Talking In-House Things
Zlata Thoughts Vol. 5
HelloZ
I’m baaaack! Loved all my Cali time but it’s back to reality here on the East Coast. And speaking of reality… this is my first issue with paid content. Thank you SO MUCH for subscribing, and special gratitude to my paid readers! We’re going to be talking about taking an affiliate program in-house, so if you’re into learning more about that, subscribe below!
So let’s get back to the lab again yo.
RecipeZ
Before we get into this extra ling post, let’s kick it off with something light. If you know me, you know all about my love our esteemed friend Trader Joe and his merry foods. In the spirit of keeping things in-house, here is one of my fav lunch combos. It’s delicious, mostly healthy, and it takes about 37 seconds. Enjoy!
Affiliate ABZs
Sometimes, it is blindingly obvious when you don’t have the skills to do a job. For example, if there is a ladder involved, you can consider me Audi 5000 ✌️. But other times, it’s like… Okay, I might actually be able to pull this shit off. If you’ve been wondering if affiliate marketing is your shit (and it should be!), I’m here to help. Today’s all about knowing what you’re getting into.
Setting up a brand as an affiliate—whether it’s your own brand or a client’s—is not rocket science, but it does take some learning. I got into affiliate marketing back in 2017. I was working with a brand that was accepted into the RewardStyle network. In order to move forward, we had to be set up on an affiliate platform. Since we were dipping our toe in the affiliate water here, we decided to move forward with ShareASale, which was a minimal risk at only $550 sign-up fee. The setup took me quite a bit of time and I learned a lot of tricks and tips along the way. Once we were finally set up, we were able to move forward with RewardStyle and I was able to go back to all of the editors who had told me “Come back to us when you’re able to monetize your product links.” KNOCK, KNOCK. Here I am!
During the next few months, I continued to learn about affiliate marketing and took a bunch of training classes. I nurtured my client’s program… And pretty soon, they were making thousands of dollars a week from affiliate marketing sales. We successfully opened it as a revenue stream—and that wasn’t even the original purpose! This is why I tell all publicists that they can come out looking like the heroes of the story!
As time went on, I learned new things about affiliate marketing, specifically when it comes to all the different tweaks you can do during setup to set you up for success in the long run. Setup and maintenance (along with your affiliate partners, duh) are essential to a successful program. If you don’t know what you’re doing, get a hand by outsourcing (hi! I’m a hand).
Let’s go into this a little deeper and see what it actually takes to do affiliate set-up DIY.