Affiliates and influencers can do amazing things for your brand. The facts are there…and here. However, even the most experienced and successful affiliates need a few things from you to make their results truly effective. Like any great craftsman, it’s all about having the right tools for the job. What you may not know is that you may have some or all of those tools right in front of you…you just need to know where to find them. As always, the folks here at Versa are here to help and make sure that every brand is equipped with the right tips and information to make the most out of their affiliate and performance based marketing programs. Here are 5 things that you need to have in place to assure you have easily accessible tools for all of your affiliate partners.

Visual Assets

First, you need to think visually. The look of your brand is the first impression and the most important asset you possess. Your meticulously designed product, your carefully crafted logo, even the images and font on your website all represent your vision. Putting those visual components in your affiliate’s hands is the only way to ensure that their content aligns with your brand's look and is visually appealing. Having a high-resolution media kit with all these assets ready to send is an efficient and powerful tool to have.
  • High res logo (if you don’t provide this, some of your partners might just pull it from your site or Google, hindering the quality that may show up on their content)
  • Professional images of products you're promoting (you want your partners to post a combination of photos they take of their experience with your product AND quality images your brand possesses)
  • Banners and image driven messages that are constantly updated to embrace seasonality

Mobility

It’s crucial to make sure all of your assets are responsive and look gorgeous when viewed on mobile devices. Surely you’re sick of reading posts about the importance of mobile...but judging by last year’s holiday shopping trends, 45% of purchases were made on a mobile device, so it’s a point that deserves notice. That number is estimated to continue to grow, so mobile perfection is not even sort of an option anymore. And it’s up to you (or your affiliate program managers) to make sure your affiliate partners have sites that align with this, and that you’re providing content and images that look flawless when brought up on mobile. It might be easy to overlook, but as more of the industry moves towards mobile devices, proper formatting and application placement becomes that much more important. Your affiliate network is likely to be a tech-savvy group, but be ready to lend or recommend tech support if any of your images aren’t transferring smoothly.

Tangible Voice and Verbiage

Next, consider your voice. Sure, you need to respect and appreciate your affiliate’s style (it’s why you hired them, after all!), but don’t be shy about supplying them with specific verbiage that resonates with your brand. Without stepping on their toes or smothering creative freedom, it’s always good to equip your partners with messaging and verbiage in a non-abrasive way, such as:
  • Pre-written social posts
  • Key content for newsletters
  • Product specs
  • Brand facts
  • Mission statement and values
  • Keywords and hashtags
Just to reiterate, allow your affiliates to do their job, but give them some language you’d like to see and make it easy for them to post content about your brand that lines up with your image and voice you’ve worked so hard to create!

A Place for Community

Connecting your brand’s marketing partners in LinkedIn or private Facebook group encourages creativity, and can spawn a whole new direction for your campaigns. Remember: affiliate and influencer marketing thrives on collaboration. Give your team the ability to connect to bounce ideas off of each other and even create partnerships. Aside from collaboration, let’s not forget that fostering competition can be healthy AND productive. You’ve got great people working on your campaign, so challenge them to be the best. Create a contest to see whose post gets the most shares or generates the most revenue. Whatever the challenge is, be sure to give it a timeline, keep them posted on who has the lead, and, most importantly, make a grand prize that’s worth fighting for. Maybe a cash prize, a free trip, a box of your product or even a gift card....a little something shows your appreciation and gets those competitive juices flowing.

Personalized Communication

You want your clients and customers to feel special. Your affiliates should feel the same way. Send them positive and constructive feedback regularly, and ask what they might need to help them send your message. A little bit of nurturing and authentic communication can go a long way. After all, you and your affiliates have the same goal: to generate interest and revenue for your brand. Your marketing partners will feel a sense of pride, and likely work harder when they’re treated like they’re part of your brand. Give them the heads-up to special promotions, or a sneak peek at next year’s product. These special touches truly allow your affiliate to take your brand to heart and create content with genuine affection and admiration. Is there anything else that you provide your affiliate partners with? If so please share in the comments! We love to talk about these things!