When social media influencers first stepped onto the scene, there were limited options for marketers to work with them. Sponsored posts, free products or services, and flat fees were the norm. Now influencers and creators are embracing performance-based advertising, opening a world of opportunities for themselves and the brands that partner with them. This doesn’t mean, however, that influencers and creators are the same as traditional affiliates. While both groups aim to drive conversions and boost brand visibility, they operate in fundamentally different ways and use distinct strategies to achieve their goals.

We’re covering the basics of influencer affiliate marketing in our new series, the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint. For an introduction to the series and the e-book it’s based on, head over to Part 1. In this post, we’re diving into the differences between the two groups and why influencer-affiliate programs are gaining momentum in today’s marketing landscape.

Download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities

Affiliates and Publishers vs Influencers and Creators

Traditional affiliates and publishers, rooted in the digital advertising ecosystem, have long relied on metrics like impressions, engagement rates, and clicks to measure success. In some cases, this focus on metrics can come at the expense of user experience. Navigating cluttered websites, wading through obviously AI-generated text, scrolling past pages of intrusive ads — it all harms the quality of users’ interactions with the content they’re looking for. When these less-than-ideal experiences add up, consumers can easily become frustrated, disinterested, and distrustful of the brands associated with them.

On the other hand, today’s influencer programs lean more toward authenticity and trustworthiness by leveraging the personal connection between social media creators and their dedicated followers. Brands that recognize the value of genuine engagement over sheer reach can foster deeper connections with audiences through relatable content and endorsements from trusted influencers. From this perspective, the affiliate industry’s leap to influencers makes sense, as it allows brands to create real connections and communities through their own ambassadors — without the corporate side of marketing getting in the way.

Influencer-Affiliate Programs

Influencer-affiliate programs share the same pillars as traditional affiliate programs, but they require a different framework and fulfillment strategy. This is most evident in four areas of the program.

Program Strategy

Influencer programs come in all shapes and sizes. They can take a diverse range of approaches, categorized based on scope and the influencer’s degree of influence. From micro-influencers with niche audiences to macro-influencers commanding broader reach, brands have the flexibility to tailor their strategies to align with specific campaign objectives and target demographics. We’ve put together a graphic to illustrate this concept below:

Offers and Payments

Influencer programs also differ from traditional programs in their offers and payments. Unlike CPA (cost-per-action) offers, the bread and butter of affiliate programs, offers in influencer programs usually prioritize a tiered and blended approach. This means encompassing metrics beyond sales, such as views, likes, and shares. This multifaceted payment structure acknowledges the diverse contributions of influencers, incentivizing them to create compelling content that resonates with their audience while driving conversions.

The way you pay influencers and creators can also vary from the way traditional affiliates are paid. We go into this more in our e-book and on-demand webinar — you can watch a quick clip below.

Creative Production and Control

Creative is, hands down, the main differentiator between traditional affiliates and influencer affiliates.

Influencer-affiliate programs redefine creative production by moving beyond conventional banner ads and sponsored articles. Successful brands collaborate with influencers to craft authentic narratives and tell stories their audiences are interested to hear. This empowers creators as brand advocates rather than just another paid advertiser. This personalized approach nurtures brand loyalty and fosters deeper connections with consumers and communities.

For an example, check out ZeroTo1 (our e-book partner) and their Instacart case study here.

Tracking Technology

Influencer programs need specialized tracking technologies to effectively attribute conversions and measure campaign performance across channels. This is because the most popular social media platforms for creators are mobile-first, and the tracking works differently on mobile than on a desktop browser. For brands that are already running a traditional program, getting started with creator affiliates can be as simple as integrating an influencer toolkit. Adding dedicated influencer marketing tools to your existing tech stack will provide a holistic view of engagement metrics and ultimately allow you to run more effective, measurable campaigns.

Up Next

As consumer preferences continue to evolve, influencer-affiliate programs offer a dynamic and adaptable approach to affiliate marketing. By prioritizing authenticity, fostering genuine connections, and embracing flexibility and creativity, brands can navigate the ever-changing digital landscape and forge lasting relationships with their target audience. Whether partnering with Instagram micro-influencers or the biggest names on TikTok, the key lies in building trust and telling stories to drive engagement and drive business results.

To learn more about the differences between creators and traditional affiliates, download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities.

Check back soon for Part 3!

In the vibrant and diverse landscape of Europe, building a successful affiliate program can be a potent strategy for expanding your brand’s presence and driving revenue growth. Tailoring your approach to the unique characteristics and regulations of the European market is essential for laying the foundation of a thriving affiliate ecosystem. In this guide, we’ll explore the essential steps to establish a successful affiliate program specifically tailored for European brands. 

Understanding the European Market 

Before diving into the intricacies of building an affiliate program, it’s crucial to have a solid understanding of the European market landscape. Europe comprises diverse cultures, languages, and consumer behaviors across its various regions. Take the time to research and identify key market segments, trends, and preferences relevant to your industry and target audience. 

Navigating Regulatory Compliance 

Compliance with European regulations, particularly the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is paramount for any brand operating in the region. Ensure that your affiliate program is fully compliant with GDPR requirements, including obtaining explicit consent from users for data processing and providing mechanisms for data access and deletion. Implement robust data protection measures to safeguard sensitive information and build trust with your audience. 

Localizing Your Offerings 

Cultural sensitivity and localization are essential considerations when developing your affiliate program for the European market. Tailor your products, messaging, and promotional materials to resonate with the cultural nuances and preferences of each target market. Consider factors such as language, currency, and local regulations to ensure a seamless and relevant user experience for European consumers. 

Building Strategic Partnerships 

Selecting the right affiliates is key to the success of your program in Europe. Look for influencers, bloggers, and content creators who have a strong presence and credibility within their respective markets. Prioritize affiliates who align with your brand values and resonate with your target audience. Consider collaborating with local influencers and micro-influencers to leverage their authenticity and reach within specific regions or communities. 

Offering Competitive Incentives 

Incentivize affiliates with competitive commission structures and incentives tailored to the European market. Consider factors such as average order value, conversion rates, and seasonal trends when determining commission rates. Offer bonuses, exclusive discounts, or performance-based rewards to motivate affiliates and encourage active promotion of your products. 

Providing Comprehensive Support 

Offer comprehensive support and resources to empower your affiliates to succeed. Provide access to high-quality marketing materials, product information, and promotional assets in multiple languages. Offer training sessions, webinars, and tutorials to help affiliates optimize their campaigns and maximize their earning potential. Foster open communication channels to address questions, provide assistance, and gather feedback from affiliates. 

Leveraging Cross-Border Opportunities 

Exploit cross-border opportunities to expand your reach and tap into new markets within Europe. Collaborate with affiliates who have a pan-European presence or target audiences spanning multiple countries. Customize your promotions and messaging to appeal to diverse cultural backgrounds and linguistic preferences across different European regions. 

Tracking and Analyzing Performance 

Implement robust tracking and analytics tools to monitor affiliate performance and measure the effectiveness of your campaigns. Track key metrics such as clicks, conversions, and revenue generated across different markets and channels. Analyze this data to identify trends, optimize your strategy, and allocate resources effectively to maximize ROI. 

Cultivating Long-Term Relationships 

Invest in building long-term relationships with your affiliates to foster loyalty and mutual success. Recognize and reward top-performing affiliates for their contributions and achievements. Regularly engage with affiliates through newsletters, updates, and exclusive events to keep them informed and motivated. Solicit feedback and collaborate with affiliates to continuously improve your program and adapt to evolving market dynamics. 

Potential Difficulties to Prepare For

Navigating Taxation Challenges 

One of the primary challenges European brands face in managing affiliate commissions is navigating the complex landscape of taxation regulations across different countries. Each European country may have its own tax laws and requirements regarding income earned through affiliate programs. It’s essential for brands to stay informed about VAT (Value Added Tax) regulations, withholding taxes, and other relevant tax obligations applicable to affiliate commissions in each jurisdiction where affiliates operate. Seeking professional tax advice, can help ensure compliance with local tax laws and mitigate the risk of potential liabilities. 

Overcoming Currency Conversion Hurdles 

Currency conversion presents another significant challenge when paying out affiliate commissions in the European market. With affiliates operating across various countries and using different currencies, brands must navigate fluctuating exchange rates and associated conversion fees. These currency conversion challenges can impact the accuracy and timeliness of affiliate payouts, potentially leading to discrepancies or delays in payments. To address this issue, brands can consider utilizing payment platforms or services that offer multi-currency support, allowing affiliates to receive payments in their preferred currency with minimal conversion fees. Additionally, establishing clear policies and procedures for currency conversion, including transparent exchange rates and payment schedules, can help mitigate confusion and ensure fair compensation for affiliates operating in different regions. 

By proactively addressing taxation challenges and currency conversion issues, European brands can streamline their affiliate program operations, enhance trust and transparency with affiliates, and facilitate seamless cross-border transactions within the European market. 

Conclusion 

Building a successful affiliate program for your European brand requires careful planning, strategic execution, and a deep understanding of the region’s unique characteristics and regulations. By prioritizing compliance, localization, strategic partnerships, and comprehensive support, you can create a thriving ecosystem that drives sales and fosters brand loyalty across diverse European markets. With a commitment to transparency, integrity, and continuous improvement, your affiliate program can become a powerful driver of growth and success. 

Through these strategies, your brand can forge meaningful partnerships, expand its reach, and establish itself as a trusted authority in the region. 

For more advice on how to work with partners like influencers and content creators to expand your affiliate program, download our free e-book, The Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities.

In the world of affiliate marketing, there are two main ways to work with your partners: through an affiliate network, and in a one-to-one relationship in your affiliate program. Affiliate networks and direct partners both play important roles and bring value to a program. However, they differ greatly in terms of how you collaborate with them and the dynamics of your relationship.

Over the years at TUNE, we’ve noticed that individuals who are new to affiliate marketing have the most difficulty understanding the direct partner side of the equation, whereas most people — marketers or otherwise — are familiar with the concept of an affiliate network. We believe both types of partners are beneficial, and working with a combination of the two is something we see across the most successful partner programs. To help more marketers leverage the best of both worlds, we’re explaining what it means to work directly with a partner in your affiliate program versus working with a partner in an affiliate network.

Affiliate Networks vs. Direct Partners

In some ways, direct partners are the opposite of affiliate networks. Understanding how you work with partners in a network makes it easier to understand how working with direct partners is different. So let’s set the groundwork by looking at the top characteristics of working with affiliate network partners.

Affiliate Network Partners

1. Intermediary Platform

Affiliate networks are intermediaries that connect you (the advertiser or brand) with their network of partners. These networks serve as a platform where businesses can find and recruit affiliates, and affiliates can find multiple products or services to promote.

2. Broader Reach and Scale

Affiliate networks provide you with a pre-existing pool of affiliates from various niches and industries, including a range of publishers, content creators, and marketers. This is beneficial if you want to reach a wider audience quickly. However, it may mean you have less control over who eventually promotes your products.

3. Standardized Agreements and Features

Affiliate networks often have standardized terms and conditions, commission structures, and reporting systems. While this can make it easier for you to get started, it doesn’t provide much flexibility and limits your ability to negotiate custom agreements.

4. Less Personalization

In affiliate networks, the relationships with affiliates tend to be less personal. You may have less control over how affiliates promote your business and might need to rely on the network’s policies to enforce brand guidelines. And because communication with affiliates in a network often occurs through the network’s messaging system, it often lacks a personal touch and a guarantee of privacy.

5. Network Fees

Along with tracking conversions and distributing commissions on your behalf, affiliate networks handle payment processing as well. Networks charge an additional service fee for payment processing, usually as a percentage of your revenue or your partners’ commissions. These fees vary and are set at the network’s discretion. While affiliate networks may be convenient, the fees associated with them can impact the profitability of your entire program and should be carefully considered.

Now that we have a baseline, let’s examine how working with direct partners in a strategic affiliate program differs.

Direct Partners

1. One-to-One Relationships

When you work with a direct affiliate partner, you establish a one-to-one relationship with an individual or entity (such as a blogger, content creator, influencer, or website owner) who promotes your products or services. You establish a business relationship with them independently, without the involvement of an intermediary or affiliate network.

2. Direct Communication

Communication with direct partners typically happens, well, directly — through email, phone calls, messaging apps, or other personal means. By keeping your communication private and confidential, you can better protect the strategic partnerships you discover and nurture, instead of sharing them with an affiliate network (and anyone who joins it).

3. Customized Agreements

With direct partnerships, you negotiate and agree on the terms and conditions of your partnership directly with the individual you’re working with. This allows for more flexibility in crafting affiliate agreements, commission structures, promotional methods, and more. Going direct lets you tailor every aspect of the partnership to suit the unique needs and capabilities of your partner and the specific goals of your business.

4. More Management and Support

Directly managing and supporting your affiliates may require more resources than you would need to manage and support them through an affiliate network. For example, you’ll need to supply the program infrastructure, tracking tools, and support documentation to ensure they can effectively promote your products or services.

5. Greater Control and Oversight

Working one-on-one with your partners gives you greater control and oversight over your entire affiliate program. This can help ensure that a partner’s promotional activities (like the kind of ads they run or the websites they run them on) align with your brand’s values and quality standards.

6. Higher Commissions

In some cases, direct affiliates can expect higher commission rates compared to those in affiliate networks. One reason for this is that partners outside of a network bear the responsibility of generating their own traffic and sales. Another reason is that brands can see a significant cost savings when high network fees and processing charges are taken out of the equation. By translating these savings into higher commissions, you can spend less overall than you would with a network and attract more affiliates to your program by standing out from the lower paying competition.

7. Payment Processing

When you run a direct affiliate program, you are responsible for managing and processing partner payments. This means you need to track the affiliate’s performance, calculate commissions, and pay them directly, usually on a predetermined schedule.

The Best of Both Worlds

In summary, direct affiliate partnerships offer more personalized, customized, and closely managed relationships with individual affiliates. In contrast, affiliate networks provide a broader reach and more convenience, but usually involve less personalization and control.

The choice between the two depends on your marketing goals, resources, budget, and the level of control you want over your affiliate program. Many businesses use a combination of direct partners and networks to achieve a balance between customization and scale in their affiliate marketing efforts.

At TUNE, we’ve seen the most successful programs run a mix of both direct partnerships and affiliate network relationships. That’s why our platform enables you to run a strategic partner program with direct partners and have access to top affiliate partners through the TUNE Network. You choose to use one or the other, or combine them in the way that makes the most sense for your business. In other words: It’s the best of both worlds.

If you’d like to find out more about running a program of direct partners and top network affiliates on TUNE, download our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing or start a chat with us.

Seems like there’s always an affiliate marketing conference or trade show just around the corner, doesn’t it? So, if you’re an advertiser looking for new affiliates, influencers, and other partners to work with, here are my top seven tools and tips for finding the right partnerships for your business.

Favorite Affiliate Marketing Tools for Finding Publishers 

1). The TUNE Network Ecosystem 

We’ve been a reliable bridge between advertisers and publishers since our early beginning as HasOffers. Now, the TUNE Network makes it easy for both sides to engage in direct conversations with the click of a button.  

2). Publisher Discovery 

Publisher Discovery is a reliable, cost-effective third-party resource with unlimited publisher reach and automation tools to bolster affiliate recruitment and diversify traffic channels.  

3). Agency Services 

Time is money, especially if you’re building your affiliate program from scratch. Agencies offer management and partner recruitment under the same umbrella, and help advertisers take the guesswork out of matching their programs with the best publishers.  

4). Performance Networks 

Proprietary affiliate networks and sub-affiliate networks allow both sides to locate and communicate within a single environment. Data is also easily shared between all parties through dashboard login, customized reports, and campaign management tools.  

5). Industry Shows 

Nothing beats old-fashioned, in-person networking opportunities at conferences such as Affiliate Summit East and Affiliate Summit West, Affiliate World, FinCon, PI Live, and MAU. Of course, there are others to be considered, and all are worth attending. 

6). Social Networks 

LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms have really evolved over the past few years, particularly with the popularity of influencers and brand ambassadors. Built-in messaging features can also assist with direct outreach communication and responses from both sides.  

7). Word of Mouth 

People do business with people they like, know, and trust. The affiliate industry is small enough for word to get around, particularly if business is bad. A good name and reputation go a long way, and you’re always known by the last company you worked for or the last deal you negotiated. In short: use your personal network, and be careful not to burn any bridges. 

Tools of the Trade 

All of the above resources can help advertisers and publishers create mutually-beneficial partnerships. Try any one of them singularly, or take a more strategic approach of mixing them up for optimal results. 

What other tools would you recommend for finding publishers? Leave a comment and let me know!

If you’d like to learn more about affiliate marketing tools or the TUNE platform, we’d love to help you out — you can chat with us here.

Speaking of finding partners …

Our Partner Groups Cheat Sheet is a quick reference guide to five types of popular affiliates and how to work with them. This info sheet includes advice about working with each group, including what kind of campaigns to run, effective commission models, and driving factors that make programs stand out from the crowd.

Download the Partner Groups Cheat Sheet here.

Are you currently in the onboarding process at TUNE, or are you curious what happens after the onboarding training is complete?  

Throughout the first 30 days of onboarding, we look to help brands successfully set up their affiliate marketing program by providing the fundamental training needed for launch. We often discuss diving into strategy and goals so that we can focus on the long-term success of your program. To highlight this, we will outline the focus areas we recommend your team prioritize once the onboarding sessions end.  

TUNE Onboarding Series  

A Quick Introduction 
Is Customized Onboarding Right for You? 
What to Expect During the First 30 Days 
How Onboarding and Customer Success Teams Work Together 
How to Get Ahead Before Onboarding Starts 

Now that we have covered several checkpoints during the onboarding process, let us fast forward and talk about how we support post-onboarding and the focus areas we recommend your team work on.  

Post-Onboarding Guide to Success  

The time after a program goes live is an exciting and busy time. At the end of onboarding, you will receive an onboarding hand-off with insights into areas that should be revisited to ensure the success of your program over 90 days and beyond. Some of these highlights are: 

• Partner Recruitment
• Leaning Into Your CSM
• Preparing for Partner Payments
• Revisiting KPIs and Goals
• Implementing Advanced Tools 

Let’s look at each of these factors in more detail. 

Partner Recruitment 

Recruiting partners into your program is critical for success. It is recommended post-onboarding to maximize the tools available to help discover and invite new partners to promote your brand. Building relationships with partners should be the top priority, and it is important to remember that relationships take time to develop and foster.  

For more information, you can head to our blog post on how to boost partner recruitment. 

Leaning Into Your CSM 

As the onboarding team steps behind the scenes, leaning into your customer success manager is an incredible resource to help with day-to-day questions. While your CSM is always available for questions, they are open to scheduling a monthly check-in up to three months post-onboarding if your team finds that beneficial. The goal of those sessions would be to ensure that you are on track and gain additional insight into current focus areas or any areas of support your team may need (e.g., revisiting past trainings).   

Preparing for Partner Payments  

As partners begin promoting and driving conversions through your program, your team will want to ensure everything is in place to begin paying partners. Paying partners promptly and without issues helps build trust so that they continue promoting your product or service.  

To revisit TUNE Pay account settings, see: https://support.tune.com/hc/en-us/articles/5133034867607-TUNE-Pay-Payment-Cycle-Preparation. 

Revisiting KPIs and Goals  

Ensure that you are consistently revisiting your KPIs and goals that were determined by your team at launch. If you find your team is not on track, it is important to dive deeper into the data and performance to identify any performance trends or themes. Gaining feedback from your partners is always helpful to further determine the health of the program and provide you tools to further incentivize your partners to promote.  

Implementing Advanced Tools  

Once conversions are being tracked through the program, test various tools available to you like setting up automation rules (if applicable) or an ad campaign to run an A/B test on offers or links. 

Learn More 

We hope this provides some insight into how we approach post-onboarding at TUNE. If you have any questions or want to learn more, reach out to us at onboarding@tune.com. 

TUNE Onboarding Checklist 

Download our two-page Onboarding Checklist for a quick guide through the most important steps in the launch process. Understanding our white-glove approach, including how we customize the process based on your business and goals, helps us to ensure you are set up for long-term success on the TUNE platform.

In an affiliate marketing program, every partner you have is different — even when they’re the same kind of partner. Therefore, the way you look at their performance should be analyzed individually, too.

In order to efficiently measure and optimize performance, it’s important to organize your partners into groups, especially when you’re just starting out. As your program matures, you’ll get a feel for what makes sense and what doesn’t, and you can create as many groups as you like. We recommend starting with the five groups below, then adding or subdividing as your program grows.

Loyalty

With loyalty partners, consumers earn rewards in the form of cash back, points, or miles. These partners are valuable precisely for what’s in their name: their loyal consumer base. They offer something of value to customers, and therefore have a strong following.

Loyalty partners are great for running a flash sale or testing offers to see what will resonate with your audience.

Examples: Rakuten Rewards, TopCashback, Cartera

Coupon and Deal

This type of affiliate marketing partner is made up of websites focused on offers and discounts. These deals are primarily associated with a promo code, but can also be sitewide discounts without a coupon code.

Coupon and deal partners are what most people think about when they think “affiliate.” The channel has expanded far beyond just a coupon or deal, though, and other things can be offered through these partners, such as free shipping or free samples. Some brands decide they want to cut this group out altogether, but coupon and deal partners can be very helpful for running flash sales and getting customers to make a quick purchase.

Examples: RetailMeNot, Slickdeals, Brad’s Deals

Content

Content-based affiliates promote articles, videos, and other forms of content specific to a topic or vertical​. Content is king for a reason, and we’ve seen this partner group increase significantly over the years, especially in the wake of viral apps like TikTok and after the release of affiliate-friendly features like Instagram’s. Top-of-funnel traffic is vital for brands, especially those who are not as well-known. An original, engaging content piece offers a discovery tool to yield net new customers into the funnel, so this type of affiliate marketing partner is very valuable.

It is important to identify the right content partner for your audience and to work closely with them to curate a message that will resonate with their reader base. Keep in mind these partners often require upfront budget to write about a product or service.

Examples: BuzzFeed, The College Investor, Thrillist

Sub-networks

Sub-networks are publishers with a network of partners to which they distribute deals and offers, and to whom they pay commissions directly. This type of partner is beneficial to work with because they have a wide range of affiliates under their umbrella and can get an offer out to the masses fairly quickly.

There are some considerations in working with these partners, though. One is that you may not know exactly who is promoting your offer, or how they are promoting it. It’s always a good idea to ask to identify and call out any promotional tactics you would not like included.

Examples: Skimlinks, Flex Offers, SOVRN

Closed User Groups

This type of affiliate partner provides unique offerings to employees, military, veterans, or students. They can also be inclusive of card-linked offer partners or any other partnerships that present a unique value to their consumer base, which requires membership or approval to access. Closed user groups can be great partners to work with because they often have niche audiences and can target them according to what type of product you’re offering.

Examples: Student Beans, ID.me, Perkspot

In Conclusion

The types of affiliate marketing partners you will ultimately have the most success with will depend on your business goals, target audience, and product or service, and it will take time to find them and weed out the others. In the meantime, most brands will find that these five groups provide a solid foundation to build a program on.

Get our Partner Groups Cheat Sheet for a quick reference guide to five types of popular affiliates and how to work with them. This info sheet includes the most common types of campaigns and preferred commission models for each affiliate group.

Photo by Robert Anasch on Unsplash

Whether you’re a digital media buyer (i.e., advertiser) or seller (i.e., publisher), both depend on each other for a successful affiliate marketing program. Advertisers need real-time access and visibility into inventory. Publishers need to be able to show inventory as it becomes available, and provide insightful and accurate reporting. Without the right affiliate marketing platform to track, manage, and report on campaigns, the process becomes cumbersome at best — and can jeopardize thousands or millions of dollars at worst.

In this blog post, we recommend a few things to look for when searching for the right affiliate marketing platform for your business.

5 Things to Look for in an Affiliate Marketing Platform

1. Fully Customizable, White Label Technology

Every company has a different need, brand, industry, and process. As such, it’s important that you choose an affiliate marketing platform that you can customize to fit your company, instead of forcing your company to fit a certain affiliate marketing platform. At TUNE, our platform is white label ready and fully customizable. Whether you want to use our platform’s features and tools out of the box, or leverage our API to build your own on top of it, you can create the perfect platform for your business.

2. Best-In-Class Support

No matter which affiliate marketing platform you choose, there are some things you will need help with from time to time. That’s why it’s important to choose a platform with stellar customer support. The last thing you want to do is spend valuable time waiting on an answer while you could be optimizing your campaigns.

One of the best ways to identify an affiliate marketing platform that prioritizes customer service is whether customer satisfaction is a metric they track. TUNE has a 98% customer service satisfaction rating, and our onboarding team always gets high marks from new customers. We’re also continually looking for ways to get even better, asking our customers for feedback at every opportunity possible.

3. Real-Time Reporting and Campaign Optimization

New inventory becomes available every second of the day. For buyers, success depends on making more timely buys, and sellers need to be able to expose inventory quickly and easily. A top priority should be choosing an affiliate marketing platform that provides real-time data and optimization opportunities so you can make instantaneous decisions. The faster you’re able to optimize, the faster your revenue can scale.

Unlike our competitors, TUNE offers real real-time reporting and management capabilities, including A/B testing and landing space splits, so you can discover what performs best and make instant (or incremental) changes that add up to massive results. (Go ahead — ask any platform how they define “in real time,” and get specific numbers. You’ll see their “real-time” reporting is closer to “delayed by a few hours or a day” reporting.)

4. System Reliability

When assessing an affiliate marketing platform, ask for statistics about uptime. It’s critical as a seller to be able to provide timely and accurate data and analysis. In the fast-paced world of affiliate marketing, nothing can be more frustrating (or result in more lost revenue) than dealing with unnecessary downtime.

We’re proud to say TUNE can report 99.9% system uptime, having built our technical infrastructure to the highest standards in security and redundancy, so your platform will be ready for any situation.

5. All-In-One Functionality

It’s no secret the marketing technology landscape is only getting more complex, with more than 11,000 vendors in 2023. The last thing you want to do is sign up for a point solution and have to integrate with 10 more. That’s why we strongly advise looking for an all-in-one affiliate marketing platform that allows you to manage everything from mobile marketing campaigns to publisher relationships, conversion tracking, payouts, creative assets, lead generation, transactions, automation, and more.

Your Choice, Your Affiliate Marketing Platform

We’re proud of what we’ve created at TUNE, but don’t just take it from us. Read more about what our customers say or see their success stories.

Questions? Reach out to partnermarketing@tune.com to ask our experts, or download The Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing to jump right in.

As much as we like to talk about success stories, we’ve also seen quite a few cases of brands not being able to accomplish their goals when it comes to partner marketing. Let’s have a closer look at some of the most common oversights so you can be sure you don’t follow in the wrong footsteps. 

Underestimating the Time and Effort This Channel Takes  

The commercial team heard that affiliate marketing is a good way to boost sales. They do some quick research and find out that it’s even better than they thought. You just need to find a platform, create a signup link, place it on your website with a big button that says “Join Our Affiliate Program,” and then sit back and watch your sales grow.  

Well, as easy as it sounds, affiliate marketing requires a minimum of one full-time employee, and as a program scales, it would require a whole team. Partner recruitment, initial guidance, offer setup, optimization, monitoring, billing — there’s a lot that goes into a program.  

A platform like TUNE will facilitate all of this; however, only the product owners can make results go through the roof. Allocate enough human resources to your program if you want to see it scale. 

Lacking the Internal Technical Resources 

You know, pixels aren’t a thing anymore in 2022. (Honestly, they weren’t even back in 2020.) As more people and governments become concerned about user privacy, relying on cookies for tracking isn’t going to work.

Because it doesn’t rely on pixels, postback tracking (or server-to-server tracking) is the way to go — but that’s where many brands get stuck. Why? Because at this point, you need a developer or someone with enough technical knowledge who can build a server that can store user information.  

Many brands don’t think of it in advance and don’t secure internal resources to address this. While TUNE has some alternative solutions (such as our JavaScript SDK), you will still need assistance from your website or dev team. If they don’t cooperate, your program won’t launch.   

Not Knowing What Traffic Fraud Is  

A very common mistake is to think that if you pay only a flat rate per sale or revshare, you are safe from fraud. Unfortunately, that’s not true. You would be surprised how advanced modern fraud technologies are these days, especially when it comes to mobile offers.  

Make sure you learn about click spamming, click injection, duplicate IPs, and bot traffic prior to your program launch. Set the requirements in your Terms & Conditions so you are not forced to pay for fraudulent conversions. Once the program starts, check your overall sales, including organic, and confirm there is real growth. It won’t cost you much to take a few sales and look in your database to confirm the user is real. It could cost you much more if you don’t. Your awareness will pay off with time.  

Falling for the Wrong Partners  

This section is closely connected to the previous one, as you definitely don’t want to spend time, effort, and money on partners who use your organic sales as their own. However, that is not all you have to watch out for. Ensure you monitor stats and have conversations with partners who deliver lots of clicks, and sometimes even registrations, but not sales. Set a timeline to decide whether it’s worth continuing to work with such partners based on their performance. 

Consider the time your team spends on communication. Nowadays, time is money. If a partner is struggling with tracking setup, not sharing required values in the URL, delivering leads from invalid sources, or sending incorrect billing details, count those as red flags. To avoid these behaviors in the first place, consider sharing a quick-start guide or other supporting documentation to make things easier and clearer for your partners. 

Assuming Good Quality Partners Are Easy to Acquire 

In the past, there were times when both big and little brands would receive loads of inbound requests from publishers from all over the world. While that may still be true for some household names, most modern companies will find that real publishing gems are hard to discover. And even when you do discover them, there might already be a queue of your competitors willing to offer higher payouts and better terms just to be advertised on their channels.  

It’s important to apply a sales approach to partner recruitment. That includes following up, highlighting your product selling points, working on the best pricing, onboarding, and nurturing the relationship. Given the right amount of attention, you can achieve amazing results and crush your quarterly targets.  

How to Set Yourself Up for Success 

We hope your affiliate marketing program will be one of the success stories with the help of this article. The experts at TUNE are always there to help guide you through this process and share insights, best practices, and advice. Great results come from a joint effort — best of luck with your affiliate marketing journey! 

Make sure you nail it (and don’t fail it): Download our 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Affiliate Program e-book! 

Wondering how to test out an affiliate marketing program for your company? In the process of software buying for next year? Either way, we’ve got you covered with the information you need to start your partner program the right way.

Every successful partnership requires partner identification, outreach, negotiation, and ongoing relationship management. Devoting resources to this upfront effort will pay dividends in the success of your program.   

TUNE’s differentiation is that your program is highly customizable, rather than being held to the rules of a rigid network. Whether you choose a technology platform or a traditional affiliate network, success means putting in the work. Below, we dig into four areas that are keys to success when you start affiliate marketing on TUNE (or any platform). 

4 Keys to Starting an Affiliate Marketing Program 

#1 – Partner Identification 

There are thousands of potential partners for your program. However, all affiliate marketers are not right for every program. Our recommendation is to consider your offer, the channels that perform best already, and the marketing tactics you would approve for a third party to perform to promote that offer.  

From there, you can look at affiliate marketers your competitors are working with using tools like Publisher Discovery. In addition, you can look at competitive commission rates using tools like CashbackMonitor.com.

It’s also important to think about publisher groups, and to understand how they operate and which ones might be the best fit for your offer and budget.  

We’ve identified six main partner groups below: 

• Coupon and deal: traditional affiliates 
• Loyalty: cashback or points earned 
• Content: large and small publishing entities 
• Sub-networks: a mix of all partners under one umbrella 
• Card-linked offers: deals tied to credit cards 
• Closed user groups: partners who market to a small, more focused group that the general public cannot access (ex.: employee perk sites) 

For detailed information and insights about each of these affiliate marketer types, download our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing.

#2 – Outreach 

Your pitch to potential marketing partners is very important because they receive requests from brands constantly. So how can you make yours stand out?  

1. Get straight to the point. Tell them who you are, what you are promoting, and what payout you’re willing to work on with them. 
2. Make your headline stand out. Like any sales pitch, you want to get your audience’s attention, so let your subject line do the work for you.  
3. Follow up at least three times. Partner recruitment needs to be treated like a sales funnel. You shouldn’t expect that partners are willing to work with just anyone — it’s a mutual relationship, after all. 

#3 – Negotiation 

There are many ways to work within your budget, so leave room for negotiation when onboarding partners. They may have goals they need to reach just like you do. Therefore, it’s common to negotiate on the payout — CPA, lead, upfront fees, or a hybrid of these.  

Below are some options for your offer to partners: 

• Commission: your payout or cost per sale/cost per acquisition 
• Flat fees: a flat payment upfront to a partner 
• TM+ rights: you can allow certain partners to bid on your trademark  
• Exclusive deals: you can offer a partner a steep discount no one else has 

#4 – Ongoing Relationship Management 

It’s called a “partnership” for a reason. Just like any relationship, it needs to be nurtured for ongoing success.  

The best programs operate on quality, not quantity. So, if you find the right partners, you will have the most success with them by testing and learning on an ongoing basis. Check in with them, ask what’s working and what’s not. Run flash sales to see what resonates with their audience. And above all, treat your partners like they are a branch of your business. Because they are. Without partners, there is no affiliate program. 

How to Start Affiliate Marketing Today 

If you’re new to the TUNE platform, we have tons of resources available, from customized onboarding and professional services to the industry’s best technical documentation. 

The TUNE Resource Library is also full of helpful guides and info sheets, like our Partner Groups Cheat Sheet on the right. Download a free copy here.

Are you thinking about launching a partner marketing program on TUNE? Great! That means you are already in productive conversations about the start of your program. But have you thought about what to do before a kickoff call and onboarding takes place?  

Helping brands successfully launch programs on TUNE, we sometimes hear things like I wish I had known that before I started, or I didn’t think to ask about that before launching. The “that” in these statements can vary from which team members are needed, to how much time it will take based on the brand’s offering and objectives. In any case, having a proactive approach to launch can be valuable – which is why it’s the next topic in our onboarding blog series. In this post, I am going to share what I have seen work well and what has helped many programs take onboarding to the next level.  

TUNE Onboarding Series 

A Quick Introduction
Is Customized Onboarding Right for You?
What to Expect During the First 30 Days
How Onboarding and Customer Success Teams Work Together
Supporting Long-Term Success After Launch

Now that we have covered several checkpoints during the onboarding process, let us step back 30+ days and talk about what you can be doing to support a successful onboarding before it starts.

Get Ahead with a Head Start 

The time before a program launch is a busy one for most teams. If I could share an “easy button” to hit, that would be ideal. (As a mom of two little kids, I could use that button several times a week.) Unfortunately, even though we all want it, it has yet to be invented.  

While it is not a push of a button, having a clear direction on the steps below will give you an early advantage and make this initial stage a little easier by having the right information. This includes the following:  

• Have a clear strategy and goals  
• Assign the right team  
• Plan for technical resources  
• Research tools  

Let’s look at each of these factors in more detail. 

Have a Clear Strategy and Goals 

Before launching your program, it is important to know what an indicator of your brand’s success will look like. This includes having a good idea of your offering and what the priority goal is (growth, number of partners, conversions, etc.). Writing down an outline of your vision can help ensure confident, purposeful direction at launch, saving you from spending precious time trying to decide these things after the contract has been signed.  

That said, you have access to a very experienced team at TUNE that is happy to help you further discuss these items and finalize any setup details during the onboarding process.  

Assign the Right Team 

Who is going to own this program for the brand? While team resources may be limited or smaller (some have internal resources or an agency to support), the most important thing is having the right team to drive a new program launch. Unlike some other channels, affiliate needs time and attention in the initial stages to become the profitable channel that many see it become. This means a dedicated team or lead to drive new partnerships, run negotiations, discuss ongoing program optimization, gather feedback from partners, know the data, and much more.  

Planning for this investment of program resources upfront is often a huge indicator of how quickly a program can start to see growth and partner activation. Now, this does not mean that a good team is the only thing needed for success, but it is a sizable portion of what we see when we look at strong programs.  

Plan for Technical Resources 

This can vary from having an internal dev team or third-party tech lead. The biggest advantage here is having a technical resource with time to support the initial launch requirements. While this can be difficult because pipelines and project deadlines are miles long these days, pushing for this resource upfront is an advantage. It can help you launch faster and with more accuracy. Of course, your results will vary depending on the brand and the complexity of the campaign.   

Research Tools 

While TUNE is a robust platform with a lot of features to help you succeed in the long term, we also look to other experts to enhance your growth. For example, we work with a tool called Publisher Discovery to support your recruitment strategy. Knowing what your specific goals are in advance (growth, number of partners, conversions, etc.) will help you determine which tools or areas of focus are going to be the biggest priority as you get ready to launch. Recruitment tends to be a common one, so being ready to invest in the right tools to start can help get the right partners in the door earlier in the launch timeline. Waiting to do this later can often leave money on the table. It is never too early to start conversations with potential partners.  

On Your Mark, Get Set …

I hope this provides some insight or things to ask before launching your program with TUNE. If you have any questions or want to learn more about how to best succeed, reach out to onboarding@tune.com.   

Read the rest of the TUNE Onboarding Series 

A Quick Introduction
Is Customized Onboarding Right for You?
What to Expect During the First 30 Days
How Onboarding and Customer Success Teams Work Together
Supporting Long-Term Success After Launch

As we continue our recruitment series here at TUNE, the Partnerships team is back to share our insights and expertise with advertisers who may be experiencing challenges with receiving timely responses or interest from publishers they have reached out to for their new affiliate programs. As I stated in last month’s post on boosting recruitment programs, advertisers should understand adding partners to their programs requires a combination of automation and human interaction, regardless of platform and popularity.  

At TUNE, we like to think of ourselves as “partnership matchmakers,” where advertisers assume the role of being the fresh new face on the dating scene. They are eager to test the waters in an open marketplace and welcome the chance to mix and mingle with potential publishers also searching for a committed, long-term partnership. 

SaaS-based affiliate networks are like dating apps where advertisers and publishers are curious singles who join the service in the hopes of meeting people interested in pursuing a relationship. Each party registers for an account, creates a profile, adds a picture, and types in a few basic details about themselves. While waiting to be discovered by others, they cruise around the app to check out profiles of other users. Eventually, the direct message notifications start to chime, and now the real fun begins. 

Maybe a few calls and texts are exchanged offline, while other conversations turn out to be a complete waste of time. Because each dating app has specific types of users and features, some people have registered accounts on multiple apps. There is also a group of users who only open the apps on rare occasions, never check or send messages, or simply never log in at all. They also say they are unhappy because the apps have not worked for them.  

This group did not realize part of the relationship-building process required them to actively engage with other people on the app. Simply having a profile, or having one with very few details, was not the best way for people to discover them. Being absent or silent certainly was not going to generate any interest, either. To these users, the app simply did not work as expected. Doesn’t that sound familiar? 

We asked some of our most responsive publishers for tips and advice to share with advertisers who are not seeing much success with responses. Based on that feedback, along with our internal team conversations, I have put together three simple steps advertisers should take once an introduction has been made to a publisher in TUNE Connect. Let’s review them below. 

Step 1: Tell Them Your Name 

Like dating, first impressions are everything. How we introduce ourselves plays a major part in how we are perceived by others and drawing their attention to us. Our names are the most obvious tools used to initiate contact with others and make them aware of our interest in getting to know them. The same is true with partner introductions, where a recognizable name can open more doors than a lofty job title. It also comes in quite handy when you have changed company roles or started a new business venture.  

Why is this important? Because people want to know who is on the other end of the line.  

This may sound extremely basic, but an email to a potential partner should always include the decision-maker’s professional business name. Aliases and nicknames can often be viewed as spam, or a potential risk for viruses or malware. Suspicious emails are usually blocked or deleted instantly by fraud detection filters, so remember: If there is something funny or suspicious about the name of the person sending the email, do not be surprised if no one is responding. 

With TUNE Connect, automated introduction emails to publishers are sent to the most up-to-date contact on file for both advertisers and publishers. Once an introduction has been initiated, one or both of the parties should follow up with a direct response, even if only to acknowledge receipt of the email. Neither side should assume the person on the other end is familiar with them or their company.  

Seasoned publishers will search for more information in a professional directory or online resource before responding, so it is a good idea to use names that make it easier for partners to find out who the person is that wants to work with them.  

Step 2: Perfect Your Pitch  

Imagine attending a speed dating event that allows you to meet lots of new potential partners, but you’re limited to a very short period of time to break the ice. How many distinct, informative, and quick details can you share about yourself in the hopes of gaining interest and a second invitation to speak again?  

Partner introductions provide an opportunity for advertisers to pitch their programs. It is not necessary to share full company details, but the emails most likely to receive a response from publishers are those that clearly communicate the offer name, product description, payout, converting action, and acceptable traffic sources.   

Advertisers should avoid using general terms such as “top payouts,” “high-converting offers,” or “custom pages.” This type of open-ended language can make it difficult for publishers to evaluate audience interest or fit, especially with unfamiliar brands. A top-tier publisher will simply skip over these emails without a response if they are already inundated with other well-thought-out introductions. Once again, this part of the recruitment process does not change, regardless of the affiliate platform.  

Just like advertisers, publishers are in business to generate revenue. There is a cost to creating content, adding new media channels, and building audiences to increase traffic. They are also interested in working with products and offers in alignment with their audience and business aesthetics. Advertisers who can show them the mutual benefits of working together usually receive a response almost immediately.   

Step 3: Follow Up, then Follow Up Some More 

This last point should be automatic for everyone. If you do not receive a response within the first 72 hours (about 3 days), send a follow-up email. It is also helpful to make a note, create a cadence, or schedule a task to follow up more than once.  

If you receive a response, but the answer is not favorable, ask for feedback to understand why the relationship is not possible. Perhaps the timing is not right now, or maybe the offer does not fit that publisher’s audience. Even negative feedback can be used to make changes or improvements to future partner outreach and follow-up communication. 

Allow some space in between attempts. Consider making three attempts spread out over a period of 15–21 days (about 3 weeks). If you still have not received a response after sending the final email, it may be best to move on to another publisher for the time being. You can always try again in the future.  

At TUNE, we love a happy conclusion. We cannot always promise a match will be made, but we can invite more partners to the dance. 

Bringing It All Together 

Even with all of the latest developments in affiliate marketing technology, partner recruitment remains a big challenge for advertisers, regardless of the networks or partner management platforms they use. TUNE is committed to helping our partners ramp up their recruitment efforts and will be providing additional recruitment support to our customers. We will also continue to share our partnership blog series on our website and social channels.  

Now, I want to hear from you: What are your must-do steps after reaching out to a publisher? Let me know in the comments below! 

Questions about recruitment or program best practices? Drop me a line at partnerships@tune.com. 

Congratulations on your shiny new affiliate program!

After months of studying the needs and buying habits of consumers, you developed a new product, created an offer, and opened a store. You identified your ideal customer, but also the biggest competitors in your targeted niche. After digging through tons of data and crunching the numbers, you’ve mapped out a solid go-to-market strategy to ensure long-term success. Everything looks good and you’re ready to launch, or so you think.

Just like a traditional brick-and-mortar shop, you want to get customers in the door as quickly as possible, but where do you look for them? More importantly, how do you let them know you’re open for business? How do you get them to start spending money with your brand? TUNE offers some quick tips to help small businesses discover the benefits of an affiliate program.

Why It Pays to Put in the Work

Whatever media channel or traffic source you choose to reach your desired audience, you’ll need to enlist reliable media partners to help get the word out as quickly as possible. Recruitment is often the biggest challenge when it comes to launching programs, so it’s important for brands to understand that a successful partnership program on any platform requires affiliate identification, outreach, negotiation, and ongoing relationship management.

Brands should always maintain full ownership of their recruitment initiatives and devote considerable time and effort upfront to build (and maintain) their desired partner pipelines. Adopting a “set it and forget it” strategy will always deliver poor results; investing in this effort early on will pay dividends in the success of your program. Try to think of it like this: An affiliate program is like a gym membership. If you join a gym, regardless of the amenities, but never take the time to actually go in and work out, you won’t see any results. And you cannot blame the gym — in other words, your platform — for that.

In the old days of affiliate marketing, publishers were relentless in the pursuit of brands. Advertisers called the shots when it came to deciding where to spend their ad dollars, and only publishers with pristine content, astronomical volume, and high traffic-ranking scores were considered for program opportunities. Requests For Proposal (RFPs) were a requirement, as brands expected a full accounting of where their ad dollars were being spent.

The roles have been reversed, and now it is publishers who are in the driver’s seat. Brands are now finding themselves in the pitching position. Publishers are more selective, and thanks to the success of social media platforms, they are more than willing to pass on opportunities that don’t make sense for their audiences or content strategy. For them, payout is secondary to offers that resonate with their base and foster long-term engagement.  

How to Recruit Affiliates and Other Marketing Partners

To help our customers with their recruitment efforts, TUNE’s Partnerships Team has put together this quick list of internal and external resources:

1. TUNE Connect

TUNE’s Connect marketplace is a curated list of carefully vetted media, agency, and technology partners open to direct relationships with TUNE clients. From their private dashboard accounts, brands managing programs on TUNE have the ability to sort and preview partner profiles, including verticals, regions, and accepted payout models, after which, they can request a connection directly with the selected partner at the click of a button. After a partner has been selected, an automated introduction email will be sent to both parties directly from the platform. To improve the chances for a quick and reasonable response, it is highly recommended for the customer to follow up immediately with specific offer payouts, conversion metrics, audience targets, and acceptable traffic sources.

2. Publisher Discovery

Publisher Discovery is a third-party recruitment tool that can be used in conjunction with TUNE Connect. Think of it as Google, but for affiliates. For a discounted fee, it is a great add-on option that offers customers a wider range of affiliates for their programs, including granular competitor reports, payout details, and direct publisher contact information. Download our one-sheet to learn more.

3. Agency Services

We understand some brands experience limitations due to inadequate platform training, staffing shortages, or time constraints. Agencies can help grow programs at an average of 30% or more. TUNE has 40+ outstanding full-service agency partners who are available and willing to assist with program strategy, management, and partner recruitment. Pricing may vary, but we do our best to match our brands with the best and most reasonable options.

4. Rakuten Advertising

We understand some brands require may require a specialized network integration such as Rakuten Advertising, with whom we have developed a strategic relationship. We are able to offer a custom discount for TUNE customers. 

Maximize Your Partner Recruitment with TUNE

As an important rule of thumb, it’s good to remember that the devil is in the details, so follow-up is a must. We recommend reaching out to the direct contact in the email introduction within a period of 24 hours or less. Brands should have a clear and viable understanding of their program goals and be ready to present them if the publisher expresses an interest in continuing the conversation. We strongly recommend avoiding the use of broad terms and vague language. This will improve the chances of receiving a response. Some publishers may also request a one-sheet or overview deck.

Even if you do everything right, publisher responses are not guaranteed once an introduction has been facilitated by TUNE. That’s why our Partnerships Team is here to help identify potential blockers and assist with helping you connect with your new and most valuable affiliates.

If you have questions about partner recruitment or would like more information about our resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at partnerships@tune.com.