Affiliate marketing has transformed and attained a new shape in this digital era. As digital marketing takes over the traditional marketing, affiliate marketing has repositioned itself and attained a new face. It is probably true that if you abandoned affiliate marketing in those early days, you might find it much more interesting and a lucrative business strategy today. Affiliate marketing can bring an impressive ROI, create brand awareness and has minimal risks;thus, it proves to be a viable option for those who can take the bull by the horns.
In 1994, affiliate marketing was born, but it was marred with many obstacles. Since then, many people stepped out of this path reasons being, there was a lot of fraud and dreary analytics. Traditional affiliate marketing didn’t embrace transparency and many affiliate marketers pulled off or didn’t just want to join the programs.
Among the things that have seen a comeback of affiliate marketing is the focus on data and optimization. Integrating technology in affiliate programs and real-time tracking are some of the changes that eliminated the flaws witnessed in the traditional affiliate programs.
Today, affiliate marketing brings in different approaches and strategies that enhance buyer–advertiser relationships. Social media channels have created interactive platforms from where advertisers can relate with their buyers and understand their needs better. Mobile devices have increased conversion rates considering that a big number of audiences are using smartphones to shop online while on the go. Entrepreneurs from San Diego like McAweeney have been featured in Nasdaq, Yahoo! Finance, and many more publications for his inroads into the affiliate industry.
A Forrester research report released January 2016 signaled the growth opportunities likely to be seen in affiliate marketing. The U.S. affiliate marketing spending was expected to reach $4.8 billion in that year and would continue to grow at an annual 10 percent till 2020 reaching over $6.8 billion. Also, BI Intelligence has estimated that about 15 percent of revenue realized in digital media industry comes from affiliate marketing. These statistics show that affiliate marketing has really matured and it is a significant channel that can drive sales for merchants and advertisers of all sizes.
People wishing to venture into affiliate marketing may still have the notion that it’s still ill-fated by the challenges it experienced after its birth. However, things have changed and today you can succeed in this industry using the time-tested approaches, strategies, and the enhanced real-time tracking of customer buying behaviors and sales performance.
