Most affiliate programs struggle to scale effectively, wasting time and money on ineffective strategies. In my 15+ years of experience, I’ve seen one approach consistently separate thriving programs from those that stagnate.
“For one of our clients, we generated over 13,000 new customers and over $2 million in revenue in 7 months. We’ve also helped another one of our clients achieve over $8 million in revenue and over 70,000 new customers in 7 months.”
These aren’t flukes. These are the results we consistently achieve for our clients. Our North Star is building affiliate programs that generate seven to eight figures worth of revenue annually.
Having worked on every side of affiliate marketing—managing affiliates at networks, building programs for brands, and being an affiliate myself—I’ve generated over $250 million in affiliate revenue for DTC brands like Onnit, Goli, Cheech & Chong, and FluffCo. As an experienced affiliate marketer, let me share the proven method behind these results.
The 3 Major Roadblocks to Affiliate Program Growth
Before we talk solutions, let’s diagnose what’s likely holding your affiliate marketing program back:
1. The Awareness Gap
“Affiliates just don’t know your brand or that you have an affiliate program. A common mistake is that brands don’t understand the industry’s size—how many e-commerce brands are out there. There are millions worldwide, and probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of affiliate programs out there.”
For affiliates to promote your products, they first need to know you exist. This fundamental barrier stops many programs before they even begin. Building a diverse and engaged affiliate network is crucial to overcoming this challenge.
2. The "If You Build It, They Will Come" Fallacy
Many brands set up an affiliate program and passively wait for quality partners to roll in. The harsh reality?
“Either you won’t get any applications, or you’ll get a bunch of applications from affiliates who aren’t a fit and won’t generate any revenue. This wastes a lot of your time.”
Simply having a program isn’t enough—you need a proactive strategy to attract the right partners and enhance your affiliate promotions.
3. A Thin Partnership Pipeline
“Building an affiliate program is very similar to sales. You have to have a sales pipeline, and at the top of that pipeline, you want to keep adding more and more leads. If you think you’re going to talk to one or two affiliates per week or a few per month and every one of them is going to be a home run—that’s just not how it works.”
You need volume and variety to find those diamonds who will truly move the needle for your business, and recruiting new affiliates is essential to achieving this.
Building a Strong Network with Affiliate Partners
Building a strong network with affiliate partners is crucial for a successful affiliate marketing business. Affiliate partners can help promote products or services to their audience, significantly increasing affiliate sales and revenue. To build a robust network, affiliate marketers should focus on creating valuable content that resonates with their partners’ audiences and providing exclusive promotions that incentivize collaboration.
Affiliate managers play a vital role in facilitating relationships between affiliate marketers and their partners, ensuring a smooth and profitable partnership. They act as the bridge, helping to align goals and expectations, and providing the necessary support to keep the partnership thriving.
A strong network of affiliate partners can drive traffic and increase sales, making it an essential component of your affiliate marketing efforts. By investing time and resources into building and maintaining these relationships, you can create a successful affiliate marketing business that consistently delivers results.
Creating Effective Landing Pages
Creating effective landing pages is critical for converting affiliate marketing traffic into sales. These pages should be optimized for search engines to ensure they rank well and attract organic traffic. Including clear calls-to-action, detailed product descriptions, and exclusive promotions can significantly enhance the user experience and drive conversions.
Affiliate marketers can leverage Google Analytics to track the performance of their landing pages, allowing them to optimize campaigns for better results. High-performing affiliates often use landing pages to promote products effectively, and affiliate networks can provide tools and resources to help create these optimized pages.
By focusing on creating effective landing pages, affiliate marketers can increase conversion rates and drive more revenue from their affiliate marketing efforts. This approach not only boosts sales but also enhances the overall efficiency of your marketing strategy.
The Game-Changing Solution: Outbound Recruitment
The key differentiator I’ve identified after helping hundreds of DTC brands is surprisingly simple:
“You need to have an outbound approach to affiliate recruitment. A lot of people view affiliate marketing as just a marketing channel—which it is—but unlike paid ads or SEO, affiliate marketing has a human aspect. It’s all based on relationships.”
This human element is critical. Unlike algorithms, affiliates need to be communicated with, convinced, and genuinely excited about your brand—especially since they’re working on a performance basis.
“The difference between a program that generates significant revenue versus one that doesn’t grow is almost always this: Unless you’re a huge brand with a lot of awareness and equity, you’re probably not doing enough outreach to build relationships.”
Leveraging Paid Advertising
Leveraging paid advertising can help affiliate marketers reach a wider audience and increase affiliate sales. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer powerful tools for promoting affiliate products and driving traffic to landing pages. Pay-per-click advertising allows marketers to target specific audiences, increasing the visibility of their affiliate content.
By leveraging paid advertising, affiliate marketers can stay consistent with their marketing efforts and save time by automating their ad spend. This approach not only helps in building relationships with the target audience but also increases brand awareness, ultimately driving more sales and revenue.
Paid advertising is a strategic investment that can yield significant returns, making it a valuable component of any affiliate marketing strategy.
The Sales-Focused Approach That Gets Results
Here’s exactly how we implement this at Performance Partners:
We focus on a sales-driven approach that prioritizes high-converting strategies and effective communication with our audience. By leveraging data analytics and customer feedback, we continuously refine our methods to ensure optimal performance. Additionally, we provide our team with affiliate marketing tips to help them enhance their strategies and maximize their earnings.
1. Treat Affiliate Recruitment Like Sales
“You need to take a sales-focused approach. That means having a sales pipeline—identifying the right types of affiliates, prospecting them, and doing outreach via email or DMs.”
For high-potential partners, we always get on a call. As I tell my team: “It’s hard to sell someone through just email or DMs. For big opportunities, we like to hop on a call and explain why this partnership makes sense and how they’ll benefit. Additionally, utilizing different channels can help us effectively connect with our target audience and accelerate growth.”
2. Master Strategic Negotiation
The affiliate-brand relationship has inherent tension:
“Think about the nature of affiliate marketing: the brand wants to lower acquisition costs, while the affiliate wants to maximize their commission. These motivations don’t always align.”
By understanding what truly motivates each affiliate, we create customized deals where everyone wins. Offering higher commissions, especially for enterprise-level plans, can attract affiliates who prioritize competitive compensation, thereby enhancing their overall performance and income potential. This personal touch is what transforms good programs into great ones.
3. Reap the Benefits of Control
With outbound recruitment:
- You choose the affiliates whose audiences perfectly match your customer profile, providing them with a unique link to track conversions and build effective partnerships.
- You ensure consistent growth through a robust pipeline.
- You work with higher-quality partners who drive high AOV sales and repeat buyers.
Your 4-Step Action Plan (With Real Examples)
Step 1: Strategic Research
“Do your research. Identify which types of affiliates you want to go after (influencers, bloggers, review sites, media buyers, etc.) within your niche.”
Real Example: Start with a simple Google search for “[your product category] best products” or “[competitor name] review” and document the top 20 sites. These are your first outreach targets.
Step 2: Craft Compelling Outreach
“Don’t overcomplicate it. Big affiliates get tons of messages. Use email marketing to keep it short and specific. Reference their content. Mention your brand briefly and simply ask if they’d be open to collaborating.”
Real Example: “Hi [Name], I noticed your excellent review of [competitor product]. We’ve created [your product] which addresses [specific pain point] even better because of [unique benefit]. Would you be interested in testing it for a potential review? We offer [compelling commission structure].”
Step 3: Prioritize Calls for High-Value Prospects
“Set up calls with high-potential affiliates. Not for everyone—but if someone has a large following or strong monthly traffic, get on a call. Ask what they look for in a partnership, what motivates them, and use that to create a win-win deal with exclusive deals.”
Real Example: During these calls, I always ask: “Besides commission rate, what makes a brand partner ideal for you?” The answers—whether it’s payment terms, creative assets, or exclusivity—give you leverage beyond just raising commissions.
Step 4: Follow Up Systematically
“Most deals don’t close on the first message. Like in sales, it often takes 7 to 15 touchpoints. Use different sequences. Keep track of who you’re following up with and when.”
Real Example: We use a simple tracking system with follow-up scheduled for 3 days, 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days after initial contact, with different angles each time. Our data shows that 38% of our successful partnerships come after the third follow-up, often incentivized by offering early access to promotions or bonuses.
Measuring Success and Performance
Measuring success and performance is essential for optimizing affiliate marketing campaigns and increasing revenue. Affiliate marketers can use Google Analytics to track website traffic, conversion rates, and affiliate sales, providing valuable insights into their marketing efforts.
By analyzing industry trends and tracking affiliate sales, marketers can identify profitable products and optimize their campaigns for better results. Affiliate networks offer tools and resources to help measure success and performance, including tracking affiliate partnerships and commission structures.
Regularly measuring success and performance allows affiliate marketers to make data-driven decisions, improving their affiliate marketing business and increasing revenue. This approach ensures that you are always optimizing and refining your strategies to achieve the best possible outcomes, ultimately making more money through affiliate marketing.
Taking Action Now
Don’t make the mistake most brands make by waiting for great affiliates to find you. The most successful affiliate programs I’ve built all share this common thread: proactive, strategic outbound recruitment through social media marketing.
“Start small. Choose a realistic weekly outreach goal and stick to it. Track everything in a Google Sheet. Know who you’ve contacted, who replied, and who was activated. This will help you stay organized and optimize your efforts.”
If you're a brand struggling to scale your affiliate program, book a free strategy call with us—just click the 'Let's Connect' button.
.webp)
Achieve profitable growth with a performance-based partner program
