Affiliate Mastery: Building Connections, Avoiding Mistakes
As the new year approaches, many brands remain focused on the holidays and late-season promotions. However, as Tara McCommons (Vice President of Sales & Marketing at LinkConnector) and Jake Fuller (CEO and Co-Founder of JEBCommerce) discuss in a recent episode of Jake’s Profitable Performance Marketing podcast, lasting affiliate success extends well beyond the holiday rush.
Whether you’re launching a new affiliate program or refining your current strategy, it’s crucial to take a holistic approach that fosters growth into the new year. Below, we’ve outlined several key takeaways from their conversation to help brands optimize their affiliate marketing programs in 2025.
Humanizing Your Program: Building strong relationships with affiliates is key to a successful program; fostering trust, engagement, and long-term collaboration. Tara explains that affiliate programs thrive on relationships built through communication and engagement. “The success of an affiliate program is rooted in relationships and those relationships thrive on engagement.” Jake echoes this sentiment, emphasizing the role of regular updates and personal outreach, adding “The more you can humanize it…, the better.”
Resource Allocation and Commitment: Proper resource allocation and commitment are essential to managing and growing an effective affiliate program. Jake and Tara note that many merchants underestimate the effort required, often delegating affiliate management as an afterthought. Tara advises, “If, as a merchant, you don’t have the internal resources dedicated to be invested in this consistently, then an agency is ideal for helping to support that.”
“The success of an affiliate program is rooted in relationships, and those relationships thrive
on engagement.”
–Tara McCommons, LinkConnector VP of Sales & Marketing
Communicating Your Value Proposition: A recurring challenge is brands failing to articulate their value proposition to affiliates. Tara recommends treating affiliates as an extension of the marketing team and helping them understand what sets the brand apart. This clarity inspires affiliates to approach promotions more creatively and enthusiastically, driving stronger results.
Flexibility and the Full Funnel Approach: Affiliate marketing is uniquely positioned to support customers throughout the entire journey, from awareness to conversion. Jake stresses the value of a “full funnel” approach, leveraging diverse partners like content creators and technology providers to engage customers at every stage. Tara underscores the need for flexibility, suggesting that merchants test various affiliate segments and tools to improve retention and revenue recovery. Jake concludes, “You continually have to engage with customers, market to them, and…win them over.”
Quarterly Reviews and Strategy Adjustments: Tara suggests brands reassess their affiliate strategies quarterly to stay aligned with market trends, seasonality and partner needs. “Thinking about the quarters and recognizing that you don’t want the relationships to go stale” is essential for growth. Jake adds that regular strategy reviews should include competitive analysis and evaluations of rewards and promotions. “Every quarter there should be at least an assessment of how you’re utilizing your affiliate partnerships.”
Affiliate Program Performance and Site Experience: Tara and Jake highlight that a smooth website experience is vital for affiliate program success. Poor site performance can deter affiliates, as they monitor metrics like earnings per click (EPC). Tara advises, “You want that to be in good condition before you start inviting people in.” Educating affiliates on key metrics like conversion rates and top-selling products can empower them to optimize their efforts effectively.
“The big thing that we see missing from programs that are stagnant, that are down year over year, that should be up, is that [merchants are] just not communicating with their partners.”
-Jake Fuller, JEBCommerce CEO, PPM Podcast Host
Building Post-Holiday Momentum: As the new year begins, Jake and Tara recommend equipping affiliates with fresh creative assets and promotional materials for Q1. Tara emphasizes sharing insights like top-selling products to help affiliates prepare for success, while Jake advises negotiating placements during Q4 to secure better deals for early 2024. “Affiliate partners right now… have an excess of opportunities to have additional exposure for brands at a lower price that you can negotiate.”
Final Thoughts: As we approach the new year, it’s clear that affiliate marketing success is about more than just capitalizing on the Q4 rush. By focusing on key areas such as relationship-building, consistent engagement, and strategic resource allocation, brands can lay the groundwork for long-term affiliate program growth. Whether you’re refining your approach or starting a new program, patience and a commitment to nurturing your affiliate partnerships will pay off in spades.
To dive deeper into these strategies and more, listen to the full episode of the Profitable Performance Marketing Podcast, click the button below. To learn more about Jake Fuller and JEBCommerce check out our recent spotlight.