Whether you’re a start-up beauty brand or a globally recognised brand, affiliate marketing shouldn’t be overlooked. While affiliate marketing can sometimes get a bad rep, it’s a valuable tool for many brands. From establishing new partnerships to increase your brand awareness to utilising affiliate tools to remain competitive and retain customers, there are many benefits. In our latest post, we’re going to look at affiliate marketing for beauty brands and how it can benefit you.
Wide Variety of Affiliate Partners for Beauty Brands
While some beauty brands often associate affiliate marketing with discount sites, this isn’t the case. There are many affiliates, from technology partners to editorial, that can add value to your brand. Affiliate partnerships are particularly important for start-up brands with limited budgets and expertise.
It Builds Brand Awareness
While many brands are under the impression that affiliate marketing is only used for bottom-of-funnel conversions such as sales, it’s got much more to offer. While the affiliate model is undoubtedly effective in driving incremental revenue for brands at the end of the funnel, it can be equally lucrative at the start of the funnel.
When we’re looking at affiliate marketing for beauty brands, many affiliate partners are helpful at the funnel’s start. From influencers and bloggers to leading magazines and editorial sites, there is an opportunity to establish affiliate partnerships everywhere.
It’s Valuable for New Customer Acquisition
Affiliate partners can be extremely valuable when it comes to new customer acquisition. One of the most valuable partners for DTC beauty brands is comparison sites such as Cosmetify and Kelkoo. Many shoppers, particularly those looking for beauty and skincare products, are likely to do a lot of research on a specific product. By partnering with comparison and review sites, brands are putting themselves at the forefront during these search intentions.
Beauty Brands Enhance Existing Partnerships
Many beauty brands will work on their PR and influencer marketing while overlooking the value of affiliates. Interesting, the three elements work exceptionally well together. For example, if you’re trying to secure a feature on a leading editorial site, the offer of commission can be used to strengthen that partnership. The same goes for influencers, as an affiliate program will allow you to offer a fee/gifting + commission hybrid partnership for an ongoing agreement.
It’s Useful for Customer Retention
If customer retention is something your brand is struggling with, affiliate partners can help you with that. Many strategic partnerships can increase customer retention from overlay affiliates such as SmarterClick to exclusive discount partners like Student Beans.
Plus, these types of retention solutions are scalable, requiring minimal effort brand side.
Affiliate Marketing Has a High ROI
Not only do affiliate partnerships offer a high return on investment, but they’re also paid on performance. So, you will only pay affiliates on a cost-per-action basis, which is typically a sale. For example, if you’re running PPC in house and finding that the cost-per-click is a big spend, you could partner with a PPC affiliate and only pay for the sales they generate, opposed to clicks.
You’ll also get an agreed period (typically around 45 days) to approve or void any commission. So, you can cancel any commission for returned orders to ensure you’re only paying out when a sale is 100% complete.
Do you like the sound of affiliate marketing for your beauty brand? Get in touch with us today to find out what the team at Conversion Digital can do for you. In the meantime, you can learn more about affiliate marketing on our blog here.