Earned media remains the golden standard in PR, central to the work of many PR professionals who have dedicated their careers to building lasting relationships with journalists. But the evolving landscape of paid and earned media has created a complex mix for PR professionals and marketing teams, creating new integration avenues for PR and marketing strategies to converge. One of the most popular emerging integration opportunities is “affiliate PR”- the combination of PR and affiliate marketing that allows brands to track, report and scale revenue directly through PR coverage.
How’d we get here?
With declining subscription rates and fewer people paying for traditional news, reporters and outlets were forced to look for new ways to monetize their content. This shift meant earned media opportunities shrank and some outlets moved toward an expectation of affiliate revenue or sponsored partnerships in return for coverage.
What is Affiliate PR?
Affiliate PR may seem like a modern concept from the rise of ‘new’ media, but affiliate marketing and affiliate strategies have been around for decades. In fact, in 1996, Amazon was the first company to use affiliate marketing as a program that was available to the public.
The purpose of an affiliate partnership is to boost sales. In the scope of earned media, affiliate marketing, often referred to as performance marketing, is a strategy where publications aka “affiliates” earn a commission for promoting a company’s product or services. It works by utilizing unique links, whereby the publishers earn a percentage of sales.
Think of the many holiday gift guides in publications like TODAY, The Verge or Wirecutter. Affiliate marketing is a win-win for both the journalist and the product brand, where the publication gets a commission while the brand secures earned coverage, which can directly be linked to sales.
How can brands get started?
The first step is understanding the goals and what you have to work with. Leveraging affiliate marketing as a strategy to secure earned media is most beneficial for brands focused on e-commerce or retail. This approach is particularly effective for brands that are trying to build awareness and drive sales. Industries where this tends to work well include health and wellness, beauty and personal care, technology, fashion and apparel, home and lifestyle brands.
After determining whether an affiliate strategy aligns with your brand’s goals, the next step is to potentially set up an affiliate program. I say ‘potentially,’ because if your brand sells direct-to-consumer on Amazon, you’re in luck. Amazon has its very own affiliate program that allows you to utilize the product’s link without having to do any additional set up. If your brand doesn’t sell direct-to-consumer on Amazon or your brand doesn’t want to use Amazon’s program, you can set up your own affiliate link. There are a variety of platforms you can use to generate these, including ShareASale, Impact and Skimlinks.
The Benefits of Affiliate PR
The benefit of an affiliate management program is control. These networks allow you to track link clicks, create custom commission rates and attribute sales from earned placements which otherwise you would not have visibility to.
Obviously, Affiliate PR isn’t a fit for every brand, but it’s definitely worth consideration as an emerging tool PR pros can recommend to lift earned media efforts in specific cases. If you’re interested in learning more about Affiliate PR and whether it could be a useful tool for your brand, drop us a line. We’d love to talk through all the tools in the PR toolbox, including Affiliate PR, to help you reach your business goals.