IMC InstituteThe Integrated Marketing Communications community
Join

Discipline

Affiliate and partner marketing

Partners who promote you and are paid for the results they bring.

Find platforms for this Browse all 3

Affiliate and partner marketing works with publishers, comparison sites, creators and other partners who promote the brand and are paid for the results they bring. It usually sits at the end of the journey, collecting the demand that advertising, search and creators create. It fits when the objective is a measurable sale, sign-up or lead and the brand can track, validate and police every one of them.

Start with the 101Affiliate and partner marketing 101: the whole pictureHistory, how it works, where it is used, what it costs, the rules, its limits and when to choose it, with every claim sourced.Read the 101

Need a hand with this discipline? Ask members who practise it.

What matters when choosing

  • A commission model that matches the objective and decides fairly who carries the risk.
  • A validation period long enough to cover returns and cancellations.
  • Content and creator partners first, with cashback and coupon partners added only once tested.
  • Visibility of every partner's traffic sources, with checks for fraud.
  • Terms that say which touch earns the commission and whether partners may bid on your brand name.

Questions to ask vendors and agencies

  1. Which partners bring customers we would not have reached otherwise, and how is that tested?
  2. How are sales validated, and what happens to the commission on a returned order?
  3. What does the network or platform charge on top of the commissions?

Common mistakes

  • Paying commission on sales you already had, often through cashback and coupon sites.
  • Leaving last-click rules open to games, such as tracking that is replaced at checkout or cookies planted on people who never clicked.
  • Letting partners promote the brand without disclosing their links.

What it is good at

  • Paying mostly on results.
  • Reaching many niche audiences at once.
  • Going live with partners within days, with every sale tracked.

What to watch for

  • Little control over where the brand appears.
  • Fraud and leaked codes arrive as fast as partners do.
  • Last-click tracking hides what really caused the sale, and browser limits can shorten tracking windows.

How it is bought and priced

Paid on results through commissions: a share of each validated sale, a fee per action or per qualifying lead, or a fixed placement fee plus commission. Network or platform fees and the people who manage partners come on top; judge the total against the cost per acquisition after returns.

Typical disciplines Affiliate and partner marketing Digital advertising Influencer and creator marketing Search (SEO and paid search)

Platforms that fit (3)

Sharpen with your details →

Ranked by the same engine as Find your stack, on this alone. Add your market and disciplines to sharpen it.

  • impact.comCovers Affiliate and partner marketing
    Strong match100
  • AwinCovers Affiliate and partner marketing
    Strong match100
  • UpfluenceCovers Affiliate and partner marketing
    Strong match100