Affiliate program

What is an affiliate program?

An affiliate program is an arrangement, that a person and a company has, whereby the affiliate is paid by a company to advertise (and sometimes sell) that company’s products or services. The affiliate is the person that posts links and sells the company’s products. The company is the entity that works with several affiliates as part of their affiliate program. By using several affiliates at once they are able to increase the amount of coverage of their products and services.

How does an affiliate program work?

An affiliate program works by setting out the terms and conditions under which both sides agree. Those terms and conditions should stipulate what the company wants advertised or promoted, and what they are going to pay the affiliate in terms of commission. Commission structures can vary from company to company, affiliate to affiliate. The variation comes from the industry but also how much clout that affiliate has. If the affiliate is a social media influencer with millions of followers, they will be able to demand a higher commission fee than if they were an influencer with only a few thousand followers. 

Advantages of an affiliate program 

The advantages of an affiliate program is that two entities that can benefit from working together can reap some real value. An affiliate who is part of a company’s affiliate program can earn money and help improve their income by selling a company’s products and services. And, in turn, selling those products and services can actually help strengthen their brand. If those products and services align well with the brand that an affiliate is trying to establish, it can help them look more authentic and thus makes their selling power even more powerful. 

On the company’s side, they can benefit from using a person who has a dedicated following to advertise their brand. That too can be really powerful as that person may have a customer base that is far easier to target through them, than other traditional means of advertising. It therefore should mean that selling products and services is easier and more efficient which should result in an improved income stream as well. 

Contractbook and affiliate program

If you are thinking of partaking in an affiliate program - either by becoming an affiliate or starting up many affiliate partnerships to help advertise your business’s products or services, it is imperative that you have the right paperwork in place to ensure that your legal position is protected. 

Without a proper contract, you are more liable to not achieve what you had hoped with the program. Contractbook can help you generate the contracts that you need to ensure that the affiliate program you are part of is as successful as it can be. That’s because our contracts will outline clearly the terms and conditions that both parties are obligated to uphold. A good affiliate contract and a good affiliate contract template can make affiliate program management far easier, especially with our own data driven software that can extract key information when required.