Don't Be This Kind of Company
I've got a little bone to pick on the subject of affiliate marketing.
As you may or may not know, I work in marketing and advertising for my day job and love the industry.
I also have a YouTube channel which allows me to be at the other end of the affiliate marketing channel.
I have worked with various brands to review and give my opinions on their products.
Most brands start with free product sent, others entertain a paid collaboration, others want the “review unit” back after the content is published. All have some amount of commission percentage off sales through an affiliate link.
I've worked with each of these types of partnerships. I obviously like the free product and paid flat rate with affiliate sales option best.
And, honestly, this should be the only option, especially if the content creator is able to prove a track record of sales off similar partnerships.
The flat rate and commission percentage can and should be negotiated off how each creator performs in moving product.
Now, my least favorite kind of brand to work with is one that is both stingy with their payouts AND basically wants full control over what is said about the product.
The only real reason I can see this being such an issue for a company is because they aren't confident enough in their products.
If a brand needs to know everything you are going to say, how you're going to say it, then ask for edits to be made before the video goes live, that is an absolute pain and completely defeats the purpose of an open and honest review that makes a creator credible to begin with.
Brands need to be confident enough in their products that they are willing to either impress creators with the products alone, or be able to respond to a negative review positively and consider what opinions are given about how they could improve.
I have turned down some brands for this level of control, others I have level-set with, others I've found I can work with if they aren't too controlling of what comes out of my mouth, they just want a grasp of what is going to be done to help ensure the video does well in the market.
I think as a rule of thumb though, if you are a brand considering affiliate marketing, you need to do five simple things:
- Be confident in your products.
- Send out free product for the creator to keep or do whatever they want with.
- Make sure to have a commission platform in place at the very least so the creator can have some equity in the performance of the content. (Flat fees are also a great incentive for better content that you can then also use for any of your own marketing creative needs in the future.)
- Be smart about which creators you choose to approach. Research their content and personality before reaching out. This way you know relatively what you can expect from the creator when they review your product.
- Maintain a relationship with and continue to work with creators that make great content and bring in sales.
I don't know why it needs to be any more complicated than this. If you find you are only getting negative reviews of your product, it is reason enough to think things need to change or be improved.
That feedback is invaluable as it is.
Best case scenario, the creators love the product, impress that upon their audiences to bring in more sales, and your brand becomes beloved over time.
Send the product, pay the creator for their work, and adjust when needed.
Okay, rant over.
P.S. In the off-chance you are a brand and want to work with me, check out my channel here: https://www.YouTube.com/@spencerscottpugh and reach out. I'd love to discuss featuring your product on the channel!