Popular Models of Affiliate Marketing Based on Affiliate Connection

As most digital marketers very well know, there are distinct models of affiliate marketing based on the affiliate’s connection with the product they choose to promote. The affiliate partnership arrangement remains the same and all the models of the programs offer several similar benefits to both the merchants and the affiliates. In all the affiliate models, the affiliate is paid a predetermined commission for the sale of a product they are marketing on behalf of the product merchant. Through the partnership arrangement, a product merchant can leverage the wider reach of all its affiliates to reach a wider audience to promote its products. The wider the affiliate network is, the better and larger its reach. The larger its reach, the more it helps the product merchant to build brand awareness for its brand. 

The following are the commonest and most popular affiliate models peculiar to most affiliate programs.

Related Affiliate Marketing Model

In Related Affiliate Marketing Model, the Affiliate has some relationship with the product they are promoting. The Affiliate’s niche where he has some knowledge and expertise becomes useful to promote products. That is where the relationship is even though the affiliate himself may not directly be using the product. The knowledge and expertise allow the affiliate to have some influence over the general targeted audience of the product he is promoting. That is the influence the affiliate relies on to drive traffic towards the product merchant’s website. When that traffic converts and generates sales, the affiliate earns a commission.

Involved Affiliate Marketing Model

Involved affiliate marketing model is the type of affiliate marketing where there is a deep connection between the product and the affiliate promoting it. The affiliates’ influence on their audience is essential for the success of this type of affiliate marketing. This is because each affiliate must know the product very well, trust the product and genuinely use the product. This helps the affiliate to build the requisite trust and influence over the audience they’re promoting the products to. That way, the product’s reputation is linked with the affiliate’s reputation. To maintain this trust, the affiliate thus needs to be very careful when recommending the product to the audience.

Unattached Affiliate Marketing Model

Unattached affiliate marketing is the primary advertising model in which the affiliate has no presence, authority, or connection whatsoever with the product he is promoting. There is also no connection between the affiliate and the consumer. All the affiliate is required to do is to advertise or place product links in front of the consumers for them to click and buy. This is the model of affiliate marketing that is most uninvolved because the affiliate does not have any known skill/expertise about the product they are promoting. On the surface, such affiliates are actually in no absolute position to promote the product but they do and get results. This is why this model is about the most popular form of affiliate marketing. The affiliate does not necessarily have to build up a targeted network’s trust, and they can widely promote products without any responsibility to the audience/consumers.