Affiliate marketing is fast gaining popularity and it will soon become one of the main sources of leads, and this includes SaaS affiliate marketing. If you use social media or follow brands, there is no way you have not at least heard of affiliate marketing. It's the new buzzword in business and rightfully so. Each day more businesses are adopting affiliate marketing and you should too. Affiliate marketing is a proposition that massively benefits both the organization and the independent marketer. And SaaS affiliate marketing is no different.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a type of commission-based marketing, wherein you get paid to market and drive sales for a company's products for them. Now, this can include driving conversions or boosting traffic. Each affiliate marketing program is different and varies from company to company.
Affiliate marketing is extremely lucrative if done right. However, it takes a lot of commitment and time, and money, in the beginning, to set things up. Additionally, you will need to do a lot of research into the niche you choose and the product. Moreover, you will have to constantly change your marketing strategy with changes in demand, demographic, and products. Read More: B2B vs B2C SaaS Marketing: Understanding key differences
How does SaaS Affiliate Marketing work?
When you sign up with a SaaS business as a SaaS affiliate marketing personnel, the company provides information on the product and a link to the product. Then it is up to you to market and boost awareness about the company and product. You can do this through your social media pages, on your blog, by creating a website, etc. The individual makes money when their followers buy the product via the link. Since it is a commission-based gig, you will only cash in after you successfully convert a customer.
Advantages of SaaS Affiliate Marketing (For Affiliate Marketers)
Do not need to create or produce your products
Many people who want to start a side hustle to make some extra cash usually do not know what they want to do. Building a startup takes too much time and effort and is something only very few people can do. Moreover, narrowing down on an idea is very hard when you have too many options. So the next best thing is SaaS affiliate marketing. You don't have to build a startup and you don't have to create a product. You simply pick a company and a product and sell it.
Great source of passive income:
Once you create some content and provide proper links, you can start the affiliate marketing gig. You can easily turn it into a profitable source of income. Once things are set, you won’t need to spend a lot of time on it. This means for the most part that the affiliate business runs on its own. You will, however, need to check in every once in a while to make sure that things are running smoothly and to update any content if required.
Low to nil risk, high reward
Since you are not putting up any money upfront, certainly not a large amount, there is little to no risk. You can start your SaaS affiliate marketing career with a simple social media account if you do not want to build a website. There is no need to set up a startup. You do not need to invest anything, except a bit of your time. However, you will rake in a lot of money with affiliate marketing. Additionally, you simply need to understand the basics of marketing and that's all.
Read More: 10 SaaS Growth Strategies to Try in 2022
Flexible and convenient:
This is in no way a full-time job or even a part-time job. You can set it up anytime you want from anywhere. And you can check in whenever you want. This gives you the time and energy to focus on other ventures or your full-time job. You get to decide if you want to affiliate with one company or several. Moreover, you can pick and choose your affiliate program and drop out if it's not for you. No harm, no foul. Everything depends on how much you want to take on and what you want to take on.
How to Start SaaS Affiliate Marketing?
While at first glance it might seem a bit easy, it is not so. Theoretically, you joining a SaaS affiliate marketing program get and display your referral links, create content, and wait for people to use the links. Unfortunately, things are never this easy. Well, you could do this, but you won't make much and you won’t be successful. Much like everything else, SaaS affiliate marketing needs strategy and a bit of luck. Here is a list of things that you can do to improve your chances of scoring gold with SaaS affiliate marketing.
Zone in on your niche
What do you like? What are you passionate about? If you have more than one, list them out. Choose a niche that you are familiar with, so you know the in and outs. It Is easy to offer your opinion and expertise to your audience. You can choose one or two or several. Just make sure that you have enough time to invest in all the topics you pick.
Create a point of contact
What platforms are you going to market on? This would depend on what you are trying to achieve, your preferences, and your audience. You can choose to market over (a single or several) social media platforms, podcasts, blogs, or a website. Or even a combination of these.
Build your audience and community
If you already have a bit of a following, you can simply market to your audience, however, if you don't have one, then you will need to put in some work. People will only use your referral link if they trust you, and that is why you need a loyal audience and customer base. Be sure to build a community before you monetize it since people will drop out if they think you are trying to sell them things.
Optimize for money
Once you have built a niche, and you have an audience, then you can think about monetizing your content. Don’t compromise long-term profits for short-term cash. Do your research into companies and products that you decide to market for. Therefore, make sure you know what you are getting into. Moreover, your job is to create content that makes you money, not content that is the most certain. So, don't spend too much time finding the perfect thing. You can use paid posts to drum up more leads.
What makes you special?
There are hundreds, if not more, SaaS affiliate marketing profiles out there. What sets you apart from the crowd? What is your unique offering? A good way to generate leads is to provide high-value content. tips, tricks, and educational content are the best when it comes to attracting and educating audiences. Make sure that you have some degree of identity when you are SaaS affiliate marketing. Because people are interacting with you, not a brand. Read More: SaaS Marketing Strategies: 10 Amazing Tips