Did you know that 10% of retail sales now come from affiliate marketing? In this blog, I explain affiliate marketing for small businesses, and how you can use this strategy to grow your brand.
One marketing strategy I'm super interested in at the moment is affiliate marketing. In a world where we are all bombarded by constant 'buy this' messages, what are you most likely to stop and listen to? A recommendation from someone you trust.
That's why affiliate marketing has become such a powerful tool. So, I thought I'd do a starter guide to affiliate marketing for small businesses. Here's how to use it to grow your revenue and increase brand awareness this year without spending a load of money.
In this blog, I break down:
- What affiliate marketing is, and why it's so valuable for small businesses
- How to get started as an affiliate yourself and earn commissions
- How to create an affiliate program for your business to drive more sales
- Some top tips for using affiliate marketing as a small business.
What is affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is where businesses reward people (known as 'affiliates') for driving sales through their own unique referral links.
As a business, you can use this in two ways:
1. Earn money as an affiliate. By promoting products or services from other brands, you can earn a commission from every purchase.
2. Set up an affiliate programme for your product or service. You encourage others to promote what you sell and pay them a commission for every sale they generate.
When affiliate marketing works well, it's a win-win-win. It is a win for the business as it gets a sale, a win for the affiliate as they make some money from that sale, and a win for the customer as they find a fantastic product or service through a recommendation.
So, if you want to try affiliate marketing for your small business in 2025, here's how to get started.
How to get started as an affiliate (promoting other brands)
For me, this is a no-brainer. If you're a small business owner, you can earn extra passive revenue by recommending other business's products or services.
Here's how you can do it:
Step 1: Choose affiliate products that fit with your niche
For example, if you are an illustrator, you could recommend the type of brush you use. If your niche is healthy eating, you could recommend a non-stick pan you love.
As my audience here is other business owners, I have a few affiliate links I regularly share to help other business owners, such as my phone tripod I take everywhere with me and 30% off the tool I use for DM automation on Instagram.
So, you see, the products you recommend should make sense for your business, and be something you use yourself as it then feels fitting to share!
Step 2: Join the affiliate programme
There are some big ones you can sign up for, or you can keep your eyes peeled for ones shared by independent brands.
Examples of popular ones include:
- Amazon Associates - this is an easy one to sign up to for all things e-commerce
- Etsy Affiliate Programme - you might not know you can earn money by sharing others' Etsy products
- Shopify Affiliate Programme - if you use this website platform, you can earn money by recommending it to others
- PartnerStack - a B2B partnerships network to promote services you use for your business
There are literally thousands of affiliate programmes! So look out for ones that fit with your niche.
Step 3: Promote the affiliate products
Once you've signed up for the affiliate scheme, you'll get your own affiliate link to share.
Good ways to promote these are:
- On Instagram stories. Talk about why you love the product/service and share your link
- Pop it in your Instagram bio
- In other content across your social channels, perhaps reels and other video marketing showing the product in use
- In blog posts. Create some evergreen content that continues to drive people to your link
- Email marketing. Share your link in a newsletter on a related topic
Top tip 1: To get good conversions, a top tip is to share WHY you are making the recommendation.
Top tip 2: Be transparent! Always disclose affiliate links by saying 'affiliate link' somewhere to build trust with your audience.
Become a Business Secrets Club Affiliate!
Those who have access to my course, The Secrets to Instagram Growth, can sign up to recommend the course to others with a commission of 30%, which really does make it a win-win-win.
Once you've signed up, you can track your clicks and conversions in your dashboard, which is rather fun to see! Discover The Secrets to Instagram Growth here.
How to Start an Affiliate Program for Your Small Business
The second way to make revenue from affiliate marketing as a small business is to set up an affiliate programme for your own product or service.
Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Choose an affiliate platform
You could manage your programme manually (track the links and conversions yourself and then pay people monthly), but I think this works best when you sign up for an affiliate platform that manages it for you.
If you have a website already, check with your website provider, as most have a plugin or app you can use to set up an affiliate scheme e.g. on Shopify, you can use the Shopify Collabs app.
Alternatively, you can use an external affiliate management tool, but usually you need to pay a subscription for these e.g. PartnerStack, Awin or Refersion.
Step 2: Decide your commission structure
You need to determine how much you can pay affiliates per sale.
If you sell or handmake physical products, the commission will likely be less than if you sell digital products or software. On the Amazon Associates affiliate scheme, for example, the commission for some categories is as low as 3-4%. Offer as much as you can afford to do, and the incentive and lovely rewards for your affiliates will be higher.
Step 3: Recruit your affiliates
Find people who are genuinely interested in your product or service and have a relevant audience. This could be:
- Bloggers, influencers, and industry experts
- Journalists and magazines that like to earn money from gift guides and recommendations
- Your top or most engaged customers.
Step 4: Support your affiliates
Make it easy for affiliates to promote your brand with tips, content ideas and graphics, and reminding them that the affiliate scheme is there.
Conclusion
Affiliate marketing for small businesses is a powerful way to increase revenue, grow brand awareness, and reach new customers. It's something I plan to explore more this year, both as an affiliate myself and with affiliate programmes for my own businesses, and I hope I've inspired you to do the same!
Come let me know in the comments whether you are new to the world of affiliate marketing and have any questions at all. I'm here to help!
Author
