7 Incredible Ideas to Use in Your Affiliate Marketing Content
With affiliate marketing, content is everything in terms of your success, put these 7 amazing affiliate marketing content ideas to work and watch your success grow.
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The potential of affiliate marketing is infinite. You probably know that.
But do you know how to explore the potential of affiliate marketing? Or where to start? What kind of content should you include in your affiliate marketing content strategy?
Don’t fret. In this article, we’ll be delving into the hidden depths of affiliate marketing to reveal all.
Affiliate marketing is so much more than bashing out a couple of blog links and hoping for the best. Content is the name of the game, and it’s this that will sell your intended product.
Before we get too ahead of ourselves, let’s recap exactly what affiliate marketing is.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is the term used to describe the collaboration between two or more brands or between a brand and individual publishers or promoters. And by collaboration, we mean actively promoting each other’s products or services.
The end goal is a sale, encouraged by the promotion, for which the affiliate receives a commission. Commission can be paid for each click, lead, or sale.
Sounds simple?
It can be once you have a solid platform and the right type of content. After all, you need visitors to click on affiliate links, which isn’t going to happen if nothing is interesting in it for them, right?
The right content marketing solutions are designed to capture the user’s attention. And then hold it.
Which is the best content for successful affiliate marketing?
Content for the purposes of affiliate marketing is multi-purpose. It should offer valuable insights for your users, and be natural.
Putting aside the type of content which is best for affiliate marketing for a moment, the very first thing we need to look at is content that appeals to your audience.
Whichever form the content takes, its sole purpose should be solving the problems and questions of your target audience.
Comprehensive research into your intended users needs to be done before a content marketing style can be decided for affiliate marketing purposes. There are plenty of tools online to create customer profiles and demographics to nail down your target audience, along with the pain points you’re going to solve for them.
When you go to create your content, you’re doing so to build a community of engaged subscribers that are invested with your brand. With enough trust in your brand to solve their problems, they immediately jump on board with your recommended affiliates.
Here are seven content ideas worth checking out to up your affiliate marketing game:
1. Reviews
The top of the pile for high-performing affiliate marketing content is reviewed. Product reviews are naturally very—ahem—natural.
Reviews are ideal for affiliate marketing as they not only drive product sales but also boost your or your brand’s trustworthiness. As long as the reviews are honest, of course!
Let’s say you want to be one of the best service providers for phone solutions. You should be knowledgeable about what is a VoIP call is, and how it really works. Bear in mind that for authenticity, the best practice is actually to test out the product you plan to review. At the very least, conduct thorough research into the product, so you at least sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Some reviews are blog posts in their entirety due to the sheer amount of information. But they can also be short and sweet. The affiliate product link is best placed at the end of the review to encourage maximum click-throughs.
Pro tip: Be sure to include mentions of other similar products to avoid coming across as biased.
2. Product comparisons
Moving swiftly on to a related content topic.
Product comparisons can be in the form of reviews, and the intention is to give users a thorough overview of the product they are considering.
Successful product comparison content should answer all user questions about the product. So delve deep into your user’s minds to provide all the information they will need.
Pro tip: A comparison table is a handy visual for demonstrating the pros and cons of each product.
3. How-to articles
You’ve got a couple of options for the how-to variety of articles.
A good example of SaaS content marketing that covers VoIP calling is creating a how-to article that includes step-by-step instructions to get started and the optimal way to master the use of the product you’re promoting.
Or, shoot for an article that is more general but includes affiliate links that the user will find helpful and informative.
Pro tip: Include relevant product links spaced evenly throughout the article for maximum effect.
4. Case studies
When done well, a case study can be the best form of affiliate marketing content.
Case studies are backed up by statistics, which people are inclined to trust over pure opinion-based content.
Customers who intend to make a decision can be swayed by a well-researched case study detailing the product benefits and honest customer reviews.
Pro tip: The benefit to the customer should be the focus of the case study rather than the product itself.
5. Landing pages
Landing pages have great potential to convert users into leads. From there, nurtured well, these leads become customers. Happy days.
Calls to action are your friends for successful landing pages. Your strategy should be to empathize with your users to provide them with the solution to their problem (clue—their solution is your affiliate product!).
Strategically placed calls to action and enough blank space to enable information absorption are key. Keep landing pages super simple, with only the information necessary for your users to see and take the intended action.
Pro tip: Consider a registration system for your landing pages to capture user details. Level up by asking for customer preferences and buying behavior (known as zero-party data).
6. Email marketing
The zero-party data gathered from landing pages we just looked at is intentional customer-shared data.
This data cannot be bought and is incredibly valuable for marketers, as it can substantially improve your user’s journey. The probability of a purchase decision is, therefore, significantly higher. What’s more, it can successfully inform your email marketing, too.
Examples of seamless email marketing include perfectly timed messages reminding users that they haven’t checked out their cart. Or an eBook suggestion download if they have previously expressed an interest in such content.
Crafting effective content that users want to receive continues the relationship and increases click-through rates.
7. Listicles
Everyone loves a list. In fact, this very article is a list. The user knows what they’re getting when they see a list.
Content in the form of a list is very easy to consume and, therefore, easier to encourage conversions. Another benefit of a list is that they are super shareable (hello, social media).
A list curated from similar products is something users want to read. You’ve done all the hard research work for them.
Pro tip: Avoid clickbait-style headings—instead, shoot for substance over style.
Affiliate mode—activated.
Affiliate marketing is a powerful tool, especially if you add salesforce crm integrations that can easily lead to plenty of interactions with new audiences and, ultimately, sales.
The key takeaway for this type of content marketing is to be authentic and provide value.
Yes, the end goal is to generate revenue, but you can be natural while doing so. Being overly salesy is likely to turn users off, so aim to build long-standing relationships and deliver worthwhile content.
If you’re running an affiliate program, promote affiliates that directly address the needs of your users. And support them to steer prospects towards excellent buying decisions.
Establish trustworthiness, and before long, affiliate marketing will be a valuable, monetized part of your marketing strategy.
