Commission Based Influencer Marketing: Everything You Need to Know!
The world of marketing runs on a simple principle — adapt or die. As more and more marketing avenues come up through the magic of the internet, businesses now have a tremendous opportunity to generate positive marketing ROI.
Most importantly, companies can leverage the benefits of bringing in influencers and tap into an undiscovered audience through the revolution that social media proves to be. However, we recommend companies run a particular type of influencer marketing campaign — influencer affiliate marketing or commission-based influencer marketing campaign.
Why? Well, this guide is all about understanding commission-based influencer marketing. We will learn about the fundamentals of running such campaigns, their benefits, and tips you can use when creating an influencer affiliate marketing strategy. So let’s cut to the chase, and dive right in!
What is commission-based influencer marketing?
To understand influencer affiliate marketing or commission-based influencer marketing, we will have to get into the basics. Commission-based marketing has its roots in “referral marketing” where a person receives rewards in return for recommending other people a certain product or service. The reward is generally received either with payment or discounts.
Businesses have adopted such smart marketing strategies to generate better results through influencer marketing. Commission-based influencer marketing essentially involves influencer marketing campaigns where the influencers are paid commissions for the purchases or sales they drive while promoting a particular product or service. In many ways, this resonates with affiliate marketing. Hence this marketing strategy is also called influencer affiliate marketing.
In other words, commission-based influencer marketing is a business relationship or partnership with influencers that fosters the effective promotion of a brand’s products and services. But how are the influencers paid in this marketing strategy? Well, there are two different payment models businesses can choose from when dealing with commission-based influencer marketing — 1) Pay-Per-Click (PPC) and 2) Cost Per Acquisition.
While the former offers influencers a small commission for every customer that visits the company’s landing page or website, the latter provides them a commission for every purchase visitors make. Of course, the visitors have to stem from the influencer marketing campaign.
Why do you need commission-based influencer marketing?
Now that you know what commission-based influencer marketing is, you must be thinking — “Why should I invest in a completely new type of influencer marketing campaign?” Well, running an influencer affiliate marketing campaign comes with several benefits. Let’s discuss them briefly, shall we?
1. Unlock a completely new generation of customers
The newer generation of customers, especially Gen Z, relies on internet sensations and influencers for entertainment and to make informed purchasing decisions. Not just that, they depend on their views and opinions to gain information about certain issues. With commission-based influencer marketing, you can easily add influencers to your marketing strategy and tap into this new customer group.
2. Leverage an audience that trusts influencers
How about attracting an audience that already loves your influencers? Makes marketing super simple, doesn’t it? Well, that’s precisely why we recommend commission-based influencer marketing. When influencers carefully create curated content, it becomes easier for them to strengthen their relationship with the audience — something that your brand can tap into!
3. Time-saving marketing tactic to find unique customers
As a business owner, you know how challenging it is to bring in unique customers, considering the ever so competitive market. With commission-based influencer marketing, you have direct access to your desired audience. For example, if you are working with an influencer that has 400,000 followers, your business will have access to 400,000 potential customers!
4. Performance-oriented marketing strategy
Commission-based influencer marketing is strictly a performance-based marketing strategy. The marketing strategy fosters transparency in the business-influencer relationship. After all, influencers are only going to be paid when they bring in the results. In other words, influencers earn commissions when they provide your business with new customers and sales. So as a business owner, you will only pay the influencers when they generate revenue for your brand.
5. More authentic form of marketing
Commission-based influencer marketing is one of the most authentic forms of online marketing. Why? Influencers use reliable and trustworthy rhetorics that influence purchasing decisions. More importantly, they push your brand’s effectiveness and expertise forward and introduce the already interested audience to your products and services. This makes it easier to make an untapped audience trust your company.
How does commission-based influencer marketing work?
We have already discussed how influencers are paid in any commission-based influencer marketing campaign. Regardless of the commission method you choose, there are certain intricacies that you should be aware of.
How does a business track purchases through commission-based influencer marketing campaigns? The influencers can be provided with affiliate links that they will use throughout the campaign across the posts and stories. The affiliate links show both influencers and businesses the number of visitors that have converted, especially through the influencer marketing campaign.
This helps determine the overall conversion rate and pay the influencers considering the agreed-upon commission rate. Commission-based influencer marketing campaigns can be run on social media platforms, third-party websites, or on websites/blogs owned by influencers. In other words, influencer affiliate marketing is quite flexible in terms of execution.
Things to consider when running a commission-based influencer marketing campaign
While the theory never changes, commission-based influencer marketing will never cease to evolve. Therefore, it is crucial that businesses create a strong foundation for influencer affiliate marketing. Here are the strategy basics you should consider when running a commission-based influencer marketing campaign.
1. Create a detailed brief
In one of our recent posts, we discussed a complete strategy to create an influencer marketing proposal. We highly recommend reading that when creating a brief. You should provide influencers with a detailed brief that contains campaign overviews, deliverables, set deadlines, product information, key promotional messages, visual references, branding guidelines, and more.
2. Get prepared to work closely
Influencer marketing gives businesses the opportunity to create unique content. Brands can closely work with influencers to create authentic and entertaining content by leveraging influencers' creativity and ideas. When you work together, you can have control over the creative process and deliver excellent campaigns.
3. Shortlist the influencer content
As a brand looking for unique customers, you should invest in creating unique content. You can push content like giveaways, contests, how-to guides, unboxing videos, product reviews, and more. Most importantly, you’ll want to ensure proper product placements that provide your brand with excellent market exposure.
4. Provide marketing materials
Your shortlisted influencers should have everything they need to understand your brand better. The more essential materials you provide them, the easier it becomes for them to get acquainted with your company and create content that is unique and relevant to your brand. You should provide them with a branding kit, color scheme, campaign messaging, product descriptions, pricing, product reviews, press mentions, and more.
5. Double down on planning
Always brainstorm and plan to create better commission-based influencer marketing campaigns. This is important because shortlisting influencers, and creating briefs, proposals, and other things take time. When you plan ahead, influencers will have enough time to develop breathtaking content.
Examples of commission-based influencer marketing campaigns
There are several examples of influencer affiliate marketing or commission-based influencer marketing campaigns. A recent campaign by Fern & Petal shows how the brand partnered with influencers to promote its wellness products. The brand brought in local influencers in Vancouver that had a large social media following and strong community connections.
Another example worth discussing here is Adobe’s influencer affiliate marketing campaign. In this, the brand partnered with YouTuber Danksy, a content creator that produces tutorials on how to use Adobe products. The content Danksy produces shows how powerful the Adobe software suite is and what it can help users achieve.
Most importantly, each video has an affiliate referral link in the description. The link takes users directly to Adobe’s website, encouraging more conversions and sales.
Final thoughts!
Here’s a given — the online world of likes, shares, and follows is only going to grow and influencers will be at the forefront of the digital evolution. Therefore, it only makes sense to team up with relevant influencers and offer them incentives through commission-based influencer marketing campaigns. This is your opportunity to achieve broader marketing exposure, generate more leads, and improve conversion rates. We highly recommend imbibing this commission-based influencer marketing guide and following it to develop high-quality marketing campaigns. Did you find this guide helpful? Let us know in the comments. Also, don’t forget to check out other informative posts in the blog!
Frequently asked questions
- Does commission-based affiliate marketing work?
Yes, commission-based affiliate marketing works. This is a combination of affiliate and influencer marketing. You should note that spend on affiliate marketing is set to grow to over $8 billion in the coming years!
- How to find the right influencers for commission-based influencer marketing?
We have created a complete guide to shortlisting and approaching influencers that are best for your brand. Follow the steps to team up with relevant and niche influencers that will bring in the most relevant leads.
- What is the best content for commission-based influencer marketing?
There’s an endless list of content that you can make influencers create. However, most brands go ahead with content like product placements, giveaways, contests, tutorials, how-to guides, product reviews, rankings, unboxing videos, styling sessions, and more.
- What is the best way to approach influencers?
This requires extensive research. Finding the right influencer demands due diligence and grinding. However, there are several online platforms where you can look for influencers. These platforms have filters you can adjust to your requirement and shortlist influencers relevant to your niche.
