How Affiliate Marketing Can Help Event Promotion
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing where affiliates are rewarded based on sales generated through their promotion. It’s one of the most popular forms of online advertising.There are many different ways to monetize affiliate programs, including pay-per-click, pay-per-lead, pay-per-action, pay-per-install, or pay-per-sale. Some affiliate networks offer commission rates ranging from 5% to 50%, while some charge a fixed fee.
The publishers you recruit to affiliate with your event or product don’t have to sell anything themselves. Instead, they act as an online salesperson, helping others market their events, products, and services. The best part is that it doesn't cost the publishers any money. All they need is a computer and Internet access to get involved in affiliate marketing.
3 Different types of affiliate marketing
Unattached Affiliate Marketing
The first type of affiliate marketing, unattached, refers to when you have no authority over the niche of the product being advertised. You have no control over what happens once someone buys the product, so you must hope that people will actually purchase the product. This is often done through pay-per-click advertisements where your affiliate link appears alongside products that people might want to buy.Related Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketers often promote products they haven't used themselves just because they're related to their niche. This strategy is called "related affiliate marketing."An affiliate marketer in this situation has an audience, whether they're blogging, posting videos online, or creating social media posts. They also have some level of influence, making them a trustworthy source for recommending products, no matter how small their following might be.
While related affiliate marketing can generate a lot of affiliate revenue, there's always the chance that they'll recommend a terrible product or service and could end up losing their audience over one bad recommendation. This is why although some "influencers" participate a lot in related affiliate marketing many will stay away to ensure their longevity.
Involved Affiliate Marketing
The most common form of affiliate marketing involves recommending products and services that publishers personally used and believe in.In this case, they're referring to a specific product or service, rather than just posting about general topics. They are encouraged to mention why they like the product or event, what problems it solves, or what benefits it offers over alternatives. This helps people understand whether or not they're qualified to recommend something.
If they are trying to advertise an event, they might write about their past experiences with it or if none have happened before write about how easy the sign-up was for example.
They don't have to use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to engage in involved affiliate marketing. It can also be blogs, YouTube videos, podcasts, and email newsletters to reach potential customers.
Why affiliate marketing is a good idea for smaller companies-
The biggest benefit of affiliate marketing for small businesses is that there is little risk involved. Unlike traditional advertising methods, where you spend a lot of money upfront, you only pay once someone buys something from your publisher's link.So, while you don't have to worry about spending too much money upfront, you do have to invest some time into building relationships with potential customers and researching who you want to affiliate your event or brand with. This is very important you do your research on who you are allowing to represent your brand, they could be a long-time customer who is very popular on social media but if their values do not align with your brand, it might be better to not offer them an affiliate position.
Create an affiliate program promotional page on your events website-
Creating an optimized affiliate program page on your events website isn’t just about attracting visitors; it’s also about enticing them to join your organization. This includes highlighting all of the benefits of becoming an affiliate and include information on who they can contact within your organization to learn more about your affiliate program as well.When creating your affiliate informational page on your website, focus on making sure that you incorporate keywords throughout your copy, as well as optimizing both the navigation and design elements. Include links to your landing page, where individuals can register and start earning commissions. Make sure that you include some type of call to action, like a button that allows people to opt into your newsletter either about your affiliate program or your organization as a whole.
Finally, add social media sharing buttons, so that people can easily spread the word about your affiliate program.
Look for influencers that would be a good fit for your affiliate program-
Social media influencers are becoming increasingly popular among marketers. They’re individuals who have worked to develop a strong online presence and following. This follows a similar concept to word-of-mouth marketing, where people tell others about products and services they use. However, it happens digitally and to a much bigger audience, making it easier and faster to reach more people.Influencer marketing works best when targeting audiences that align with your brand’s values and goals. These could include things such as health, wellness, fashion, food, travel, beauty, lifestyle, and many more. You want to find influencers whose target market matches yours.
1. Find out what type of events they promote
Once you know what type of events they promote, you can narrow down your list even further. For example, if you run a fitness class or are attending a fitness conference, you might look for someone who promotes healthy living. If you run a restaurant, you might seek out those who promote gourmet dining to come to one of your events and offer them a free meal.2. Reach out
Reach out to influencers via email and let them know you’d like to collaborate. Let them know why you think they’d be a great fit for your event. Include some information about your upcoming event, including the date, location, ticket price, and more. Be sure to mention how much value you believe they can bring to your campaign and what they would be benefiting from it as well.3. Content
If you do decide to work with an influencer, make sure their social media content is tailored to your audience. Don’t expect them to write something generic and post it without any editing. Instead, ask them to create content around topics related to your niche. Give them a vision of how you would like their content to turn out in the end.4. Reach out to niche bloggers
Sometimes a smaller blogger or influencer will have the most loyal fans. A smaller community makes it easier for a person to interact with their followers/fans creating more of a friendship feeling between the two rather than a celebrity-fan relationship. You are also able to reach your target audience much easier by having a niche blogger or influencer affiliate for your event.This allows the fans to have more trust in the person they are following due to the closer relationship they have.
5. Provide enticing rewards to your affiliates
When it comes to affiliate marketing there are many ways to incentivize your affiliates. One way you might consider rewarding your affiliates is by offering merchandise. This is especially beneficial for events where attendees want to wear branded clothing. Most of the time affiliates will then wear their merchandise in later videos or posts providing you with more advertisements without asking influencers. In turn, creating a closer relationship with your affiliates to work with them in the future, and potentially create a partnership with them.Another option involves providing both free and discounted tickets to your event. You can ask your affiliates to spread the word about the discount and encourage people to attend. Of course, you'll have to determine how much of a discount you'll give your affiliates. Depending on the size of your audience, you may decide to offer 20% off or 50%. Whatever you choose, you'll probably find that discounts like this increase attendance. Lastly, the most common way is commission based, this will be most popular with larger affiliates that have a bigger audience because typically commission is paid from pay-per-click this means when someone clicks on a link you provided your affiliate with, they will earn commission from it.
Others like that include pay-per-lead and pay-per-action. These tend to have more risks involved compared to pay-per-install and pay-per-sale because with these two you have created income from it, so you have money to pay your affiliate with. The other options do not generate funds, and although it does give you the exposure you are not making any funds and still have to give a commission to your affiliate.
Conclusion
Overall affiliate marketing is a great way to reach a larger audience with little to no commitment or risk. As long as you do your research and put in the work it takes to produce good successful relationships with your affiliates, in the end, it will pay off for your event and organization and sell out your next event! Event Promotion 
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