Q. We recently launched an Affiliate Marketing Program but are having challenges recruiting affiliates. Any suggestion on how to find valuable affiliate partners to promote our products/services?
A. Affiliate recruitment should be an ongoing task of your affiliate program management and should not only be done when you launch a new program. That being said, here are a few ways that you can continually recruit affiliates to your program:
- Recruit within the affiliate network you are joined to. Depending on your affiliate network, you can request a list of top performing affiliates, or “super affiliates” within your business category. Contact these affiliates to introduce yourself and your program. Also, some affiliate networks offer featured programs where you can pay for your program to be highlighted in order to generate more affiliate applications.
- Announce the recent launch of your affiliate marketing program on affiliate forums and boards like ABestWeb. Both merchants and affiliates communicate through these online communities and both discuss industry issues, use it to find new merchant partners and review best practices. While recruiting for new affiliates, you can also establish a thread on the forum for affiliate communication for your program.
- Use social media networks like Twitter to get affiliates to join your program. Be sure to include a link to your co-branded affiliate sign-up page within some of your tweets.
- If you can’t reach affiliates online, you can always pick up the phone and contact those you would like to recruit to your program. Doing so adds a personal touch to your affiliate marketing program.
One last thing – don’t dwell on the number of active affiliates in your program. Focus on the quality of affiliates within your program in order to promote your products/services. Keep active affiliates engaged in your program by sending affiliate newsletters and updating banners and promotions frequently.
