Why challenger brands like yours are turning to affiliate marketing
Here at Adtraction we love working with businesses that have vision and stand for their values, brands that truly understand how and why their product or service changes their customers lives for the better.
Challenger brands are businesses which are disrupting the status quo, challenging the norm and seeking to change the sector they operate in. Their actions cause people to take note of what they’re doing. In the fast-moving world of ecommerce this is important as brands wants to reach customers who engage with what it is they’re doing differently.
A challenger brand will always have a mission. This mission is what you stand for and trumps the desire to make money. We can all appreciate that revenue is crucial, but the most evangelical challengers see it as validation that others also believe in their mission and are willing to pay to be a part of it.
Digital disruption is facilitating challenger brands
This disruption is happening in all facets of our lives, and it’s being enabled through digital innovation. Challenger banks are gaining momentum by offering a more enjoyable and user-friendly way to manage their finances. Sustainable brands are offering consumers choices which demonstrate empathy towards environmental impact. Subscription and on-demand services are tapping into more flexible ways people want to interact with products; to fit a more modern way of living.
As a challenger brand your business might be completely redefining the sector, or simply disrupting one part of how you interact with customers. You needn’t be totally reinventing the sector to make a difference. People love discovering new brands, and enjoy experiences which are more authentic and personal. Small changes enabled by current digital trends can have a big impact on the connection between you and your customer - like a fashion site who features customer selfies on their product pages.
Competing in a well-established sector
Challenger brands are often defined as such because of their attitude. They have a mindset and an ideal and they are steadfast to carve a different path. Competing in crowded, competitive sectors means you have to stand out. A business can’t be a dominant leader and a challenger at the same time.
To Adtraction, this is an exciting prospect as we enjoy working with businesses who are rising stars, undiscovered, niche or disruptive! What we’re really saying is that we love working with businesses that have vision and stand for their values, brands that truly understand how and why their product or service changes their customers lives for the better. These brands aren’t pressed about convoluted marketing silos and appreciate that a holistic view of their marketing efforts will help reach their mission.
How can affiliates help drive your mission?
At Adtraction we’re seeing more and more advertisers join our network who are challengers; disrupting the way their market operates and offering consumers an alternative to the traditional, well established brands.
We encourage affiliate marketing for any brand that has an element of the challenger about it. Affiliates are partners which a brand can invite along on their journey. With content sites in particular, asking them to “market like you mean it” can only happen if your brand resonates with the affiliate. Advertisers working with Adtraction utilise affiliates to cut into a market and share their mission.
Affiliate partners are flexible and can increase marketing efforts, pushing a brand more when a new product launches, or to coincide with other marketing campaigns. The ‘test and learn’ nature of affiliates comes from the ability to have a collection of partners that can be optimised at any time. The agility of this is perfect for any brand who wants to keep disrupting and improving.
When is the right time for your brand to engage with affiliate marketing?
You may have tested paid search, Google Shopping, and paid social and are now consistently spending a marketing budget to acquire new customers. We recommend that you are running a minimum of one paid marketing channel before testing affiliate marketing. Taking this approach we’ve increased revenue to a brand by 20% in some cases, by identifying the right affiliates and sharing a brand’s mission with them.
Challenger brands shout just as loudly about their vision as they do about what they sell. Telling affiliates who you are, what your website’s history is, why the idea came about, what you stand for and how you’re disrupting is a powerful narrative. With this story we can use affiliate marketing to find partners that will engage with your brand and help you achieve your goals.
