Should You Work With An Affiliate Marketing Agency?

Building a business can be time-consuming and difficult without the right connections. That’s why it’s beneficial for some business owners to embrace affiliate marketers works programs.

Running a successful affiliate campaign is not something that many company owners have experience with. That’s why so many businesses hire top affiliate agencies.

An affiliate agency can help you supercharge your  program and get high-quality website owners to feature your products and your business in front of their large audiences.

I have built and flipped many multiple figure website traffic myself and in this article I will help you decide if your business is ready to partner with top affiliate agency.

Quick Summary

How Can Your Business Benefit From Affiliate Marketing?

Your business can benefit from affiliate marketing in a number of ways. Affiliate marketing is a powerful business model that gets other people with an established web following to recommend your products and services to their audience.

In exchange for a commission, these reputable influencers will send paying customers to your business to help you grow your organization rapidly.

Affiliates utilize social media marketing, search engine optimization, and even paid search marketing to generate leads that want to pay for your products.

What Affiliate Marketing Agencies Do

Affiliate marketing agencies form relationships with affiliate networks and publishers in different sectors. The best affiliate marketing agencies help connect the right publishers to the right programs to encourage a successful affiliate campaign.

If you’re new to the idea of affiliate marketing, it might seem overwhelming to try and convince effective publishers to take on your business and start selling your products. This is one of the biggest benefits of an affiliate marketing company.

This skilled business already has relationships with affiliates that can take on your new affiliate marketing program and help it become a success. Instead of spending time trying to convince publishers to become your affiliates, the affiliate agency does all the work for you.

Why Are These Agencies Beneficial For Business Owners?

Affiliate marketing agencies are highly beneficial for business owners because they will help expand to a larger audience of customers.

As long as your business has the supply to meet a larger demand of customers, you can increase your profits and company success by working with an affiliate agency to get into the affiliate marketing space.

Trying to enter this market yourself is a slow and challenging process.

You’ll spend too much time testing different marketing strategy ideas and trying to develop a functional program.

Instead of wasting all that time, you can work with an affiliate agency that already understands how to create an effective program and how to fill it with willing affiliates.

When you partner with the right affiliate agency, you won’t have to worry about how to get a powerful affiliate publisher to work with you; you’ll have an established network to work with from the very beginning.

For an added cost, you get marketing strategies developed by a company with a proven track record, and you get a service-oriented team that will boost your initial efforts to build up a team of powerful affiliates that work for your business.

Working With Top Agencies

Before you can realize any of the benefits that a marketing agency has to offer you, you’ll have to choose a capable company to partner with.

We’ll explain how to choose the ideal affiliate agency below, but if you’re in a hurry to start strategizing and taking advantage of all the benefits that affiliate marketing has to offer your business, you can start working with one of our favorite agencies featured below right away.

PartnerCentric

This company is based in New York and started in 2006.

It’s known for delivering a rapid return on investment for its clients above all else.

The company has worked with the Motley Fool, Upwork, Aquasana, Bean Box, iPrint.

com, London Fog, and many other notable companies.

The business delivers in-depth reports and works with emerging businesses up to massive companies.

Gen3 Marketing LLC

Gen3 has been offering services since 2012 and has worked with companies like Motorola, Crocs, and New Balance.

The business is known for cultivating long-term relationships with clients and helps build scalable outreach campaigns while helping with SEO and Amazon PPC too.

Daisycon

2002 – Vodafone.

Daisycon is an older affilient agency established in 2002 that works primarily with businesses from Europe. The company is known for its contract with Vodafone and Doktor Online and provides effective user acquisition strategies, social media marketing, and more.

Hamster Garage

Hamster Garage stands out for its impressive ability to give clients an in-house affiliate marketing team feel without having to hire a full-time team.

The company has worked with impressive clients such as Canva, Airbnb, and Turo and understands explosive growth.

The business is good for companies with mobile apps and startups that want to grow rapidly.

Blue Cherry Group

This company opened its doors in 2007 and focuses heavily on developing successful affiliate marketing strategies based on historical data and increasing a business’s annual revenue.

The team also specializes in search engine optimization, paid search, and Amazon optimization.

DMi Partners

DMi Partners began in 2003 and focuses heavily on social media marketing for its clients. The company has extensive media partners and is skilled at brand reputation.

The agency is skilled at affiliate marketing thanks to its huge network and uses data-driven strategies to succeed.

Oak Digital

Oak Digital is a newer agency in the affiliate marketing sector starting in 2015.

The company has made a name for itself with top-tier clients such as the UFC Store, Freshly, the Detroit Pistons, and Angie’s List.

The business maintains a 95% client retention rate and offers powerful services.

Customers enjoy competitive analysis information, weekly reports, and regular monitoring to determine program profitability.

The company evaluates new versus returning customers for profitability as well and helps adjust e-commerce development, social media marketing, and email marketing based on that information.

MonsterClaw LLC

MonsterClaw LLC built a name for itself on freelancing service oDesk, which later became Upwork.

The company has worked with big names such as Grasshopper and ScraperAPI and serves small businesses as well as larger companies today.

The organization provides a dedicated affiliate manager, helps with setting up affiliate tracking software and tools, and provides a comprehensive affiliate marketing strategy to each client.

Acceleration Partners

Acceleration Partners is one of the biggest agencies in the market today and has worked with huge companies such as Noom, Cricut, Target, Adidas, LinkedIn, Proactiv, Stubhub, and more.

The business is best known for its recognition from global brands, and it pushes ahead results using data-driven strategies and powerful reports.

What Makes The Best Affiliate Marketing Agencies?

There are different strategies for choosing the best affiliate marketing agencies.

Each of the top affiliate marketing agencies has a few things in common.

They have extensive experience with affiliate marketing.

They work with major publishers that have an excellent reach in different markets.

These companies understand digital marketing, and they have the tools to build a reliable affiliate campaign.

There are differences between the best affiliate marketing agencies as well, and those differences are what will help you determine which company you should be working with.

Not every agency uses the same affiliate marketing program.

Some have experience with different network providers and some measure different goals.

There are agencies that specialize in working in certain industries as well.

When you’re searching for the top affiliate marketing agencies to work with, you’ll have to look for those important indicators to help you decide who you should work with and who you should avoid.

Learn Who Competitors Are Using

One of the easiest ways to start looking for affiliate marketing agencies is to examine which businesses your competitors are using.

If your competitor is successfully using affiliate marketing for growth, you may be able to get similar results by using the same agency that the business is using.

It isn’t always possible to see what clients an agency has, but many times agencies list their past clients as proof of their work.

Spend time trying to determine which companies your competitors are using, and you’ll have a list of proven affiliate marketing agencies to get you started.

Look For A Clear Marketing Plan

Even if you aren’t an expert at digital marketing, it’s still beneficial to ask a potential marketing agency to explain their marketing plan for your business.

Most experienced agencies will have a clear plan that follows a specific order.

If the agency doesn’t want to share a strategy with you, that’s a red flag, and you should avoid that company.

When the agency has clear goals and steps it will take, then you know the team has been through similar marketing campaigns in the past and can help you achieve your goals. This is one way to verify if they are a successful affiliate marketing campaign.

What Affiliate Networks Do They Work With?

If there are specific affiliate networks that you’re comfortable with, looking at the networks an affiliate marketing agency is associated with is a quick way to decide whether to work with them or not.

Even if you aren’t interested in a specific network, it’s beneficial to research more information about any networks that an agency normally works with to determine if the company is using reliable and proven networks or not.

It’s also helpful to determine if a company handles creating a new program from scratch.

Some providers go beyond recruitment solutions and develop a custom affiliate offering that isn’t tied to an existing network.

Do Their Success Goals Match Yours?

Before you start an affiliate marketing campaign or hire an agency, it’s important to know what your growth goals are.

You might want to increase the total number of visitors to your company website each month.

Perhaps you want to increase your online sales revenue by 50% or your total annual revenue by 15%.

Whatever your goals are, it’s important to know what they are and to write them down.

Most importantly, you need to invest in a comprehensive strategy to boost your annual revenue! You’ll need to create an effective marketing plan.

If the agency is pushing for the same goals that you already have, you’re likely to get results that you’re happy with by working with them.

If an agency is focused on different goals than you, you aren’t going to be satisfied with the end results.

Consider Their Past Clients

When considering different marketing agencies, it’s helpful to look through their list of previous clients.

By looking at past clients, you can see how successful the businesses they work with are.

You can also see if their typical clients are in the same industry as you or in other affiliate marketing agencies.

Affiliate marketing industry can be versatile. Different industries often require different affiliate marketing services.

Also, consider whether past clients have been in the same phase of business growth as your company.

App marketing is something that a new startup may have to consider, while massive venture-backed companies will benefit from different strategies.

Work with an agency that’s familiar with businesses your size for the best results.

An agency that’s familiar with your specific niche can create a more effective affiliate marketing campaign for you.

The right agency might be the difference between a successful affiliate program and a failing program at your company.

Ask About Social Media Experience

Today social media is an essential part of any affiliate program.

While an agency’s publishers are really the ones responsible for most of the social media results, it’s still beneficial to work with an agency that understands this side of digital marketing.

Find out how much experience the company has with social media marketing and learn which platforms they market on or which platforms their publishers are allowed to use.

Do They Offer One Or More Dedicated Account Managers?

Each management agency is different in how they manage its clients. So, if you’re looking for the best affiliate management, you should know that not all management agencies are created equal.

Some affiliate management agencies give each company its own team, while others provide a single account manager or share an account manager between multiple companies.

Check to see their affiliate program management. This could include how each service provider communicates with clients, and focus on a marketing agency that provides adequate access to managers for effective communication and a more focused marketing strategy.

Taking the time to make an informed decision about which management agency to work with can save you time and money in the long run. When assessing an affiliate management agency, be sure to focus on their level of expertise and experience, as well as the services they offer.

Do They Offer Reports?

In-depth reports based on useful affiliate marketing metrics are a key component of any affiliate marketing campaign.

Before hiring from the list of available affiliate agencies, ask how often and which reports are provided to you.

Having the right information is essential for making strategic marketing decisions, and reports are where your information comes from.

What Is Their Affiliate Acquisition Strategy?

Before choosing any affiliate marketing provider, spend time learning about how the company will acquire new affiliates for your program.

Still, additional affiliates will have to be recruited over time as well, and you can learn which companies have the best strategies for this step to help you choose the right agency to work with.

Evaluate Their Pricing Structure

Spend time learning about the price structure each affiliate marketing agency uses to choose a client that’s going to work for you.

It’s helpful to look for providers that base their fees on results in some way.

Compare the overall pricing structure between the affiliate agencies, but look for companies that hold themselves accountable and that reward themselves based on your success, so you know they will push to offer you the best results.

Should You Hire Affiliate Marketing Agencies?

You should hire affiliate marketing agencies if you’re interested in utilizing an affiliate program to enhance growth in your organization.

A skilled agent can help connect you to the right publishers and create a successful brand image for your company at the same time.

Not all businesses are ready for affiliate marketing though, and only a prepared company will benefit from working with top affiliate marketing agency.

Do You Have The Right Type Of Business?

Not every business is right for the affiliate marketing model.

It’s best if the services you offer are scalable and if they’re something that an affiliate can effectively sell to other people.

Affiliate marketing is a real struggle for more complex service-based businesses in some instances.

The model can also be a struggle for certain types of physical product-based businesses.

Ask yourself if an affiliate publisher could effectively sell your services before moving ahead with an agency.

Gain Access To Experience And Historical Insights

If you start working with one of the best marketing agencies, you’ll get access to a high level of experience that you won’t have on your own, and you’ll have historical insights from the reports issued by the company that helps focus your strategy over time.

Move Ahead With A Clear Strategy

Successful affiliate campaigns build out from a clear strategy.

Hiring a company that specializes in affiliate marketing ensures that you have a strategy to follow when growing your program.

Top Affiliate Marketing Agencies Have Established Publisher Relationships

Affiliate discovery is a necessary step in any affiliate marketing program. Successful agencies already have a network of publishers, though, and they understand how to go through the affiliate discovery process effectively too.

Affiliate Marketing Companies Offer Affiliate Network Experience

To get more sales from an affiliate campaign, it’s important to work with the right affiliate network.

An agency has experience working with existing networks and maybe in creating a new network from scratch as well.

Some even have certified partner developers that can work on a network project and other tech-related tasks.

Having access to this skillset is beneficial when considering your affiliate marketing growth strategies.

Know When You Aren’t Ready for An Affiliate Marketing Agency

There are some business owners that aren’t ready for affiliate marketing just yet.

You shouldn’t consider affiliate marketing services if you aren’t ready to spend the money growing an affiliate program.

If your business is very new, it would probably benefit the company more to use a more self-service solution and focus on SEO services, web development, and other digital marketing services to help you get started.

Affiliate marketing is a powerful strategy that most businesses should eventually employ, but if your company isn’t ready for the growth that affiliate marketing provides or isn’t prepared to pay the initial costs that come from working with the best affiliate marketing agencies, it’s best to stick to other forms of marketing first.

Affiliate Marketing Agencies Are A Good Option

Whether you’re running a growing healthcare company, you’re focused on partner onboarding services, or you’re in another sector, hiring a top agency makes your affiliate marketing easy. You can get you results from affiliate marketing effectively.

If you’re interested in the explosive growth affiliate marketing can provide, it’s important to understand as much about affiliate marketing yourself. Even if you’re going to hire a senior marketing manager, you should still know how the process works.

Following The Affiliate Lab course helps you learn essential search engine optimization strategies and the ins and outs of affiliate marketing. If you want an introduction to affiliate marketing for your own services, this course is a powerful primer on the subject.