A good affiliate newsletter encourages your affiliates to be active in your affiliate program AND builds their loyalty so they open more newsletters. This is done by helping your affiliates make money, providing actionable items to grow their businesses, and provides strategies for short term bursts of sales and long term growth for your company.
Bad affiliate newsletters share a coupon or deal, which in many situations just hurts the company or brand. There is an exception which is when an influencer or emailer shares the deal, but there is only so many times they can share your store in a year. This is why now is the time to start adding value for your partners and stop sending coupons and sales.
Instead try sending affiliate newsletters with evergreen ideas, including/or trending topics and products for influencers, and strategies that grow your affiliates’ businesses. And you can use your company’s data as a way to increase the chance of success for your program.
i.e. If you know you sell a ton of blue widgets with the topic “how to fix a 123”, and this topic converts blue widgets at 5% on your site, let your partners know. If you know the topic “best blue widgets” only converts at 3%, but the AOV is double, tell them this too. And if you found specific wording leads to higher conversion rates and AOVs through PPC, share the wording and landing pages so your partners can drive more revenue.
Let’s start with what makes a good and a bad affiliate newsletter. Next I share an example that I sent this month to a few of my programs. After the example affiliate newsletter you’ll find the thought process behind the content and how I follow up after. This follow up area is advanced, and well worth the time to read.
A good affiliate newsletter:
- Provides evergreen ideas to grow the program and your company over time
- Does not recommend doing reviews or reviewing brand products
- Gives the affiliate their affiliate links in the email
- The affiliate should not have to click into a network to find the links
- Shares relevant marketing strategies by niche, promotional method, channel, etc…
- TikTokers get TikTok strategies, Bloggers get SEO tips, YouTubers get video marketing
- Cooking sites get cooking products and bakers get baking information
- If you sell sports gear, baseball affiliates get baseball trends while football gets football ones
- Invites the affiliates to provide feedback and encourages them to reach out for customized strategies
- Leaves the door open for more advanced options and one on one strategy sessions
- Includes your contact information and your name
A bad affiliate newsletter:
- Just shares a coupon or deal
- Even worse if it doesn’t have copy and paste links
- Gives no way to take action direct from the newsletter like an email swipe
- Has no evergreen strategies
- Provides or offers copy an paste content for websites and videos
- Bad for SEO
- Is not customized to the specific promotional methods or niches of the partners
- There are exceptions to this like the example below
- Says “Hello There” instead of the affiliate’s first name and lacks personalization
- There are some exceptions to this as well
- Is not signed by an active manager or affiliate team that will respond in a timely manner
Example Affiliate Newsletter
Here is a sample affiliate newsletter I sent this month to a few of the affiliate programs we manage.
I offer affiliate newsletter writing as a service, so please do not use this without asking me for permission first. I am sharing it as a way to inspire and help you.
Note: I removed actual client data and made the information below more applicable to more niches.
Hi !!FIRSTNAME!!,
Thank you for being a part of the (insert company name) affiliate program. This month I’m excited to share a way to find content ideas that both grow your audience and make you money.
This strategy can work for blogs, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other content platforms. Best of all the strategy is data based so you can test, measure results and grow, once you find ways to make it work.
Below you’ll find:
- How to research the topic
- Tips by social media platform
How to Research the Topic
The first step is to use Google’s keyword planner to find topics that people are actively looking for. Pinterest and some social media platforms offer similar ones.
Bonus: If you don’t want to spend time doing this, I’m always happy to help as long as there is a tie in for the (insert company name) affiliate program.
The goal of this is to find “how to” topics so you can provide a solution to a new subscriber where our products and services are part of the solution. If the person wants to complete the task, you’ve now shown the solution is doable by being an expert, and you are able to make money as an affiliate. This build’s the consumers trust and helps you gain a new subscriber.
As an added benefit, if people are actively looking for “how to” do something on Google, they’re likely also looking for demonstrations on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other content platforms.
Here are some samples with how many people are searching Google each month and can make you money with affiliate links:
- How to renew a passport – 74,000
- How to make french toast – 201,000
- How to get rid of fruit flies – 135,000
- How to start a business – 74,000
- How to measure a bra size – 64,500
Bra sizes will likely need tailor tape measures and store recommendations. French toast could use special pans or ingredients to take them up a notch, not to mention cookbooks. Fruit flies may need ingredients for natural traps not available locally, or premade traps that can be shipped overnight if your audience doesn’t like DIY. Starting a business likely requires insurance, EIN numbers, a website and legal registrations.
Now that you know how to find a topic, think about other topics that are similar and then provide more detailed or complementary guides. There’s likely people searching for the next steps, modifications and similar solutions. As you produce these you’re showing your depth of knowledge, and if the content consumer sees them you’ve given them a reason to click through and consume more. If they like it, they’ll likely subscribe.
Tips by Major Platforms
To make money with “how to” content, display the products you’ll be using in the beginning of the content, and share them again at the end. You can also give verbal and written queues to take an action like where to find your affiliate links or discount codes.
If the goal is SEO and YouTube rankings, make sure to mention that the person does not need the specific tools, just similar ones. But if they want to follow along and try to have the same outcome, the person can purchase the same tools by clicking on your links, swiping up, etc…and then follow along with your tutorial once it arrives.
YouTube
Optimizing a “how to” video on YouTube is easy.
- Repeat the main phrase in the title and opening sentences
- Use relevant hashtags in the description
- Fill out the chapters and add timestamps into the description
- Encourage people to share the video or subscribe if they liked it
- Keep track of what the current videos showing up for the phrase are doing and discover what they’re missing so you can do better
IG Posts
Instagram posts are a bit different than reels and stories, and they can be equally effective. You don’t have a link to click, so encourage people to click your bio link or use a custom code if one is available.
- Display the final result first with matching wording on the image
- Display the steps with clear instructions on each photo while you demonstrate
- Place an arrow pointing right and left with a number to show the step in the process and give direction
- Include a text description that shares how to do the task and options for the completed version
- Look up topically relevant hashtags using research tools
- Check out what other content creators are doing that resonate
- And see how you can do it better
TikTok and IG Videos
Just like Instagram and Twitter, hashtags can be your friend. And like YouTube, your video helps you bond with the potential fan or follower because it shows you’re a real person.
- Use descriptive titles
- Share professional tips and shortcuts to create the result more easily
- Display the final result and give options for multiple situations
- Tell the person how to find the supplies (click your link)
- Look at what people are saying and asking on similar videos, and answer their questions with yours so it is a better experience
Believe it or not, Pinterest is not only for inspiration, it’s for learning how to do something.
- Make your images vertical and show the steps in order
- Link to your blog post where you give more details (if you have a blog)
- Use your affiliate links for the clickable element like (insert program name or product name) if it is the only tool
- Include relevant keywords and hashtags in the description and Pin name
Now you’re ready to make money with “how to” content. If you’d like my assistance with finding topics, click reply and let me know the specific themes you’re interested in. The more specific you are, the faster and better I can help. And make sure you always use a compliant advertising disclosure.
Thank you for being a partner and I look forward to growing the relationship with you!
Adam
Why This is a Good Affiliate Newsletter
The email above went out to everyone in the programs I used it for. This is because it is relevant to everyone in those programs.
If the affiliate newsletter isn’t relevant to everyone, I break it out by niches and customize the topics in the top. From there I provide relevant hashtags, keywords and modifications by platform or content niche.
Because I did not do that above, I may do follow ups.
How to Write a Follow Up Affiliate Newsletter
The follow up affiliate newsletter should be customized to the affiliates’ niches including topics and promotional methods.
In our programs we have the partners broken out by promotional type and by content niches. Let’s pretend I have a beauty client. Here is how we may have people tagged.
Promotional Types:
- IG
- TikTok
- Bloggers
- Deal bloggers
- YouTubers
- Emailers
- Reviewers
Niches:
- Hair
- Makeup
- Fashion
- Frugal
- Organic
For the follow ups I’m going to split my email list out by partner type. Then I’ll email a more detailed strategy based on the tags. But be careful of cross over.
This is where dynamic inserts come in if you have an advanced email system. None of the networks do unfortunately, unless you get very creative. For me its not worth the hassle. And if you don’t have an email system that can do this, no problem, there’s a solution for you below as well.
Start by writing custom sections and label them with relevant email macros. An email macro is the same as a dynamic insert. If I set a paragraph to be called tiktokers or frugal, I place the macro into the email body and the email tool inserts the copy into that section automatically. Here’s an example.
If the partner has tags:
- YouTubers and Bloggers, include both A and B content in the body
- Emailers and Reviewers tags, only include C and D in the body
- Emailers tags only, include C in the body
And the same goes for the beauty program:
- Fashion and Frugal, include A and B
- Hair and Frugal, include B and C
- Organic only, include D
If you don’t have the ability to do dynamic inserts, don’t worry. Just sort your list and send the relevant sections. And you can also combine the tags in many situations.
Instagram stories and reels content creators are very similar to TikTok. Combine the list and send to your partners with notes by channel. The same goes for the beauty niches.
Frugal, makeup, and fashion can likely be combined if it is a style on a budget theme. But organic may not match because you may not have organic options in the strategy. This is why it is important to check your list for anyone tagged with organic and suppress them from getting your email campaign.
Good affiliate newsletters help your partners grow their businesses and are based on their promotional methods and topic niches. The newsletter should share usable and actionable information, not just a coupon or sale. If the majority of affiliate newsletters are sales, promotions and deals, you are not helping your partners and you’re not growing your company or program like you could be.
Getting value adding partners to pay attention doesn’t happen overnight, but when you start to send good affiliate newsletters, the right people start to read and your company will start to grow. And if the content is evergreen and solution oriented, your company will grow with them.
