How to do affiliate marketing in multiple sectors

As the calendar winds down, people all over the world are reflecting on what has gone right, what has gone wrong, and how they might better themselves in the New Year. It's not just personal resolutions that people are making, though.

Businesses everywhere are looking for ways to increase their profits and grow their customer base in 2023. One way is by expanding their affiliate marketing efforts into multiple sectors.

How do I find a new category? What kind of time investment do I need to make? How can I make sure I won't tarnish my brand with an inappropriate partnership?

These are all legitimate questions when considering branching out into a new space.

You're in luck! In this guide, we'll walk you through the steps to take as you prepare for affiliate marketing success in multiple sectors.

Let’s start at the beginning.

What is affiliate marketing?

Affiliate marketing is a form of performance-based advertising in which businesses reward partners for every customer they bring in through indirect marketing efforts. The rewards are typically given as commissions or other types of compensation.

As an affiliate marketer, you will be responsible for promoting products and services from a particular company or brand. You'll earn a commission when someone clicks on your link and makes a purchase.

Your success depends upon how well you promote the product or service, so understanding the target audience and messaging strategies that will be most effective for that particular sector is critical.

Benefits of affiliate marketing

The best part about affiliate marketing is that it's a low-risk, high-reward venture. You don't need to invest in any inventory or create any products of your own. All you need is a way to create content and put it in front of potential customers.

You can use:

• Blogs

• Social media posts

• Videos

• Email campaigns

Or any other type of content marketing strategy to promote the product or service.

The high-reward part comes from the exceptional scalability of an affiliate marketing pipeline, as content can be viewed over and over again to generate revenue with no additional effort or cost.

How to find new sectors

According to the 2022 Influencer Marketing Benchmark Report, the largest sectors for affiliate marketing are:

• Retail (44%)

• Telecom & Media (25%)

• Travel & Leisure (16%)

But within each of those, there are dozens – even hundreds – of sub-sectors that you could explore. For example, if you're in the retail sector, you might look into home goods, beauty products, fashion apparel, and accessories.

It can be an overwhelming experience to try and sift through all of the potential sectors, so here are a few tips to help you narrow down your search.

Follow your passion

The best content will always come from a place of passion. Don't just look for the sector with the highest potential for commissions – look for one that aligns with your interests and expertise. If you are an expert in a particular field, use that knowledge to create content and form partnerships with brands in that sector.

For example, if you are a fitness enthusiast, you might consider joining the health and wellness sector. You could partner with gyms, fitness equipment companies, or even nutrition brands to promote their products or services.

Or, if you're a fashionista, you could look into the apparel and accessories sector. There are hundreds of brands that you could partner with to promote their clothing lines or accessory collections.

Get on-trend

Content for something trendy and fresh will always be more engaging than outdated articles or videos. Do some research to find out what the latest trends are in your field.

That doesn't mean typing "fashion trend 2023" into Google!

That information will always lag behind the actual trend-setters, so you need to go right to the source. Jump into social media conversations, check out influencer pages, and keep your eyes open for any companies putting big money behind a new product.

Repurpose traffic

Is there an overlapping sector that some of your current audience might be interested in?

If so, you can use that shared interest to your advantage. You could create content or special offers that target both sectors simultaneously or even just direct some of your current traffic toward the new sector.

For example, if you are a lifestyle blogger who primarily focuses on fashion and beauty, you might consider branching out into the health and wellness. Your audience is likely already interested in taking care of their bodies and maintaining a healthy lifestyle – all you need to do is provide them with the resources they need!

At the very least, you should be using the audience that you've already built to inform your next move. Are they talking about an emerging industry? Follow the conversation and find out who the big players are.

Research revenue potential

Even though staying ahead of the curve and following your passion is important, you still want to make sure that you're getting into a sector that's going to make money. Research potential revenue streams and compare them with the cost of entry (time, money).

Are there some big players already filling up the space? Are there any current gaps that you could fill? What level of commission do the big affiliate networks offer for those products?

Don't just blindly jump into cosmetics because you love makeup - do your due diligence first.

Investing in a new category

Okay, so you have a list of potential sectors that you could explore. Now what? Here is a step-by-step guide to investing in a new affiliate marketing category.

1. Create an ideal customer persona

Before you can start promoting a new product or service, you need to know who your target audience is. Create an ideal customer persona by researching the demographics and psychographics of people who are likely to purchase from that particular sector.

Consider things like:

• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Interests/Hobbies

• Income

• Shopping Habits

This information will guide your messaging and content so that it resonates with your target audience.

2. Choose a platform

Once you have a better understanding of your target audience, it's time to decide which platform you'll use for affiliate marketing. Consider the pros and cons of each option before making a decision.

Some popular options include:

• Blogs/Websites

• Social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter)

• Video sharing sites (YouTube, Vimeo)

Pinterest, for instance, has a high conversion rate and is great for promoting physical products. It has become increasingly popular for affiliate marketers who specialize in fashion and lifestyle products.

3. Create a presence

Now that you know your target audience and the platform you'll use, it's time to create a presence. Start by creating an account on the affiliate marketing platform of your choice.

Then, build out your profile with relevant information about yourself and the products/services you are promoting. Include links back to your blog or website where potential customers can learn more about what you're offering.

With the help of a service like Multilogin, you can even have multiple accounts across different platforms, making it easier to track your progress and manage several campaigns in one place.

4. Track your effort

Nothing is worth doing if you don't track the results. Analytics tools can help you measure your progress over time. You'll see which channels bring in the most traffic and which products/services have the highest conversion rates.

By tracking your results, you can identify areas for improvement and make adjustments to ensure that you're making the most of your affiliate marketing efforts across multiple sectors.

Avoiding oversaturation

Sometimes, by branching out into too many sectors, you may be tempted to over-promote. This can lead to oversaturation and a decrease in your ROI. To avoid this, you must know when enough is enough.

The last thing you want to do is cannibalize your traffic by spreading yourself too thin.

You should also be careful about choosing partnerships that are too similar to existing ones. This can lead to confusion for customers and could potentially damage your brand's reputation if it is seen as overly promotional or untrustworthy.

If you are telling your audience that Canon is the best camera to buy in 2023, you don't want to be promoting Nikon the next week.

Protecting your brand

In a similar vein, consider the impact of your partnerships on your brand. You want to make sure that any product or service you promote is in line with your values and mission.

If your company specializes in reviewing eco-friendly products, partnering with an oil and gas company wouldn't be a good fit!

It's also important to vet potential partners thoroughly before leaping into new sectors. Research their reputation and read customer reviews to get an idea of how they treat their customers and handle complaints.

Finding your voice

Remember, not every brand needs to be righteous and preachy. You can still have fun with your affiliate marketing campaigns, as long as you're conscious of who you are partnering with and how it reflects on your brand.

For example, if you're an outdoor apparel company, a partnership with a trendy streetwear label could give your audience something new and exciting to explore while still aligning with your values.

Find the right balance between seriousness and playfulness to keep customers engaged without compromising your integrity.

Creating high-end content

Here's the big one. Expanding into multiple sectors can put a huge drain on resources and make it difficult to keep the quality of content high. Don't think everything you make needs to be the level of a Hollywood blockbuster though.

The keys to creating great content are:

• Tell a story. The whole point of affiliate marketing is to give a human touch to the product you're promoting. Make sure your content has a narrative that engages people and makes them want to learn more.

• Be specific. Focusing on one topic at a time allows you to be very specific in the message you're conveying.

• Keep it concise. You don't need long, drawn-out pieces to get your point across. Shorter pieces can often be more effective as they give the reader enough information without overloading them with too much detail.

• Provide value. Value can come in many forms. For some people, it means great visuals, for others it might mean valuable information or helpful tips. Whatever you do, make sure your content is providing something of value to the reader.

• Hyper-target. Don't forget about that ideal customer persona! Speak directly to them and turn your content into a conversation.

With so much content being flung at people every day, you need to make yours stand out to be successful.

Largest affiliate networks

Amazon is still far and away the biggest player in the game, but other contenders are emerging. ShareASale now has more than 700,000 global affiliates, while Rakuten and ClickBank are also growing rapidly.

These networks provide access to multiple sectors, so you'll be able to find something that fits your business needs. Take some time to explore the different options and select a sector (or, in this case, sectors) that makes sense for your target audience.

Running multiple accounts

If you want to maximize your affiliate marketing efforts in multiple sectors, it's much better to have separate accounts for each, so you can have more control over messaging and target different types of audiences.

This also allows you to track results more accurately and experiment with different techniques within each sector without affecting other campaigns.

The problem is, many affiliate networks and platforms will only allow you to have one account. If this is the case, a tool like Multilogin is the only way to go.

Instead of blocking your IP and other identifiable information, Multilogin creates separate, isolated profiles that allow you to log in and out of different accounts without any issues. You'll avoid bans and keep your accounts secure.

Final thoughts

When you're figuring out a goal for your business in 2023, don't forget to consider the potential of expanding your affiliate marketing efforts into multiple sectors.

With some careful planning and a few handy tools, you can be pulling traffic from everywhere and watching those commission checks pour in!