722: Hearing About Affiliate Marketing? Here’s Everything You Need to Know

0:01Okay, I have been on this ruthless pursuit to purge any clothes that I'm not actually wearing. Like if I haven't reached for it in months, it's got to go. I am trying to be really intentional about what I bring into my closet right now, which means I am only buying pieces that I know I will actually wear and use. Revolve just gets it though. I'm literally wearing my brown Autry sneakers from there right now and my new suede purse. It fits my laptop in it. So it's basically a fancy shoulder bag that works for everything. I love finding pieces like that. Things that look good, but also work hard for my actual life.

0:35Their holiday shop is live right now with all the good stuff. Sparkly party dresses, cozy sets, cute gifts, everything you need for whatever is on your calendar. And it's all in one place, which makes shopping feel way less overwhelming. Whether it's a weekend away, a big night out or a holiday party, your dream wardrobe is just one click away. Head to revolve.com forward slash gold digger, shop my edit and take 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger. Fast two day shipping, easy returns. it's literally the only place you need to shop from. That's revolve.com forward slash gold digger to shop by favorites and get 15 % off your first order with the code gold digger offer available for a limited time.

1:15So happy shopping. One thing that we've found is that the more consistent you can be with promotion, the better results you're going to get. A lot of times people need to hear about a brand or business multiple times before they actually become a paying customer. And so we are constantly talking about our top partners. Hey, my name is Jenna Kutcher and I am obsessed with all things business, marketing numbers, and helping you to navigate both the messy and the magical seasons of this thing called life. I'm a small town mama who took a$300 camera, grew a successful photo biz, and now I work from home and run a seven figure online business.

1:52I teach you the tried and true secrets to building a career you adore. Shy away from the real talk? No way. Money, hardship, growth, loss, and marketing are all topics we discuss here. Think of this as your one-stop shop for happy hour with a gal pal mixed with business school. Pull up a seat, make sure you're cozy, and get ready to be challenged and encouraged while you learn. This is the Gold Digger Podcast. I feel like I've been seeing so much content on the topic that we're talking about on the Gold Digger Podcast today. Maybe it's the algorithm. Maybe it's my own personal obsession. Maybe it's just fate that we're talking about it on the show.

2:29But today we're talking about all things affiliate sales. Now at the time of this recording, my business is on track to more than double our affiliate commissions just within the last year. And we're talking seven figure commissions being doubled. Now today I want to share some of the strategies that we've been doing behind the scenes and all of the focus that we're putting on affiliate marketing. I mean, obviously it's been paying off. So let me tell you exactly what we've been doing so that you can steal our strategies and make them work for you. Now, the best part is when it comes to affiliate marketing, it's not a ton of work.

3:07It's really strategic, really intentional and thoughtful work that you are absolutely capable of. And I'm going to guide you through it. Now, real quick, before we dive in, if affiliate marketing is something that you've been curious about, or you want to explore more, especially after this episode, I put together this amazing guide that will walk you through exactly how to get your first affiliate sale. We've linked it in today's show notes in the show description, or you can head to jennacutcher.com slash affiliate guide. I'm going to walk you through where and how to start sharing your affiliate offers, give you a step-by-step checklist to clarify and simplify the process and give you smart strategies to get even bigger results.

3:46Again, that's jennacutcher.com forward slash affiliate guide. All right, let's dive on into all things affiliates. You know what time it is, sweater weather, football season, Q4. It's the homestretch, gold diggers, and it's time to close out another year of growth and prep for the next year of revenue. To bring in more businesses, Q4 and beyond, you need sales software that helps you score. And the top tools are all inside the new HubSpot sales hub. With a customizable prospecting workspace, smart deal management suite, and AI-powered apps, you can take total control of your sales operation and manage your people and pipeline with ease.

4:27The AI-powered chat spot speeds up your day-to-day tasks with simple chat solutions, while AI Assistant cranks out copy, outlines, and out-of-the-box ideas. They're cleverly designed to accelerate your workflow and baked right inside of your CRM. When you pair Sales Hub with other hubs and HubSpot's smart CRM, your team will be on the same page across the entire customer journey. Leads won't slip through the cracks and data is connected across marketing, sales, and operations so you can better measure your impact on the bottom line. Stop sticking to the same old strategies and start closing more deals because the best time to score is Q4.

5:06Make the switch to HubSpot Sales Hub at hubspot.com slash sales. There are a million reasons why I am obsessed with affiliate marketing. And before I dive into the tactics and strategies that have allowed us to double the results we're getting through affiliate marketing, I want to walk you through the things I love about it so that you can start to see it through a different lens and start to imagine yourself as an effective affiliate marketer. So first things first, affiliate marketing gives you this chance to sell things that you never plan to create on your own. You get to just focus on one part of the aspect, which is selling.

5:44Someone else is handling the ideation, the creation, the delivery, the support, like all of the parts of our business that likely give us a headache. And you get to refine your skill of selling. Like I never plan on creating my own skincare line, but you better believe I'm going to shout from the rooftops when I find an amazing all natural skincare line that transform my skin and is safe for my family. Shout out to to primarily peer here. You are given this ability to share about things that you have no intention on creating things that might be in alignment with your brand and business, things that might help you to connect with your dream clients on a different level, but things that you don't want to deal with or create on your own.

6:29And so it is this beautiful, beautiful way to hone in on the skill of selling, which let's be honest, most of us don't love doing it without all of the risk and the other work that surrounds the actual sale. The next thing I love about affiliate marketing is it's an incredibly low risk way to get comfortable understanding what is actually working when it comes to marketing and selling specifically for you and your audience. There is very little at stake here as you learn how to market these offers and share the things that you love. You basically have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And let me tell you, I have spoken on so many stages and every single time I asked the audience, raise your hand if you like selling, basically nobody raises their hand.

7:17So what I love about affiliate marketing is as entrepreneurs, a lot of times we say our product, our service, our offer is our baby. Well, you get to detach from those emotions of trying to sell this thing that you've created and focus on marketing without feeling super emotional about the outcome. Again, it's super low risk. Nobody's going to know if what you're doing is actually working and translating into sales, but you're going to start to collect the data points that give you the insight and information that you need to understand how to become a better marketer and salesperson. And thus you can take all of those strategies that you now know work and apply them to your own business and offers.

7:56The next thing I love is that it allows you to have more offers to share and promote. So a lot of times as entrepreneurs, we have one core offer, one thing that we are talking about over and over and over again until we are blue in the face. Affiliate marketing allows you to expand the offers that you're sharing so that you're not tired of talking about your one offer and your audience isn't sick of hearing of it. You basically get to share about the things that you love and authentically invite people into the solutions that you found for your own life or your own business. Like if you've been hearing all of this talk, like I have about diversifying your income and getting more revenue streams, but you're like, Hey, I don't have time or energy or money to create a million new products.

8:39Then affiliate marketing is an incredible, incredible solution for you. Now the premise of affiliate marketing is that you are simply sharing things that you love. You get this opportunity to just speak really authentically about what is changing your life. So if you are someone who cannot shut up about the new skincare regimen that has transformed your skin or this pair of jeans that literally feels like butter or this new recipe that everyone has to try, then you are going to be a great affiliate marketer. Now, if you do not resonate with that, if that's not natural for you, this again is going to be an amazing way to get more comfortable people selling things, whether it's an idea, a product, or a service.

9:24So for me, I love affiliate marketing because you better believe if you were to go out to lunch with me, you would leave and I would get home and text you five links of the things that I just told you about, whether it's a new book, a podcast episode, a product. I naturally love letting people in. That is exactly why this podcast exists. If I find something that I'm obsessed with, I am not going to gatekeep it. I'm going to open the gates wide and invite you on the journey with me. I am the same way when it comes to products, which is why I love affiliate marketing. You just get to share the things that you love.

9:59Now, if you are great at affiliate marketing and you learn how to do it strategically, you can be more hands-off. And I'm going to explain some of the methods that allow you to do this. But one thing that's really cool is there are so many different models of affiliate programs out there. But one that is really powerful is finding a recurring partner model. Meaning if you get them a new customer and that customer stays a customer, you collect a commission every single time that customer pays the brand. Now this is more of a recurring model. It's not super common, but they do exist in the affiliate world.

10:37And those types of partnerships can allow you to continue to get results without as much effort. We all know the quote that it costs five times more to get a new customer than to keep a customer. And so the brands that have these sort of models really recognize that and want to incentivize you to get people not just to buy once, but to stay with the company, whether it's a membership or a subscription. One thing that I think is fascinating about this affiliate and partner world is that 80 % of brands already have an affiliate program. Affiliate marketing is used by over 80 % of marketers to raise their brand recognition.

11:14So brands see the power in this. This isn't some black market. Like brands are really understanding that not only does this help raise awareness, but you're basically getting your customers to do your marketing work for you. Some of the top businesses in the world get 5 % to 30 % of their revenue via affiliate marketing. So we're talking about a significant portion of their revenue driven through their partner programs. This is why brands are really focusing on building amazing affiliate relationships and epic affiliate programs so that you are rewarded as the affiliate. And thus, when you make a sale, you get a commission and the brand gets additional revenue.

11:53I think it's such a no brainer because if you are a company that is confident in the product service or offer that you create, and you trust your customers to do the selling for you, it's a win, win, win. Like for example, here's kind of a quick story. So about two years ago, I bought these products that totally changed my life. Sometimes you might see in my Instagram stories, I lay on this mat in the morning, I use a red light, I very much changed my wellness routine. And I have talked about these products on my podcast when I talk about biohacking and in my Instagram stories authentically, like I paid full price for these products, paid full price, bought them for my mom because I love them so much.

12:36So I was promoting authentically and then the brand noticed, they reached out. They're like, Hey, why don't you actually get an official code, become an affiliate? I got them so many results. And then they were like, Hey, we want to partner more strategically. Can we do podcast sponsorships? Can we do blog sponsorships? And so what's amazing is, is that as you start to get results for your partners, you will likely get better incentives. You might get premium offers for your customers, or you might be able to negotiate a different commission structure. So you might be able to expand your relationship after you've proven to a brand that you've gotten results, which is kind of fun.

13:14It's like an experiment and a test. And again, you're growing as you do it. So let's dive on in and I'm going to give you direct examples of how we are doing all of these different strategies so that you can steal what is working for us and apply it to your own affiliate marketing efforts. Are you ready? So the first thing that we've been doing really effectively that has worked really well is that we've focused on curating collections of our favorite things. So for example, so that you can understand how this works, we love Primally Pure skincare. Now I started on this skincare over six years ago after I had my first miscarriage and my doctor told me I should start looking at the ingredients in my products.

13:57It sent me down this rabbit hole and out came Primally Pure and my friend, Bethany, who is the founder. So Bethany had noticed that I'd placed an order to try out their products and we got in touch. Now these products have transformed my skin. They actually work better than the ones with the long ingredient list and they're safe to use in my home and for my family. And so naturally I just love these products? Well, Primally Pure over the years has expanded their product line. So now they have a ton of different options. So one thing that we've been focusing on is figuring out how can we create a collection so that we can answer people's biggest questions.

14:35I kept noticing in my DMs, people would say, Jenna, which cleansing oil do you use? Or which toner do you swear by? Or what's your favorite scent of the deodorant? So we were thinking through how can we answer these questions before people can even ask them? And how can we have them in a place that is super easy to access? So we basically built out our own content that answers these questions and connects people directly to the exact products that I use and love. We've done this on our own webpage. We've done this in blog posts. We've done this in Instagram reels. We've done this on an Instagram story highlight.

15:08This is basically where I'm saying, okay, these are the five products that I use and love and recommend. You want to make sure that you're creating content that answers those questions instead of just sending people to a generic page. If you can actually connect the dots that will make somebody go from being unaware of a product, service, or offer to being in a place where they understand what the offer is and they want to take advantage of it, you are going to likely make a sale in a much more seamless way. So what we have been able to do is to figure out, okay, how can we create the resources that answer the questions?

15:43Now, one of those things that we did is that we decided to build out our own web pages. Now, a lot of times with affiliate partnerships, they are going to give you a link. And a lot of times the links are crazy. It's like dash B6Z5821. And you're like, how am I going to share this ugly link with people and get them to buy things? If you are dealing with that, one of the best ways around it is to create your own page that you can send people to. Now your page can share about the products, the services, and the offers, but what you can do that is unique to anyone else is share about your own experience and why you love this brand or this company.

16:26So we decided years ago when we started to see who our top partners were and started to get the questions about the products that we wanted to answer, we created our own pages for our top partners. So if you want to see what this looks like, go to jennacutcher.com slash primally pure. I'm going to link all of the websites that I mentioned in today's episode in the show notes and show description, but that's jennacutcher.com slash primally pure. And you can see exactly how we did this. We share the story of why I switched to these products. We share the products that I use and love. We share the products that my kids use and love.

17:03We talk about my own transformation. We show my skin transformation over the years and how they've healed my skin. And so what I love about this option is that it gives you more creative freedom. It allows you to personalize the experience and it allows you to connect people using your partner link without having to have that ugly long link that nobody can go to, or nobody wants to click on. And so here are two options that I would say that I would recommend if you are someone who you're like, I want to build out my own page. So the two options are this, The first one is, is you can use a program called Flowdesk.

17:40Flowdesk is an amazing email service provider founded by two of my friends, Rebecca and Martha. Flowdesk is a company that we stand behind. We absolutely love. And one of the things that we love about them is that they have built out the ability to create your own landing page, even if you don't have a website. So a lot of times people don't have their website up yet, but they need a place to send people to. with flow desk you can create a super simple landing page so you could literally say on the page save 15 on my favorite skincare click here and then that click could send people to wherever you're sending them to so flow desk is an amazing option if you're more of a beginner you're wanting to grow your email list you don't have a website yet and you're not great at things like customization or web design we have an offer where you can save 50 off of your first year on flow desk and they have a free trial, you can go to jennacutcher.com slash flow desk.

18:36That's F L O D E S K. Again, that's jennacutcher.com slash flow desk. Again, also using these links to just illustrate how we are doing this in our brand so that you can understand and see the bigger picture. If you love the gold digger podcast, you've probably heard me talk about my best friend, Amy Porterfield. Did you know that she has her own marketing podcast too? It's actually the first podcast I ever listened to. Online Marketing Made Easy is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Every episode focuses on giving you the best strategies for online business owners, including starting a digital course, growing your email list, social media content creation, and hosting webinars.

19:18Amy is the best at breaking down big ideas and strategies into actionable step-by-step processes. and her show is designed to get you more results with a whole lot less stress. Tune in to Online Marketing Made Easy wherever you get your podcasts. When we were young, we dreamed of castles and fairy tales. And as we grow up, those dreams might shift into building something real, like starting a business. You need a website, payment systems, a logo, and a way to reach customers. It can all be overwhelming and confusing, but thankfully that's where today's sponsor, Shopify, comes in. Shopify powers millions of businesses around the world and 10 % of all U.S.

19:59e-commerce from big brands to folks just getting started. They offer beautiful ready-to-go website templates so you don't need design skills to look professional. Their AI tools help with product images, descriptions, discount codes, and more. Shopify also makes it simple to run email and social campaigns so people can find you. And if you ever feel stuck, their award-winning 24-7 support is always available. Turn those dreams into and give them the best shot at success with Shopify. Sign up for your$1 per month trial and start selling today at shopify.com slash gold digger. Go to shopify.com slash gold digger.

20:37Shopify.com slash gold digger.

20:43Look, I've become kind of a systems nerd and anything that gives me more space in my day, I'm all in. And a reliable connection is a huge part of that because when the internet lags or cuts out, everything pauses and suddenly the simplest tasks take forever. I learned really early on that dependable internet, it's not a luxury, it is a must. Whether you're a content creator like me, a restaurant owner, or running a busy dry cleaning business, you need that steady connection to support your team and your clients. That's why I'm excited to share a solution for my fellow business owners. Spectrum Business keeps businesses of all types connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, and mobile services, all with connectivity solutions built for your budget.

21:25And they have a truly incredible offer. Business owners can get free business internet advantage forever when you add four or more mobile lines. It's simple with no contracts and no added fees. Visit spectrum.com forward slash free for life to learn how you can get business internet free forever. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Now, the second option that you can do is to build out a more robust landing page. Now, this is what we've done over time. So my entire website, if you've ever been to my website, I am obsessed with it. I love my website. My website is based on a template.

22:03Now, I love templates. Templates save us so much time. I use templates in basically every area of my business and life to simplify and to create systems and strategies. So if you go to jennacutcher.com slash tonic, T-O-N-I-C, you can see the exact template that I used for my website, but you can also see where you can build out different landing pages. So that is a landing page for my favorite website templates. But this is a great option if you have a little bit more bandwidth, you have a little bit more capability, or you already own your own webpage and you want to just create these sub pages for your top partners.

22:41Again, this is a robust strategy, but if you did this for one, two, or three of your top partnerships, you would be able to send people to a much easier to use link. And then again, connect them with your own personal belief, transformation, or experience that is going to be way more likely to convert someone than using things like stock photos or sending them to a generic webpage. So again, the two options here, build a simple landing page with Flowdesk, jennakutcher.com slash Flowdesk, or build a more robust website or webpage using Tonic, which is jennakutcher.com slash Tonic. Again, you can go to any of these links to see exactly how we're doing this with our partnerships.

23:21Okay. The next thing that we've been doing that has been really awesome and a great way to boost results is to follow up with people who were ultimately interested in the offer, but decided to not purchase or follow through. room. So here's a good example on this. So speaking of Flowdesk, we have sent thousands of people like it is our number one recommended software to use if you're going to grow your email list. It's super intuitive. It's easy. It's beautiful. So we have sent thousands of people to their free trial. We love their free trial. No credit card required. You can dive in and get started today.

23:56Now we have a really high conversion rate of people that convert from the free trial to a paying customer, but there are always people who don't actually convert. So we are able to get in touch with those people who tried the free trial, but ultimately did not become a paying subscriber and follow up with them. We ask them questions. Is there anything that we could do to make this better? Are there any tutorials that you need that would allow you to connect the dots to get better results? Is the timing not right? Is the offer not right? We're also able to extend additional offers or update these failed trialers who did the trial, but didn't ultimately subscribe and let them know about new features being added.

24:34So we're consistently serving them, even if they didn't ultimately follow through and purchase. Now, based on what tracking system the company uses for their partner program, you might not be able to gain access or permission to get in touch with people who have expressed interest. But if you are able to, you can then retarget and serve them at a higher level to see if they can eventually become paying customers. Now, I just love this because it's basically like we're following up and saying, Hey, you were interested, but this didn't ultimately work out. Can you share more about that? Or is there something that we can do, whether it's an additional resource, a tutorial, or an additional offer that will help you get off the fence and make that decision so that you can get results in your life.

25:17And I love that. There are other methods of retargeting that you can also use, whether you are sending people to a page you own, like a landing page that you built, You can retarget people that have already landed on that page using paid ads. You can also retarget people if you use a strategy that we've shared about on this show before, which is that chat bot strategy that you might see me using on Instagram, where I say, you know, comment the word lab below and I'll send you details about my program. If you want to learn more about what chat funnels are and how those work, go onto my Instagram, DM me the word chat, and you can see exactly what I'm talking about.