also helps a B2B brand associate with affiliates recognised and respected by the brand’s target audience. This association allows B2B brands to more leads faster through their sales funnel.
Finally, a B2B affiliate program helps a brand identify which affiliate gave a particular sale or qualified lead and is thus measurable.
Summary
The above has provided a concise overview of the best affiliate marketing methods for B2B brands. Over 90% of B2B advertisers consider affiliate marketing an essential tool for their marketing strategies. Many big B2B brands use affiliate marketing successfully, and there is heavy competition to associate with the right affiliates. Brands must constantly innovate and look for better ways to run their B2B affiliate marketing programs to generate good leads and a group of dedicated customers.