How Small Businesses Can Get Started in Affiliate Marketing, and How the Industry Can Help

Regardless of business size, why is it a good idea to have an affiliate programme?

“Every business needs outreach and a network and this is the basis of affiliate marketing,” Robert Sherman, Omnichannel Manager/Director of Affiliates at Lighting Reimagined, told the Tuesday morning crowd at PI LIVE Miami 2023.

Sherman was joined on stage by Lissette Alvarez, Partnerships, Business Deals at Capital One, and Affiliate Marketing Consultant at NURSING.com. Together, Sherman and Alvarez discussed the role of SMEs in affiliate marketing: the benefits for both businesses and networks; how SMEs can best enter the space; the challenges these businesses face; and how the affiliate world can better accommodate small businesses.

As Sherman notes, affiliate marketing has historically been seen as the “small thing”. A lower-funnel, lower-value strategy. But this is not the case anymore. Particularly for SMEs, the affiliate space provides tremendous opportunities for growth, helping brands reach consumers at each stage of the customer journey. The evolving influencer side of affiliate marketing has become especially fruitful for SMEs.

Both Sherman and Alvarez recommend that SMEs utilise affiliate strategies to drive growth. But how can these businesses get started, and what pitfalls should they be aware of? We spoke to the pair after their session to learn more.

Advice for SMEs starting out in affiliate marketing

Sherman and Alvarez shared a number of tips for SMEs which we can broadly categorise as the three C’s for success (or succcess): Communication, Consistency, and Comprehension.