“In my experience, there is no such thing as luck.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi
Old Ben is right, especially when it comes to developing a profitable marketing strategy for e-commerce business. While your marketing efforts might be spent on digital advertising, SEO, and social media promotions, you’d be wise to consider launching an affiliate program so your fans can do some of the work for you.
After all, 15% of all digital marketing revenue comes from affiliate marketing.
Intergalactic tips to construct an affiliate marketing strategy
Woo affiliates like the Rebel Alliance
The Empire conquers planets and enslaves populations, forcing them to work for the will of the Emperor. They might get results, but don’t exactly have a great brand.
The Rebels take a different approach by winning over the hearts and minds of people by sharing the Alliance’s story of freedom and democracy.
You’re not waging an intergalactic war, but are trying to recruit ambassadors that believe in your brand story. That’s why your customers make some of the best affiliates in your program. They’re fairly easy to recruit, already make up your target demographic, and are excited to share your product and vision with their friends and family.
Treat affiliates like top-notch bounty hunters
Remember Darth Vader standing on the bridge of a Star Destroyer, addressing Boba Fett and other bounty hunters? “No disintegrations.” Pretend your customer is Han Solo. You could build battle droids or clone an army to try to capture the Rebel hero, but who has the resources or time for that kind of endeavor? A better plan would be creating a tempting offer that attracts the best bounty hunters in the galaxy.
That’s the winning strategy to motivate affiliates. Each affiliate has their own personality, expertise, and marketing specialty. For instance, you might have an influencer with a huge following on Instagram, or several stay-at-home moms that are prominent in niche groups. By offering a 20% commission, you’ll win over all types of affiliates that will focus their efforts into driving your sales.
Learn to trust your data like the Jedi rely on the Force
Jedis don’t randomly make decisions; they use the Force to guide their actions. Don’t underestimate the power of the Force, or data, for that matter.
Remember when Luke turned off his X-Wing’s targeting system and let the Force guide him toward the reactor of the Death Star? He let go of his emotions and fired the victorious shot. Luckily, we have lots of data to help us properly segment our affiliate programs.
We don’t have to rely on emotions or best guesses – we can easily set up A/B tests, targeted offers, and analytics tracking to give us the best insights to properly mold your affiliate marketing strategy.
Don’t let affiliates act like Jawas
If you sell lots of products, it’s important to make sure your affiliates know which ones they should be focused on. Without any kind of product focus, you risk turning affiliates into nomadic Jawas that push products on anyone crossing their paths.
For instance, if you sell shoes and need help clearing out last season’s inventory, you don’t want to rely on Jedi mind tricks to move the inventory. “These are not the shoes you’re looking for.” Instead, try offering a higher commission and discount offer to your affiliates.
Communicate with your affiliates like the Empire and Alliance
Holographic messages, like the one Princess Leia records for Obi-Wan Kenobi, are a shining example of how important communication is in the Star Wars Universe.
Whether the Emperor is informing Darth Vader that he has a son, or the Jedi council is conferring with generals entrenched in battles with the Separatists, frequent communication is dominant throughout all the films. You should apply this principle to your affiliates as well.
By sending them a newsletter, you start to nurture a long-term relationship that many e-commerce businesses neglect. Fill your newsletter with tips, affiliate success stories, new product announcements, winning marketing strategies, exclusive offers, and content they can use. Don’t be afraid to theme your newsletter around specific seasons and holidays.
Tell a powerful story
Behind any product or marketing strategy is a fantastic story – something people can relate to and fall in love with. Joseph Campbell, famed anthropologist and mentor to Lucas, once wrote: “What each must seek in his life never was on land or sea. It is something out of his own unique potentiality for experience, something that never has been and never could have been experienced by anyone else.”
That’s the feeling you want to convey to affiliates. By offering that experience, you’ll create powerful ambassadors truly devoted to your product. Affiliates are not an army of identical Stormtroopers, they’re individuals living different lives that believe in your brand. The more compelling your story, the more they’ll feel part of something that’s bigger than themselves.
Protect yourself from fraud by maximizing deflector shields
Remember the Emperor taunting Luke with the following line, “Oh, I’m afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive?”
First, never be overconfident like Palpatine. Second, you need a plan to assure you don’t become a victim of affiliate fraud. The easiest way to combat fraud attempts is to stop them before they happen. Screen affiliates before letting them into your exclusive program. Google them, check their social media handles, and spend a few minutes looking through their social profiles. Creating a Facebook group or Slack channel is a great way to build a community around your affiliates so you can get to know them better. This way you keep a pulse on the health of your program.
The two main types of fraud are identity theft and returns, followed by chargebacks. The easiest way to prevent succumbing to these types of fraud is to enforce a 30-day commission payment window. That way if anything fishy happens within the first 30 days of the sale, you can simply not complete the payment to the affiliate.
