A lead is not just a potential client, but a prospective committed customer. This is exactly why businesses dedicate a lot of resources to boost lead generation. From running TV ads to sending newsletters, businesses leave no stones unturned. However, they do neglect B2B affiliate marketing.
What is B2B Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a strategy where businesses employ publishers to promote their business. The promoters earn commissions for each lead they provide.
B2B affiliate marketing is where a business encourages another business (businesses) to be a part of an affiliate program.
How to Boost Lead Generation through Affiliate Marketing?
Here are a few tips to get you started with Affiliate Marketing:
- Recruit the right affiliates: Invest time in finding and recruiting the right type of affiliates. Most affiliate marketers tend to have a B2C focus, which does not match with B2B marketing. You can attract the right affiliates by:
- Optimizing your affiliate landing page. Include a CTA button for potential B2B affiliates to join your affiliate program. Add well-written content that answers all the questions from your potential B2B affiliates.
- Motivate your affiliates: An affiliate can only be a part of a number of affiliate programs, and top affiliate marketers are always busy and hard to reach. In that case, why should someone promote your brand instead of your competitors’ brand? Your offer should somehow stand out from what your competitors offer.
- Educate your affiliates about your sales cycle: Since B2B relationships tend to have a longer lifespan, it is always a good idea to inform your affiliates about the complexity of your sales cycle upfront. It usually pays off for your affiliates to be patient, as the conversions have higher profit potential.
- Invest time and resources: To make your affiliate program function like a well-oiled machine, you need to actively recruit affiliates and maintain constant communication with them. However, you need to invest your time and resources, only if it offers enough potential leads.
- Streamline lead conversions: Another way to ensure your affiliate program functions properly is to convert leads easily. For example, if one of your value points is an email subscription, the form should be the first thing to pop up. It shouldn’t take minutes of surfing through your website. While your affiliates work hard to send you leads, you must do your part to convert them easily.
Affiliate marketing is an effective channel for generating leads and driving sales, and these methods should help you kick-start and establish a successful B2B Affiliate Marketing program.
