Image by Sanjeet Kumar from Pixabay

By Sheryl Wright

The backbone of the U.S. economy isn’t its corporations. It’s the 31 million small businesses that employ millions of people. It’s these entities that comprise 99% of America’s infrastructure.

Nevertheless, not all small businesses are ready to move to the bursting point of greater revenue. Some still have to bootstrap their organizations to keep going. Hence, this is why they continually look for opportunities to save money. One way to do this is through affiliate marketing.

Here are a few ways how small businesses can use affiliate marketing for growth.

Know the basics

What is affiliate marketing? It’s a concept that companies like Impact use to help small businesses maximize their clients and revenue.

You establish yourself as an affiliate. When you do, text and video bloggers sign up to promote your products and services. In exchange, they receive a commission for increased clicks and purchases.

Gain brand recognition

Once you make your small business an affiliate something new happens. Though you weren’t known before, you end up gaining some recognition. The reason is it’s listed through affiliate agencies.

These organizations deal with the marketing end of things. Those looking to promote your work search these agencies for products and services that fit their interests. Additionally, they learn more about your company and potential commission rates. The better you are in both categories the more recognition you receive.

Opportunities to upsell

There’s more to affiliate marketing than simply selling what the marketers promote. Once a potential customer clicks the link on their blog or video, they see your other offerings. This is a good time to initiate an upsell.

This is a form of deal that promotes something more than what the consumer initially wanted. It’s the concept behind, “You chose this, but we have something better.” Though it seems like a huge risk, the typical success rate for this selling method is around 20 percent. This means a sizable return on investment.

Profits on low-selling goods increase

Affiliate marketing also helps you increase profits on your lower-selling products. This happens in two ways. One, a potential client enters your sales page from the marketer’s website. Though they promote another item in their blog or video, the consumer sees another item that piques their interest.

The second way this happens is if the marketer writes about the low-selling item. Generally, their goal is to maximize their role to obtain a larger payment. Thus, they mention everything you have available. If done right, it’s written in a way that says, “If you’re not interested in product x, you’ll definitely be okay with product y.

Backlink to marketers

The internet has made the star review system more powerful than before. Businesses are made and broken by the ratings they receive. Since your affiliate marketers make money through positive reviews, you can supersede the stars.

Instead, your backlink to their reviews. To put it another way, you add URLs somewhere in your product description that link back to their positive mentions. Not only does this encourage site visitors to read their reviews. They might also click a link on their site back to your so they get an additional payment.

Increase user-generated content

Similar to backlinks, affiliate marketing helps to increase user-generated content. This happens when multiple members begin to promote your products and services.

For example, 10 affiliates join your program. This alone increases the reach of your small business. What if each of them has 5,000 followers? Then you’ve considerably expanded your reach without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on traditional marketing.

The items mentioned above are a small example of how small businesses can utilize affiliate marketing for growth. Overall, this business sector has been incredibly profitable for others. Therefore, it’s time to move ahead and embrace it.

Don’t go with the first affiliate site you see. Maximize your profits and those of the marketer by working with a company that provides high payouts without enormous fees. If you’re unsure of what to do, speak with other small business owners and see what they use.

In the end, don’t try to do everything at once. Be careful when you start and make tweaks where necessary. Soon enough, organic marketing will take your small business to the next level.

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Sheryl Wright is a freelance writer who specializes in digital marketing, inclusive business, and interior design. If she is not at home reading, she is at a farmer’s market or climbing in the Rockies. She currently lives in Nashville, TN, with her cat, Saturn.