Co-marketing with your affiliates is crucial for SaaS success. In this chapter, we dive deeper into understanding these strategies, their benefits, and how to execute correctly to ensure your business reaches its full potential.
Different visitors come to your site at different stages within your marketing funnel.. There's demand generation traffic at the top of the funnel, aimed at creating product awareness, and then there's lead generation traffic, which captures high-intent customers closer to making a purchase.
It is crucial to understand the type of traffic coming from your affiliates. For instance, affiliates operating review sites may bring in high-intent visitors because people who read reviews are usually further along the funnel. On the other hand, affiliates who are influencers or creators on social channels like YouTube might attract lower intent visitors who are higher up the funnel, looking for entertainment or just killing time. Recognizing this difference will help you tailor your approach to different affiliates and their audiences.
Segmentation of your affiliates based on performance, verticals, and the type of audience can deliver efficient outcomes. Your highest performing affiliates are a treasure trove – focus on them and work towards strengthening the relationship, which is similar to maintaining a healthy customer relationship.
On the other hand, if you have distinct verticals in your customer base, you might want to segment your affiliates based on the audience they cater to. Creating content that specifically addresses the needs and use cases of these audiences can lead to better conversion.
Co-marketing means two parties join forces to promote their products or services together. They work as partners to reach a larger audience and share the benefits of their combined efforts.
This could mean working with the affiliate to create content for their various channels that feature you and your products. The extent of your involvement depends largely on the size of the affiliate's audience and how much time you have. For big affiliates, it's beneficial to create a great content experience for their audience.
One such method is conducting co-hosted webinars, a tactic that has proven successful for many businesses. In a co-hosted webinar, you and the affiliate come together to host an event for their audience. This not only provides value to the audience but also transfers the credibility of the affiliate to your brand.
Timing promotions correctly and making them time-bound can create a sense of urgency amongst potential customers, fleeting them to action. If you're running a limited time sale or promotion, it's crucial to coordinate with your affiliates, so they can expand their communication with the audience during this period. This enables the affiliates to let their audience know that this is the time to buy, leading to a potential increase in sales.
Lead Magnets
Exchanging valuable tools for customer email addresses is a prevalent strategy in the SaaS world. This often involves webinars, whitepapers, or online courses, creating a platform to nurture relationships with potential customers.
A savvy approach is to co-create this ‘lead magnet’ product together with your affiliates. Consider co-hosting a webinar or inviting them to contribute to a part of your course. The terms of this collaboration can be defined mutually, such as sharing the email list or jointly promoting each other’s businesses on social media, especially in connection with the co-hosted activities. This collaborative effort not only broadens your reach but also enhances the value offered, elevating customer engagement.
Content Inclusion
Consider including affiliates in different types of content you create, like podcasts, blog posts, or case studies. This gives your traffic more venues to learn about your product and services. In return, you can always collaborate on blogs, articles, and social media posts that can be published on the affiliate's site.
Social Media Campaigns
Leveraging the power of social media, SaaS businesses can boost their reach through co-marketing campaigns with their affiliates. Initiate a campaign where your partners promote your unique value proposition, tapping into potential audiences. In return, ensure you engage with their social media posts to foster a mutually beneficial relationship.Through joint campaigns and contests, you can not only further widen your online presence but also build rapport with your affiliates.
Email Marketing
SaaS businesses can use email marketing to co-promote with affiliates. The idea is simple: you share informative content, special offers, or newsletters from your affiliates with your email subscribers, and they do the same for you. This way, you reach more people, and so do your affiliates. It's a win-win situation that can lead to more customer engagement and even more sales.
Partner Directories
This tactic is commonly used by larger, more established affiliate programs whose affiliates run businesses across various geographic regions. For instance, let's say you're a SaaS company with a social media scheduling product. Most of your affiliates are marketing agencies that offer social media services to their clients. You could create a dedicated landing page that lists these partnering agencies, directing your customers there if they are seeking such services.
From the affiliates' perspective, they could establish a separate landing page dedicated to your product or even add your logo to the partner section on their homepage. This mutual promotion amplifies visibility for both parties, creating a mutually beneficial relationship.
The ultimate aim is to create a healthy funnel that includes both demand-gen traffic and lead-gen traffic, all the while keeping the type of traffic and their intent in mind. Experimenting with different types of content, landing pages, and approaches is key in figuring out what works best for your brand and your audience.
Implementing these strategies and tactics efficiently can help improve your SaaS business's performance. However, be open to experimentation to figure out what resonates most with your audience, as this could vary based on the nature of your business and the type of traffic visiting your site.
