Internet marketing is a major requirement for a business to be able to make money online. The method of marketing used determines the ability of a business to make profit. This article will focus on affiliate marketing as an internet marketing strategy.
In affiliate marketing, a merchant business or company rewards its affiliate clients for every customer recruited by the affiliate through its own marketing efforts.
Most businesses that use affiliate marketing give rewards to their affiliate customers based on how they perform. The more the affiliate brings customers, the more commission he/she receives. An affiliate client will work hard to promote the company’s products by marketing the product to other people. Once the company’s products are sold to the new clients brought in by an affiliate, part of the income is rewarded to the affiliates.
An affiliate method of marketing involves three major parties. There is the merchant company which has the products that are to be marketed, there is the affiliate customer who will identify potential people to market the product to and lastly there exists the end user customer who will want to benefit from the product being marketed. With this kind of marketing, all parties benefit in one way or the other.
The affiliate client will be happy because he has gained commission for getting more customers to the company. The company will be able to make a new sale from a client that they may not have been able to approach on their own. The customer on the other hand will be left happy because he will have known more about the benefits of the product marketed to him by the affiliate.
A merchant company may choose to have one or more affiliate companies or entities that will be marketing their products online. The affiliate entities work by creating affiliate links which can be used by end user customers to make online purchases. When customers buy the products the affiliate client earns commission depending on the purchase done.
For affiliate marketing to be a success, both the merchant company and its affiliate are required to make strategic decisions when choosing on whom to work with. The merchant company should choose an aggressive and industrious client who will be able to market its products well. The affiliate company on the other hand should choose on the best merchant with a good reputation. The products marketed should be of high quality and of much benefit to the consumer.