Photo by Nesa by Makers

When it comes to performance marketing, one of the biggest questions you can ask yourself (or your advertiser) is what kind of conversion tracking protocol you want to use: pixel tracking (client-side) or postback tracking (server-side). There are benefits and disadvantages to each, and it’s important to distinguish between them if you wish to be successful. So, let’s break it down.

First — definitions:

Pixel Tracking

Also called client-side, cookie-based, in-browser tracking. This method relies on the user’s browser to track conversions by placing a cookie on the click that is called again on conversion to authenticate the session and attribute the conversion to the correct affiliate. Pixel-based offers use cookies to track because they can store the session values in the cookie, and with the way pixels are designed to track, can extract this information from the browser easily. As a result, setting up an offer to track using pixels is very simple and only involves placing the HTML offer pixel on the conversion page.

Use pixel tracking when:

TUNE’s general recommendation is to use pixel tracking as little as possible, as pixel tracking only works for non-mobile web traffic where cookies can be stored. Additionally, major browsers like Safari, Chrome, and Firefox are moving away from allowing tracking-related cookies even for first parties.

As the last resort, use pixel tracking if the following are true:

The offer’s advertiser is unable to send server-side conversion notifications.
The offer does not involve mobile app installs.
The offer’s desired end users are on browsers that support tracking-related cookies.

For more information, check out this TUNE support article explaining implementation of pixel tracking.

Postback Tracking

Also known as server-side, server call, server 2 server (or server-to-server), s2s and, mistakenly, server pixel tracking, relies on the advertiser’s servers to track sessions generated on clicks to attribute conversions.  The servers record and then pass the transaction ID back to TUNE. This method is independent of the user’s browser. Postback tracking can be thought of as two separate processes: what happens when a user clicks on an offer and what happens upon conversion.

Leading up to the conversion:

1. User sees an offer.
2. User clicks on the offer.
3. Click goes to a TUNE server. The server records the click, then generates and records the ID for that session (in most cases the transaction ID).
4. TUNE immediately directs the user to the offer’s landing page, including ID for that session in the offer URL.
5. User sees offer’s page on advertiser’s site. Advertiser’s site handles recording that session’s ID however it deems fit, such as storing it as a variable in an e-commerce site or SDK in a mobile app.

When the user converts on that offer:

1. The advertiser’s server sends a signal to TUNE (a.k.a. fires a postback) that includes the ID TUNE initially supplied. The user is not directed back to TUNE in any way.
2. TUNE records the conversion for that session.

TUNE has another great support article explaining postback tracking.

Use postback tracking when:

You have the technical resources available to implement the server-side calls (see below for details on implementation).

Pros and Cons of Pixel Tracking

Pros:

• Pixel tracking is extremely easy to implement. Because it’s just copying and pasting code into the HTML of your website, you don’t need to be a developer to set up tracking. Along the same lines, the learning curve for implementation is not as steep.

Cons:

• Pixel tracking doesn’t work if the conversion occurs on a mobile device. That means conversions on mobile web, in the app stores, and in apps will not register. (Mobile devices and smartphones usually have cookies blocked as a default setting, so a cookie will never be placed on mobile in the first place.)
• Pixel tracking is much more prone to fraud. As you can imagine, because the tracking is done in the browser, it would be fairly easy for a tech-savvy affiliate to fire pixels without an actual conversion occurring.  
• Sometimes, pixels just don’t fire and you won’t know why. A possible reason for this could be that the user cleared their cache between click and conversion, but occasionally the reason is unknown. Reporting will be of little help for troubleshooting, because you won’t have server logs to utilize.
• For all of these reasons (and others), pixel tracking is highly inaccurate.

Pros and Cons of Postback Tracking

Pros:

• Much more reliable because all tracking is done server-side, so you’re leaving a lot less up to chance.
• Much easier to troubleshoot, using TUNE’s server logs.
• Less prone to fraud, and many more options available to mitigate fraud, like adding an offer whitelist, advertiser security token, or hashing the postback URL. Read more about preventing postback fraud.
• You have the option to set up a global postback (on a per advertiser basis), where a single postback implementation can register a conversion for all offers for that advertiser. Pixels don’t have that option.
• In general, postback tracking will allow more options for conversion firing beyond when the user is on the webpage. Instead of being limited to a simple page load, you can have your advertiser send back the conversion URL whenever they please. This will become helpful if your advertiser doesn’t want to register conversions until after an order has shipped, or a lead has been qualified, for example.
• Postback tracking works on mobile devices! Remember, pixel tracking will not work on a smartphone or mobile device.

Cons:

• Postback tracking is harder to implement. It requires direct communication between the network and the advertiser to make sure that the ID is passed into the correct parameter, and then it requires technical implementation on behalf of the advertiser to store and pass back the value. The advertiser will need to have someone with server-side HTTP experience in order to code the requests.
• Implementation time varies widely. Postback tracking could be set up in a matter of minutes, but for some advertisers, it could take an entire day to code the database to store the IDs.

Want more information? Check out our blog series on digital tracking methods, or download the full e-book: How to Become a Track Star: Your Guide to Tracking for Performance Marketing Campaigns.

This article was originally published in 2016 and has been updated with new links and information.

It’s no secret that financial services affiliate marketing is on the rise. From 2011 to 2017, affiliate marketing spend by the big four banks rose from 11.7% of overall digital ad spend to 14.1%. And overall spend on affiliate marketing is expected to reach nearly $12 billion in 2025 — and that’s just in the United States. Even with regulations that slow progress in the financial industry, fintech brands are catching up to the times. They’re launching and acquiring apps, leveraging influencer marketing, and starting loyalty programs. And it couldn’t be a better time to do so.

In this blog post, we outline how financial services companies can use affiliate marketing to acquire customers, reach new audiences, and grow affiliate programs.

Best Partners for Financial Services Affiliate Marketing

In essence, affiliate marketing for financial services is about leveraging different kinds of partners — publishers, bloggers, influencers, content creators, TikTok stars, Twitch streamers, and so on — to promote a product, service, or company to their audiences. As a model based on performance, affiliate marketing can be a sound investment for financial services and fintech companies. But that doesn’t mean brands should be careless with marketing budgets or throw anything at the affiliate wall just to see what sticks.

Done right, financial services affiliate marketing can bring in big benefits:

• Open untapped audiences for incremental growth
• Access high-quality, engaged, and/or niche customers
• Improve ROI versus traditional (non-performance-based) advertising
• Target and pay only for desired results

Before you can reap the rewards, however, you have to find the right finance-minded affiliate partners to bring them in. Below, we present five of the best kinds of partners to help financial services companies raise the bottom line.

Comparison Sites

Comparison sites like Credit Sesame, Policygenius, Finder, FinanceBuzz, and Bankrate help consumers sift through a variety of financial products to identify which are right for them. These products can include credit cards, mortgage rates, loan options, and insurance companies. As the name implies, comparison sites compare different interest rates, annual fees, and incentives to open new accounts, and link directly to these resources when a consumer finds an option they like. Comparison partners are one of the most common financial services affiliate sites you’ll see.

Community and Content Publishers

With over 200 million ad blockers installed across browsers everywhere, consumers are more resistant than ever to in-your-face advertising. Luckily, publishers and blogs lend themselves nicely to content that consumers actively seek out, looking for everything from expert information to personal recommendations. Personal finance affiliate sites like The Penny Hoarder, Money Crashers, Business.com, The College Investor, Finance Girl, and personal blogs provide articles, reviews, offers, and recommendations about financial products and services.

Content affiliates are incentivized to promote financial services companies in exchange for commissions. Depending on budget and offering, there is a wide range of how banks and other finance institutions pay bloggers. Bank of America, for example, reportedly offers $120 per credit card approval; Discover pays $115, and TurboTax gives 15% commission per sale.

Influencer Affiliates

They say 2021 was the year of influencer marketing. While it might take some time to find the right affiliate influencer, financial services companies can also capitalize on the trend. Research your industry to find famous gurus, or niche experts, who might be willing to promote your brand on social media. Check specialty websites that rank influencers by vertical, engagement, location, and cost. Find out which affiliates your competitors are working with, and how other fintech brands grew their influencer relationships. Or just find an agency that specializes in influencer marketing, and have them do it all for you.

Remember: Word of mouth is still one of the most potent forms of marketing. Customers who follow a specific influencer will be more likely to trust their recommendations over any review site full of strangers.

Deal and Coupon Partners

Deal and coupon sites like The Smart Wallet, RetailMeNot, and Brad’s Deals incentivize readers with coupons and discounts. These can be applied when opening new personal banking accounts, enrolling in new financial courses, and taking advantage of credit card offers, for example.

Deals and coupons are growing increasingly popular for financial services affiliate marketing.

Loyalty and Rewards Affiliates

Loyalty and rewards affiliates offer cash back, points, or other types of rewards for using a product or service. Companies like Rakuten (formerly Ebates), TopCashback.com, and Swagbucks offer paid gift cards and points for taking surveys, signing up for new subscriptions, or watching videos. Like deal and coupon partners, loyalty affiliates are an excellent option for financial services companies to keep in mind. After all, physical and digital rewards have been found to increase brand exposure and conversions by more than 400%.

How to Start Financial Services Affiliate Marketing

Finding the right partners is only one step in successful financial services affiliate marketing. Finance and fintech brands must also determine goals and budgets, set metrics, document marketing policies, implement compliance controls, and manage technology to pull it all together. 

If you’re ready to launch a financial services affiliate program, download our Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing for a step-by-step breakdown that will put you on the path to success. Or, if you’re not ready to jump in just yet, get an introduction to the industry and vertical-specific tools with our two-page Financial Services Playbook.

What other affiliate partners do you work with as a financial services or fintech brand? Let us know in the comments!

This article was originally published on PerformanceIn.com in January 2020 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Introduction

For banks, insurance companies, loan providers, personal finance publishers, and other financial services brands, affiliate marketing has proven to be a valuable channel for generating leads and acquiring new customers. However, the cost of working through traditional affiliate networks can be a significant burden, as high network fees and hidden service charges eat into profit margins. Fortunately, by eliminating the middleman and managing affiliate partnerships directly, financial brands can both reduce costs and improve ROI.

In this post, we’ll explore strategies for cutting out unnecessary costs in financial affiliate programs. We’ll cover the advantages of taking a direct approach and actionable tips for managing partnerships, plus look at a few case studies from financial brands that have used these strategies to succeed.

Why Traditional Affiliate Networks are Costly for Financial Brands

High Network Fees and Service Charges

Traditional affiliate marketing networks serve as intermediaries between companies and their affiliates, facilitating relationships and managing payments. While these platforms simplify the process of running an affiliate program, they come at a high cost. Financial services companies like banks often find themselves paying hefty commission fees, typically ranging between 20% to 40%, on top of monthly service charges.

For industries with tight margins, such as personal finance or loan providers, these fees can significantly impact profitability. When you add in one-time setup costs and potential overage charges, the true cost of traditional affiliate networks becomes clear.

Lack of Control and Customization

Another downside to working through affiliate networks is the limited control over how your brand is represented. Since networks usually offer generic promotional templates and materials, it’s difficult for financial brands to create personalized, high-impact campaigns. The network interface itself is also restricted to the design and user experience set by the network, making it hard to stand out in a sea of competitors. This can lead to missed opportunities for matching with the right partners and optimizing messaging to capture the attention of a more targeted audience.

By managing affiliate partnerships directly, financial services brands gain greater control over every aspect of their affiliate marketing strategy — from the selection of affiliates, to the terms and conditions of contracts, to the creation of custom marketing materials tailored to specific customer segments.

The Benefits of Eliminating Middlemen in Financial Affiliate Programs

Increased ROI through Direct Affiliate Relationships

Cutting out middlemen offers immediate cost savings, but that’s just the start. Financial brands that manage their own affiliate programs can negotiate commission rates directly with affiliates, leading to more favorable terms. Without the network’s cut, companies have more flexibility to reward affiliates based on performance, which fosters better long-term relationships and incentivizes high-quality lead generation.

Additionally, direct relationships enable financial brands to monitor performance metrics more closely and optimize in real-time. This level of transparency can help businesses make smarter marketing decisions, improve conversion rates, and ultimately drive higher ROI.

Greater Flexibility in Commission Structures

When working with a traditional affiliate network, financial brands are often locked into a standard commission structure. By managing affiliate programs internally, you gain the flexibility to tailor commission rates to specific products or customer segments. For example, a bank could offer higher commissions for affiliates who successfully refer new credit card customers, while offering a different rate for mortgage leads.

This flexibility allows you to align your affiliate compensation with your broader business goals, ensuring that you’re maximizing the return on every dollar spent.

Customization of Campaigns and Messaging

Direct partnerships with affiliates also give financial brands the opportunity to develop custom campaigns that resonate with their target audiences. Instead of relying on the standard, cookie-cutter templates provided by networks, you can create tailored marketing materials that speak directly to potential customers. This is particularly valuable in industries like personal finance, insurance, and banking apps, where trust and credibility are critical to conversion.

Banks, for instance, might develop content specifically designed to highlight their commitment to security and data protection, while insurance companies could emphasize cost savings and personalized coverage options.

How to Reduce Costs in Financial Affiliate Programs

Eliminating middlemen and managing affiliate programs in-house might seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be both cost-effective and efficient. Below are some practical steps to get started.

1. Invest in Affiliate Tracking Software

Financial brands can leverage affiliate tracking platforms like TUNE, which provide the tools needed to track affiliate performance, manage payments, and automate workflows. These platforms are more affordable in the long run when compared to the total cost associated with large affiliate networks, and they give you the control you need to run a successful program.

2. Vet Affiliates Carefully

Take the time to identify partners who are truly aligned with your brand’s values and target audience. Focus on affiliates with established authority in the finance space, such as personal finance bloggers, financial influencers, or comparison websites for loans and insurance.

Look for affiliates who have a proven track record of generating high-quality leads, rather than relying on volume-driven, low-conversion tactics.

3. Offer Performance-Based Incentives

Rather than sticking to a flat commission model, consider offering tiered rewards based on performance. For example, offer higher commissions for affiliates who consistently bring in high-converting leads or premium customers. This approach encourages affiliates to focus on quality rather than just quantity.

4. Prioritize Transparent Reporting

Ensure that your affiliate partners have access to transparent, real-time reporting on their performance. By providing regular feedback and insights, you can build a stronger relationship with your affiliates and encourage ongoing optimization of their promotional efforts.

5. Create Custom Marketing Materials

Collaborate with your affiliates to create custom marketing materials tailored to your audience. Whether it’s exclusive financial guides, loan calculators, or email templates, offering unique content helps affiliates promote your services more effectively. In turn, this leads to higher conversion rates and lower customer acquisition costs.

Financial Services Case Studies

Financial services companies of all sizes and specialties have found success with affiliate marketing and TUNE. Here are just a few examples of how different companies achieved their goals using the strategies outlined above:

• How Topstep Scaled Affiliate Revenue by 66%
• How Credit Sesame Boosted Program ROI via Optimization
• How Gabi’s Affiliate Program Took Off After Switching Platforms

Conclusion

Insurance companies, banks, loan providers, personal finance apps, and other brands can significantly reduce the costs of financial affiliate programs by managing partnerships directly and eliminating unnecessary middlemen. Not only does this lead to lower fees, but it also provides greater control over campaigns, the flexibility to customize commission structures, and the ability to foster long-term relationships with top-performing affiliates.

To learn more about performance-based advertising, download TUNE’s Ultimate Guide to Partner Marketing, over 50 pages of everything you need to know to run a successful program. Don’t forget to download the supplement made specifically for financial services companies, which walks through common affiliate marketing pain points and their solutions here.

When you’re ready to get started with the best platform for financial services affiliate marketing, request a demo of TUNE.

Creators have become an ace up the sleeve of brands aiming to connect with their audiences and build communities of customer advocates. As traditional advertising channels become saturated, the mutually beneficial relationship between advertisers and creators offers a way to provide consumers with the content they want backed by the products and services that fit their lifestyle needs.

That’s why we teamed up with growth agency ZeroTo1 to create the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint, an e-book designed to help brands understand the power of the influencer-affiliate movement and harness its potential in their partner programs. In addition to covering key chapters in a blog series, we co-hosted a LinkedIn Live session to introduce the e-book’s core concepts. That session is now available on YouTube: What Is Influencer-Affiliate Marketing?

If you’re new to affiliate or influencer marketing, we suggest starting with the video — it’ll give you an idea of what influencer-affiliate is all about and whether it’s the right strategy for your business. Below, we’ve laid out a few of the highlights you’ll hear in the session.

The Value of Using Creators and Influencers

Creators and influencers hold a unique position in the digital ecosystem. They have built trust and credibility with their audiences, and their endorsements carry weight far beyond traditional advertisements. Here are a few key benefits of incorporating influencers into your marketing strategy:

1. Authenticity and Trust: Influencers offer a sense of authenticity that resonates with consumers. Their content is perceived as genuine, making their recommendations more trustworthy.
2. Targeted Reach: Influencers have niche followings, allowing brands to target specific demographics with precision.
3. Engagement: Influencer content tends to have higher engagement rates compared to traditional ads. Their followers are active and invested in their content.
4. Cost-Effectiveness: Compared to traditional advertising channels, influencer marketing can offer a higher return on investment, especially when leveraging performance-based models.

The Benefits of a Performance Marketing Model

Performance marketing, where advertisers pay for specific actions such as clicks, leads, or sales, aligns perfectly with influencer marketing. Here’s why:

1. Measurable Results: Performance marketing is inherently data-driven. Brands can track exactly how much they are spending and what they are getting in return.
2. Risk Mitigation: Since payments are based on actual performance, brands minimize the risk of spending money on campaigns that do not yield results.
3. Scalability: Successful strategies can be scaled up, and less effective ones can be adjusted or discontinued without significant losses.
4. Alignment of Interests: Both brands and influencers are motivated to create effective campaigns since compensation is tied to performance.

Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is an effective entry point for brands looking to leverage performance marketing. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get started:

1. Identify Your Niche: Understand your market and identify the audience you want to target. Research the types of products or services that resonate with them.
2. Select the Right Affiliates: Look for affiliates (influencers, content creators, bloggers, streamers, etc.) who align with your brand values and have an engaged audience.
3. Choose a Platform: To manage your affiliate marketing efforts effectively, you need a reliable platform to track conversions, manage campaigns and partners, and pay commissions. (This is where TUNE comes into play.)
4. Create Compelling Offers: Develop attractive offers that will entice affiliates to promote your products. This could be in the form of commissions, exclusive deals, or bonuses.
5. Track and Optimize: Use your affiliate marketing platform to track performance. Analyze data to understand what’s working and continuously optimize your strategies.

How TUNE Helps You Do It

We’re a little biased when it comes to choosing the right technology for affiliate marketing, but that’s only because our tech is as good as we say it is. TUNE offers accurate cookieless tracking, granular analytics tools, customizable and scalable solutions, and a user-friendly interface that simplifies the complexities of affiliate marketing. Go ahead, do the research — and make sure to get a demo of TUNE and any other platforms you’re considering, so you can verify which platform actually delivers on what it promises.

Watch the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint On Demand

If all of this sounds like something you want to know more about, watch the webinar here: What Is Influencer-Affiliate Marketing?, then download your copy of the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint.

Questions about the TUNE platform or partner marketing? Get in touch with us at sales@tune.com.

Acquiring new high-intent customers is a critical challenge for any business, especially in the finance market. Customers rely heavily on word-of-mouth and take many factors into consideration before converting, making the stakes even higher.

Traditional marketing strategies often miss the mark, struggling to hit the sweet spot between ad spend and customer quality. This is where outcome-based marketing (OBM) comes into play. OBM revolutionizes customer acquisition by offering a more effective, performance-based approach, positioning brands to access previously untapped high-intent traffic, all while sharpening their competitive edge in the financial services landscape.

What is Outcome-Based Marketing (OBM)?

Outcome-based marketing (OBM) is a results-driven strategy ideal for financial services marketers. With OBM, you only pay when specific KPIs crucial to your business are achieved, such as acquiring a qualified lead, loan application submissions, or new account openings. Campaigns are tailored around these down-funnel events, enabling you to test performance across various channels and pinpoint the most effective placements for converting traffic into customers.

Overcoming Customer Acquisition Pain Points with Outcome-Based Marketing (OBM)

Discover how an OBM model helps tackle common obstacles in scaling customer acquisition in the finance industry.

High Costs per Acquisition: OBM helps manage high acquisition costs by ensuring you only pay for specific, measurable outcomes such as qualified leads or completed applications. This ensures every dollar you invest drives growth. With continuous optimization, OBM pinpoints where your best customers come from, enabling you to scale effectively without overspending.

Inefficiency in Targeting: OBM enhances targeting by using placement-based strategies across digital channels, geo-targeting specific locations, and dayparting for optimal ad timing. For finance marketers, this means precisely directing ads to high-potential leads. AI-driven optimization further refines targeting, continuously uncovering new customer acquisition opportunities and improving campaign efficiency.

• Working with an outcome-based marketing expert like Perform^[cb] connects you with top-performing partners to reach your ideal consumers. For example, a national mortgage marketer achieved a 481% increase in biannual growth and a 78% boost in conversions in just one quarter by leveraging Perform^[cb]’s expertise in tracking KPIs, managing volume, and analyzing competitive payouts.
• Investing in a performance marketing solution that can accurately track cross-channel conversions while protecting consumer data and complying with industry regulations is especially important for finance brands. A privacy-centric tracking platform like TUNE can ensure that every conversion is measured, whether it takes place in a web browser or a mobile app, without using third-party cookies or storing sensitive customer information.

Regulatory Costs: OBM allows you to work with partners who understand and adhere to financial regulations. These partners handle compliance aspects related to their marketing efforts, reducing the costs and risks associated with regulatory adherence.

• From FTC and SEC advertising laws to content compliance and bank regulations, Perform^[cb] ensures brands’ campaigns are protected through enhanced compliance monitoring, in-depth partner vetting process, and patented, built-in anti-fraud technology.

Measuring ROI: OBM prioritizes measurable results, simplifying ROI tracking even with complex customer journeys and multiple touchpoints. By paying for outcomes, you gain clearer insights into which channels and partners are delivering value, improving your ability to evaluate and optimize marketing effectiveness.

Lead Quality vs. Quantity: OBM emphasizes paying only for leads that meet specific criteria and convert into customers. This is especially crucial for financial services brands, where high acquisition costs are exacerbated by a significant portion of unqualified leads. By focusing on quality over quantity, OBM helps mitigate these costs and ensures a more efficient allocation of ad spend.

How Financial Services Brands Can Get Started with Outcome-Based Marketing (OBM)

Here are a few tips on how financial marketers can begin testing on a 100% performance-based model:

1. Define Clear Outcomes: Set specific goals like acquiring qualified leads or increasing conversions. This helps measure campaign effectiveness and ensures you’re focusing on high-quality metrics.
2. Leverage Data and AI: Use tools like Google Analytics for segmentation, Salesforce for predictive modeling, HubSpot for behavioral tracking, and Perform^[cb]’s PerformSense AI to enhance traffic quality and conversion rates by filtering out non-converting traffic based on extensive data. Choose a tracking platform like TUNE’s that offers real-time measurement and a library of dashboards and reports to get insight into what’s working and what’s not. For finance brands with business intelligence tools already in place, consider using a fully automated event delivery service such as Firehose to live stream data into proprietary systems.
3. Optimizations to Scale Incrementality: Regularly review and adjust campaigns to measure and scale incremental impact. Perform^[cb] uses advanced methods to isolate and test traffic, accurately assessing the impact of your marketing efforts. Set goals for key metrics like conversion rate, then use performance automation tools to automatically optimize campaigns based on those goals.
4. Consider Speaking with an Outcome-Based Expert: Connect with performance marketing partners experienced in financial services who offer robust targeting and transparent reporting. Perform^[cb]’s Outcome Engine leverages a performance-based model to acquire new customers alongside your existing marketing channels. TUNE’s expert team is knowledgeable about the challenges of marketing for financial services and can share learnings and best practices from years of experience.

Cutting Costs, Boosting Results

Outcome-based marketing offers a transformative approach to customer acquisition in the finance and insurance sectors. By focusing on measurable outcomes, leveraging precision targeting, and utilizing advanced tracking and analytics, marketers can significantly reduce spend without losing out on qualified customers.

Are you a financial services marketer eager to dive into outcome-based marketing? Connect with Perform^[cb]’s team of customer acquisition experts and get started today!

Email TUNE’s Partnerships Team at partnerships@tune.com to learn more about performance marketing for financial services brands and how the right tracking platform can help.

Welcome back to the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint series! In the first two parts of our journey, we explored the foundations of building high-ROI creator communities and understanding the nuances of influencer affiliate programs. Now, it’s time to delve into the art of recruiting social media influencers and content creators to supercharge your affiliate program. Keep reading to learn how to recruit influencers and creators like a boss!

Understanding the Landscape

Before diving into tactics, let’s grasp the diverse landscape of influencers and creators:

1. Macro vs. Micro-Influencers: Macro-influencers boast large follower counts, while micro-influencers have smaller, more engaged audiences. Both have their advantages, depending on your campaign goals.
2. Niche Experts: These influencers focus on specific topics or industries, often commanding deep trust and authority within their communities.
3. Content Creators: These individuals excel in crafting compelling content across various formats, including blogs, videos, podcasts, and social media posts.

Platforms of Influence

The digital sphere offers numerous platforms for influencers and creators to showcase their talents. Here are some of the most popular:

1. Instagram: Ideal for visually-driven content, Instagram is a hotspot for fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and food influencers.
2. YouTube: The go-to platform for video content, YouTube hosts a wide array of creators covering topics ranging from tutorials and reviews to vlogs and entertainment.
3. TikTok: With its explosive growth, TikTok has become a powerhouse for short-form video content, appealing to younger demographics and fostering viral trends.
4. Twitter: Known for real-time conversations, Twitter is favored by influencers for its ability to spark discussions and share quick updates.
5. Blogs: Despite the rise of visual platforms, blogs remain relevant for long-form content and niche expertise, attracting dedicated audiences.

How to Recruit Influencers and Creators

There are a few different ways to tap influencers. Let’s break it down into the following:

• Curated (Outbound)
• Paid (Outbound)
• Earned (Inbound)
• Tech-Enabled (Inbound)
• Tools and Partners

We’ll go into details for each of these below.

Outbound Recruitment Methods

Curated Recruitment

Curation is the good old-fashioned approach to list-building. This organic approach is really important when you’re in an alpha or beta version of your program’s build-out. 

Even though this approach requires manual effort, we recommend keeping this in the mix early on. It’s essential for program efficiency and speed to profitability. It’s also important to test a lot of different influencer segments and channels. See what segments work and what segments don’t, then worry about scale and how to execute that scale with your winning segments. This way, you’re not blowing your program budget on paid recruitment tactics, PR, or additional technology only to power up a bunch of influencer segments that don’t work. 

Key Benchmark: Your reply and opt-in rates on cold outbound recruitment are a great indicator of program interest in your pitch. Strong programs clock opt-in rates ranging from 25% to 40%. 

There are plenty of ways to aggregate these cold outbound lists once you’re armed with your segment criteria. Most of the social media channels have started building their own directories of verified creators (TikTok Creator Marketplace, Pinterest for Creators, Facebook for Creators). Additionally, if you have the budget, you can tap any of the creator marketplaces and influencer management tools that are out there. Depending on the platform, you’ll be able to utilize its creator index, social listening tools, and/or done-for-you list-building products. 

Important Note: We recommend carefully considering your cold outbound strategy. As with any outbound campaign, sending mass amounts of email from a single address can create issues for your account, and potentially flag the domain. We recommend a dedicated domain (e.g., www.mybrandcreators.com) with various send-from email addresses that can be warmed up over the first few test cycles as your messaging is dialed in.

Paid Recruitment

In addition to native curation tools, many platforms will also offer CPL/CPA-based recruitment support. Pricing varies widely, but it’s a good thing to keep in mind as you’re signing a software contract. You may be able to negotiate that recruitment rate depending on the length and size of the contract. Third-party recruitment support can be super helpful if you’re working with a small program management team.

In addition to your software partners, you can also use paid strategies to purchase verified lists and tap segment-specific networks. Or, you can put some budget towards building your own program marketing ad creative. This is one of our favorite tactics once you have some momentum behind the program and a handful of successful influencer affiliates that are open to providing testimonial content that can fuel ads for the program itself. Social proof is a tremendously powerful recruitment technique, and we love to use it right at the top of the funnel.

Inbound Recruitment Methods

Earned Interest

Earned interest can result from both organic and paid effort. Once a program has been dialed in, we see a lot of success with a coordinated PR effort. The creator economy continues to be a hot topic, and major brands have launched these influencer affiliate communities with abundant fanfare. 

We caution that this approach can generate a huge spike in inbound interest. If your team isn’t prepared, these are wasted dollars. Once influencers churn, they’re exponentially more difficult and expensive to win back.

With that said, once an influencer affiliate program is humming, managers can expect an uptick in inbound interest. Influencer communities are very collaborative, and word spreads quickly around well-managed programs — and around poorly managed programs. When creators see their category’s top influencers and their peers utilizing a brand toolkit, they’re apt to hop on board!

Tech-Enabled Recruiting

This recruitment strategy involves investing in additional technology and a willingness to hook these influencer affiliate programs into your brand’s central customer journeys. We’re starting to see e-commerce brands of all sizes include a program sign-up offer in their post-purchase flow with tremendous success. 

How does this work?

• The brand includes a simple pop-up that introduces the affiliate program and invites customers to submit their social media information in exchange for a discount. These pop-ups can be introduced after a first purchase, upon return to the site, or at the point of sale.
• The integration generates a list of potential influencers who are also, most importantly, your customers first. 
• On the back end, program managers build a segmentation strategy or leverage technology like Gatsby.ai to filter these inbound social media handles by follower count, verification status, location, channel, etc. 
• Once everything is in order, you can create a system of rules and onboarding flows that automatically funnel your customers into the program with tiered logic. Customers with verification marks or massive social media followings follow one path with personalized communications and generous offers; meanwhile, other customers can follow another set of paths that are tailored to their degree of influence. You can also create a flow that gracefully exits customers who aren’t a fit for your brand at this time.

The beauty of this strategy is that it automatically scales as sales grow. As more and more influencer affiliates are onboarded, more sales are generated, and an entirely new crop of potential affiliates hit the system. 

Tools and Partners

Finally, tools like Publisher Discovery and partners like those available in the TUNE Marketplace can help brands of all sizes find the right influencer affiliates for their programs. Some helpful partners and tools:

• Publisher Discovery
• MagicLinks
• Aspire IQ
• Find Your Influence
• SARAL
• Gatsby: Growth From Community
• CreatorIQ

How to Engage Influencers After You Recruit Them

No matter how good of a communicator you think you are, it’s smart to spend time testing recruitment and messaging strategies. The key paths to consider during recruitment are program qualification, program onboarding, and program decline. 

Program Qualification

With program qualification, you’re going to be focused on dialing in your pitch and tailoring it to your influencer segments. We recommend taking small segments and A/B testing subject lines, core copy, and follow-up sequences. Optimize these communications over the course of your first few months and then go wider with the winning segments and their winning communications. 

Other tactics during program qualification may include invite-only webinar events, one-to-one discovery calls, and a content drip that includes social proof, case studies, and program success narratives. 

Program Onboarding

The same test and learn strategy goes for your program onboarding flow. You’ll want to hit new sign-ups with a very simple welcome that includes an easy to digest onboarding checklist. We also recommend building a video-driven welcome series that helps orient new influencers. In both cases, approach your creative with an MVP (minimum viable product) mindset, and then expand and refine it as you start fielding real-time questions. 

A variety of issues you didn’t anticipate will arise during your alpha and beta launch phases. As you go, make sure you leave yourself some time and flexibility to figure out the resources and processes needed to address these issues. Until your influencer affiliate program is a well-oiled machine, the approach should remain agile.

Finally, don’t forget to take time to understand the why behind the “no.” When an influencer declines program participation, it’s important to try to understand why. A couple ways to do this are with a simple, personally directed follow-up question, or an incentivized exit survey that thanks them for their time. Gathering data on why someone decided not to join can help guide your outreach to future partners. 

Get Started with Influencers and Creators

Recruiting social media influencers and content creators for your affiliate program is a strategic endeavor that requires careful planning and execution. As you think about recruitment, you’ll want to build A/B testing strategies for your communications that address cold outbound recruitment and qualification stages, the onboarding stage, and an exit stage. Start small. Test over two-week sprints. Optimize. And expand! 

To learn more strategies for recruiting today’s top content creators and influencers, download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint: Building High-ROI Creator Communities or watch our on-demand webinar.

Check back soon for Part 4 of our series!

Need a tool to measure your influencer-affiliate programs? The TUNE platform is your go-to solution for flexible, affordable partner management and tracking tools. With in-platform payments, creative asset management, campaign automation, and more, it’s your one-stop shop for performance-based influencer marketing. Request your demo today.

Congratulations on your shiny new affiliate program!

After months of studying the needs and buying habits of consumers, you developed a new product, created an offer, and opened a store. You identified your ideal customer, but also the biggest competitors in your targeted niche. After digging through tons of data and crunching the numbers, you’ve mapped out a solid go-to-market strategy to ensure long-term success. Everything looks good and you’re ready to launch, or so you think.

Just like a traditional brick-and-mortar shop, you want to get customers in the door as quickly as possible, but where do you look for them? More importantly, how do you let them know you’re open for business? How do you get them to start spending money with your brand? TUNE offers some quick tips to help small businesses discover the benefits of an affiliate program.

Why It Pays to Put in the Work

Whatever media channel or traffic source you choose to reach your desired audience, you’ll need to enlist reliable media partners to help get the word out as quickly as possible. Recruitment is often the biggest challenge when it comes to launching programs, so it’s important for brands to understand that a successful partnership program on any platform requires affiliate identification, outreach, negotiation, and ongoing relationship management.

Brands should always maintain full ownership of their recruitment initiatives and devote considerable time and effort upfront to build (and maintain) their desired partner pipelines. Adopting a “set it and forget it” strategy will always deliver poor results; investing in this effort early on will pay dividends in the success of your program. Try to think of it like this: An affiliate program is like a gym membership. If you join a gym, regardless of the amenities, but never take the time to actually go in and work out, you won’t see any results. And you cannot blame the gym — in other words, your platform — for that.

In the old days of affiliate marketing, publishers were relentless in the pursuit of brands. Advertisers called the shots when it came to deciding where to spend their ad dollars, and only publishers with pristine content, astronomical volume, and high traffic-ranking scores were considered for program opportunities. Requests For Proposal (RFPs) were a requirement, as brands expected a full accounting of where their ad dollars were being spent.

The roles have been reversed, and now it is publishers who are in the driver’s seat. Brands are now finding themselves in the pitching position. Publishers are more selective, and thanks to the success of social media platforms, they are more than willing to pass on opportunities that don’t make sense for their audiences or content strategy. For them, payout is secondary to offers that resonate with their base and foster long-term engagement.  

How to Recruit Affiliates and Other Marketing Partners

To help our customers with their recruitment efforts, TUNE’s Partnerships Team has put together this quick list of internal and external resources:

1. TUNE Marketplace

TUNE’s Marketplace is a curated list of carefully vetted media, agency, and technology partners open to direct relationships with TUNE clients. From their private dashboard accounts, brands managing programs on TUNE have the ability to sort and preview partner profiles, including verticals, regions, and accepted payout models, after which, they can request a connection directly with the selected partner at the click of a button. After a partner has been selected, an automated introduction email will be sent to both parties directly from the platform. To improve the chances for a quick and reasonable response, it is highly recommended for the customer to follow up immediately with specific offer payouts, conversion metrics, audience targets, and acceptable traffic sources.

2. Publisher Discovery

Publisher Discovery is a third-party recruitment tool that can be used in conjunction with TUNE Connect. Think of it as Google, but for affiliates. For a discounted fee, it is a great add-on option that offers customers a wider range of affiliates for their programs, including granular competitor reports, payout details, and direct publisher contact information. Download our one-sheet to learn more.

3. Agency Services

We understand some brands experience limitations due to inadequate platform training, staffing shortages, or time constraints. Agencies can help grow programs at an average of 30% or more. TUNE has 40+ outstanding full-service agency partners who are available and willing to assist with program strategy, management, and partner recruitment. Pricing may vary, but we do our best to match our brands with the best and most reasonable options.

Maximize Your Partner Recruitment with TUNE

As an important rule of thumb, it’s good to remember that the devil is in the details, so follow-up is a must. We recommend reaching out to the direct contact in the email introduction within a period of 24 hours or less. Brands should have a clear and viable understanding of their program goals and be ready to present them if the publisher expresses an interest in continuing the conversation. We strongly recommend avoiding the use of broad terms and vague language. This will improve the chances of receiving a response. Some publishers may also request a one-sheet or overview deck.

Even if you do everything right, publisher responses are not guaranteed once an introduction has been facilitated by TUNE. That’s why our Partnerships Team is here to help identify potential blockers and assist with helping you connect with your new and most valuable affiliates.

If you have questions about partner recruitment or would like more information about our resources, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at partnerships@tune.com. 

There’s no denying it: artificial intelligence is here to stay. And it’s disrupting almost every area of marketing you could think of, including the world of influencer marketing. As social media platforms and trends shift, the content creation process shifts with them. This change is nudging digital marketers to investigate AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney to expedite and optimize their daily tasks. We’ve been investigating ourselves, with mixed results — so if you’re determined to add AI to your influencer marketing strategy, just know it’s not a plug-and-play solution. It takes time, testing, and a clear idea of the relevant tactics and desired outcomes to succeed.

Sound good? Great! Let’s dive in.

How to Use ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Claude for Influencer Marketing

AI is on the rise across the board. Influencer marketing is no exception:

• According to a recent report by Influencer Marketing Hub, 63% of marketers plan to increase their influencer marketing budget in the next year, with AI tools being a key area of investment.
• In the same report, respondents identified three main uses for AI in influencer marketing: influencer identification (64%), content discovery and distribution (13.3%), and fraud identification (5.6%).

Here are a few ways that you use AI tools in your influencer marketing today.

Use ChatGPT to Identify Influencers

Identifying the right influencers to partner with is a critical component of any successful influencer marketing campaign. ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a powerful language model that can assist in various aspects of partner discovery and recruitment for influencer marketing. Because it has access to the internet (unlike some AI models), ChatGPT can search relevant sites and social media platforms for you, saving hours in your search for the right partners.

Try using ChatGPT and similar AI-powered tools to search the internet for influencers who fit your ideal profile. Provide your marketing guidelines or website, then ask to identify the influencers that align with your brand’s values, target audience, and marketing objectives. You can also ask ChatGPT analyze large datasets of social media activity, content performance, and audience demographics. Or ask it how best to ask it to find influencers; starting with the right prompt is key, so why not prompt it to provide the right prompt? The options are only as limited as your creativity!

Keep in mind that any data you give to ChatGPT could be shared with OpenAI or others. If you routinely work with sensitive data, consider using the paid version or a different model.

Use Midjourney to Generate Content and Ideas

Influencer marketing is not just about finding the right partners; it’s also about creating engaging, high-quality content that resonates with their followers. AI tools like Midjourney, an image generator, can be used to generate and iterate stunning visuals, while ChatGPT and Claude can help craft captions, scripts, and even entire content strategies.

A few examples of how AI can help in the content process:

• Design Inspiration: Prompt Midjourney with the subject, tone, look, and feel you’re going for in a campaign and let it brainstorm visual directions for you.
• Asset Creation: Generate graphics, banners, and other assets that influencers can use in their content. (Watch out, though: AI tools are still getting the hang of letters, and they often can’t spell worth a lick. Check your images for any text that’s generated, or create images without text and add it in post. There’s nothing worse than an AI-generated ad that spells words wrong or includes letters that don’t exist.)
• Scriptwriting: Use ChatGPT or Claude to generate scripts or script ideas for influencer videos and podcasts that resonate with a specified target audience.
• Social Media Posts: Create on-brand captions and posts that influencers can use across their platforms.

By automating these creative tasks, you can free up your influencers to focus on what they do best: building authentic connections with their audience.

Use Claude to Analyze and Optimize Campaigns

Measuring the success of your influencer marketing efforts is crucial for making informed decisions and optimizing future campaigns. AI-powered analytics tools can provide in-depth insights into key performance indicators (KPIs) such as reach, engagement, conversions, and return on investment (ROI).

Claude, an AI model from Anthropic, is designed to assist in complex decision-making processes. Unlike ChatGPT, though, Claude is designed to be self-contained, which means it won’t access the internet when forming a response. You’ll have to provide it with any relevant data you want to analyze. Luckily, this is as easy as uploading documents or images directly in your chat.

If you have large datasets you want to analyze, Claude is your go-to tool. Here are a few ideas on how to get started:

• Influencer Selection: Analyze engagement metrics, audience demographics, and content relevance to select the most effective influencers.
• Performance Tracking: Monitor influencer content performance over time, identifying which messages, formats, or topics are driving the most engagement and conversions.
• Sentiment Analysis: Claude can analyze audience sentiment towards influencer content, helping you refine your strategy for better results.

By leveraging these advanced data analysis capabilities, you can gain a deeper understanding of what’s working, what’s not, and how to fine-tune your approach for maximum impact.

How to Navigate the Ethics of AI in Influencer Marketing

Ensure Transparency and Authenticity

The rise of AI in influencer marketing has raised important questions about transparency and authenticity. As you explore these tools, it’s crucial to maintain clear communication with your influencer partners and their audiences about the use of AI in content creation or campaign management. Not everyone is on the AI train, and that’s OK. Transparency will help build trust and preserve the integrity of your influencer marketing efforts.

Address Bias and Fairness in AI-Driven Decisions

AI algorithms can sometimes perpetuate or amplify existing biases, which can have significant implications for your influencer selection and campaign management. It’s essential to actively monitor your AI-driven processes for potential biases, and to take steps to ensure that your influencer marketing strategies are fair, inclusive, and representative of your target audience.

Stay Informed About Evolving Regulations and Best Practices

The use of AI in influencer marketing — and digital marketing as a whole — is a rapidly evolving landscape. New regulations and best practices emerging regularly. As you incorporate AI into your strategies, stay informed about industry guidelines, legal requirements, and emerging ethical standards to maintain compliance and build trust with your stakeholders.

Your AI-Powered Future Is Waiting

In influencer marketing and so many other areas, AI can help you unlock new levels of efficiency, creativity, and performance. From identifying the right influencers to automating collaboration workflows and optimizing campaign strategies, the integration of AI-powered tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Claude can help you deliver exceptional results. Just remember to prioritize transparency, fairness, and ethical best practices to maintain the trust and loyalty of your influencer partners and their audiences.

Successful influencer marketing is all about building genuine, long-lasting relationships. AI can assist in this process, but it can’t totally replace the human component. Focus on how you can use AI to enhance your relationships with influencers, not automate them, and you’ll go far.

Want more info on making the most out of your influencer marketing efforts? Download the Influencer-Affiliate Blueprint e-book, our in-depth guide on how to build high-ROI creator communities.

In the performance marketing industry, real-time data can mean the difference between a successful partnership and a lost opportunity. Yet too many brands still pair business intelligence tools with delayed or incomplete data, hindering their optimization efforts at best — and completely derailing them at worst.  

In this post, we’ll explain why real-time data is a must-have for performance marketers, how TUNE Firehose addresses this need, and how customers use our solution to combine streaming data with business tools to make truly intelligent decisions. 

Business Intelligence Is Booming 

The emergence of business intelligence (BI) tools, big data, and data scientists in modern business have allowed brands to bring various departments together to see and understand their data. Just in the last 10 years, amazing strides have been made to better collect, clean, store, and display various data sets. Delegating these tasks to specialized tools and services has allowed brands to remain agile, where previously this was not possible. 

Marketers especially stand to benefit from BI tools that enable them to make data-driven decisions in high-stakes situations — for example, when optimizing and scaling million-dollar campaigns. Previously, this data was stuck in silos and distributed into multiple interfaces for consumption. This left too many marketers with gaps in their data, and no choice but to make ill-informed decisions (or their best guess) with only data assumptions to guide them. 

A Unique Opportunity in Partner Marketing 

Throughout the past few years, traditional media buys have become saturated and increasingly competitive. Facebook is full of fake posts and AI-generated images, Google SERPs are increasingly based on content created for AI, and Twitter (or X, as it’s now known) is shedding advertisers. As a result, more businesses are discovering partner marketing as an efficient, cost-effective channel for growth.  

Unfortunately, brands looking to add data-driven methodologies to their partner programs have seen limited innovation from the traditional affiliate network model.

In this model, each network dictates its own data sharing and collection policies. These policies often limit the level of granularity provided to customers and make real-time access to data difficult. And since they have the final say on who actually “owns” the data, it’s not uncommon to see networks hide or aggregate data from brands and use it for their own gain.  

While most marketing channels have data sharing and analysis tools built in (think Google Ads, Facebook Ads, etc.), the partner marketing channel has lagged. Marketing dashboards usually have limited data integrity for this channel. Brands now expect real-time data across their marketing mix; lacking it here is a limiting factor in true optimization of this profitable channel. 

TUNE’s Real-time Data Solution 

Today, all the traditional affiliate networks in the industry simply provide an API call for pulling data out of their platforms. Brands that want to access this data have had to use costly development resources to build and run extract, transform, load (ETL) scripts, which pull data out of one system and convert it for analysis and storage in another.  

The problem with this one-way approach is that it can only provide a historical view, as you are basically running a script that pulls data at a set cadence (hourly, daily, weekly, etc.). Pinging a network’s API more frequently can quickly increase server costs, which is why many brands settle for once-a-day API calls in exchange for lower server bills. This process requires constant monitoring and makes it nearly impossible to get real-time data access. 

In 2016, we took a look at how TUNE customers were using our industry-known two-way API. What we found was hundreds of customers running ETL scripts non-stop, 365 days a year. We knew there had to be a more efficient approach, so we did what we normally do when confronted with a challenge: We innovated. 

Enter TUNE Firehose, our proprietary data streaming platform, where customers can enable TUNE to automatically push every impression, click, conversion, and adjustment directly to a customer-owned database, in real time. Firehose makes it possible for TUNE to essentially create a carbon copy of every data field and event collected for this channel and deliver it to your business intelligence solution as it occurs. No waiting for results, no incomplete datasets from your growing partner marketing channel. 

TUNE Firehose Use Cases 

Firehose has been a pivotal feature for TUNE customers over the last five years. In that time, we’ve seen them employ this data streaming technology for a variety of use cases. 

After moving to Firehose, brands on TUNE can receive every data field from every impression, click, and conversion in real time. This results in more accurate insights into the channel, and no lag between digital activities and reporting reflection. 

While some brands may use Firehose for simple data warehousing and dashboarding, other customers are using this data stream to enable real-time optimization and automation. These use cases include deploying artificial intelligence to look for anomalies and automatically making changes to campaigns in real-time. 

Because the TUNE platform provides more than 90 data fields on every impression, click, and conversion, other customers choose to use this data to monitor each partner and sub-partner to power automated fraud detection and dig further into this channel than ever before. 

In Conclusion 

Traditionally, brands in the partner marketing space have had to piece together limited data and access to their network’s reporting API, resulting in delayed results in internal reporting and incomplete data models. But modern marketers don’t want their data to be held hostage; they want to quickly and easily access more datapoints than ever.   

To do that, they need a partner marketing platform that complements their BI strategy just like TUNE does. Every TUNE customer owns 100% of their data on our platform, and we don’t hide, limit, use, or aggregate this data for our own gain. Instead, we provide solutions like Firehose to empower marketers to access their data in real time and use it to the fullest of their capabilities in business intelligence tools, custom integrated solutions, and their owned and operated databases.   

If you’re a TUNE customer and would like to add Firehose to your account, reach out to your dedicated success manager or email support@tune.com.

I have been in the affiliate marketing universe since 2006 and the one constant about this industry is change. Nonstop, everlasting, unrelenting change. Mergers and acquisitions, search algorithm updates, the death of third-party cookies, the resurrection of third-party cookies, new toolbars, new platforms, new agencies, new promotional methods. It never ends. And that is what keeps it fresh, interesting, and challenging for all of us as we navigate the many dimensions of what affiliate can mean.  

While as an industry we tend to take pride (and rightfully so) in the more sophisticated problems that an affiliate/partnerships program can solve for, there are many unique, valuable, and relatively untapped markets out there that need our help.

What am I talking about? I am talking about the exciting world of “Affiliate Adjacent.”  

What Is Affiliate Adjacent?

What the heck does Affiliate Adjacent mean? Let me give you a real-world example.  

Several years ago, I received an inbound lead through our website from a partnerships team at a very well-known global credit card provider. Believing that this was another affiliate opportunity I eagerly reached out, set an in-person meeting, and prepped my affiliate partnerships conversation with the limited information that was given. This was to be a working discovery session, as both sides were a bit unsure of the correct language to use in identifying the pain points that the software could solve.  

I was excited to show them our robust reporting and detailed commissioning tools and to talk about our advanced clearinghouse system for payments. I jumped right in and was ready to knock their socks off. We were going to get this deal! (Spoiler: we did!) 

But my amazing pitch was cut short. Very short. As soon as I explained that we could track activity across thousands of potential partners, that was all they wanted or needed. This was a field marketing team with thousands of representatives manually passing information through to call center reps, who then loaded it into SFDC. It was a mess. They had no need for the bells and whistles. Tracking alone was the solution.  

This was an eye-opener for me, and a significant opportunity. What was this, though? It was definitely not traditional affiliate in any form — this was Affiliate Adjacent! 

Since that time, I have seen increased interest in Affiliate Adjacent use cases from advertisers, publishers, and agencies alike, and I can say for certain that no platform is better suited to these unique engagements than TUNE.  

TUNE Affiliate Adjacent Use Cases 

The use cases below are only a few of the creative ways customers are using TUNE to accomplish their business goals. 

A digital streaming service uses TUNE to work with TV manufacturers to promote its streaming service.

• Connected TVs and streaming platforms are incentivized to promote the streaming service to their consumers via smart TV interfaces.
• The streaming service provides each brand partnership with tracking links and creatives, without needing to go through a complex application process.
• Activating a new brand partnership accelerated from two weeks to two minutes with TUNE.

A multinational automotive manufacturer uses TUNE to work with physical dealerships and collision centers to promote its branded auto insurance.

• Salespeople in the brand’s dealerships are incentivized to promote its auto insurance to consumers when they shop for a vehicle, and collision centers when they bring in a vehicle for repairs.
• Individual dealerships and collision centers use insurance-branded QR codes to allow customers to get a quote in minutes.
• The goal is to insure every brand vehicle in the U.S., and to also be able to insure other makes/models, where traditional affiliate is being added next.

A national insurance subsidiary uses TUNE to work with property management companies to promote its renters insurance product.

• Property management companies are incentivized to promote the insurance product to renters when they sign a lease.
• The insurance subsidiary provides embeddable lead forms, which the management companies embed directly into their rental agreements.
• The goal is to enable affiliate partners who have access to audiences that are uniquely positioned to purchase renters insurance.

A digital media agency uses TUNE to build technology solutions that enable brand-to-brand partnerships on checkout pages.

• The agency enables additional monetization opportunities for retailers and brands by providing them with technology that effectively turns them into affiliates.

A national real estate marketplace uses TUNE to work with niche real estate partners to drive realtors to sign up for advertising accounts on its platform.

A parking marketplace app uses TUNE to work with hyperlocal partners — MLB teams, sports arenas, airports, and more — to drive sign-ups and reservations.

• The app uses app-based activations via targeted local and regional events to offer convenient parking opportunities to attendees.
• The partners used deep linking to provide a seamless experience for event attendees to view the closest parking options near their event.

An online home improvement platform uses TUNE to work with recruitment partners to advertise jobs to contractors, and to track when individual contractors set an appointment for a job.

What’s Your Affiliate Adjacent Use Case?

Is there a unique use case your current platform can’t support? I want to hear about it — and help you make it happen on TUNE! Send me a note at partnermarketing@tune.com and we’ll tackle your challenge together.

As third-party cookies continue to disappear and session tracking windows tighten, the risk to marketers of overpaying for cost-per-click (CPC) campaigns grows. If your CPC offer relies on cookies, then you could be paying for multiple clicks in a single session. With TUNE’s enhanced session tracking capabilities, customers can rest assured that their CPC offers will pay out only on the first click, saving both budget and time spent manually reconciling clicks at the end of the month.

How TUNE Tracks First Click and Subsequent Clicks in a Session

TUNE now offers a future-proof method to track first and subsequent clicks within a session without depending on third-party cookies.

For CPC offers with postback tracking enabled, TUNE determines the first click by creating a server-side user session that is checked against on every click. When subsequent clicks occur, TUNE forwards them directly to the destination URL and attributes potential conversions only using first clicks.

This method ensures that customers running CPC offers will pay out only on the first click, and all subsequent clicks will be demonetized.

How to Pay Out on First Clicks Only for CPC Offers

This setting is automatically enabled platform-wide for customers running CPC offers. Customers can then apply this behavior to individual CPC offers with postback tracking from the Offer Tracking Settings page (Offer Page -> Tracking Panel).

By enabling this setting, you can easily ensure that you only pay for unique clicks, and demonetize all subsequent clicks in a user session.

We’re always looking for ways to help our customers make the most out of their partnerships. If you have questions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you! Reach out to your dedicated Customer Success Manager or email TUNE Support at support@tune.com.

How to Find New Strategic Partners for Your Affiliate Program

In affiliate marketing, not all partners are created equal. Long gone are the days when an affiliate channel was made up of only coupon and cash back partners. Today, the affiliate world overlaps with many other channels. Partners have become savvy at operating on a performance model, which is attractive for both brands and publishers. Below, we’ve outlined four strategic partnership opportunities that have grown substantially in this market that your brand may not have considered for the affiliate marketing channel.

Look for CLO Partners, aka Card-Linked Offer Partners

CLO partners are businesses that collaborate with credit card issuers to provide cardholders with discounts, rewards, or cash back offers based on their spending habits. Strategic partners like these use technology to link offers or promotions directly to the customer’s credit or debit card, eliminating the need for physical coupons and promo codes.

These partners are highly attractive because of their capability to granularly target a specific audience or demographic to gain net new customers, and to re-engage customers that have lapsed. Consumers receive personalized discounts and rewards, retailers attract more customers, and financial institutions enhance customer loyalty and card usage. Card-linked offer partners are a great test to add to your program to learn more about your consumer’s behavior and what offers or products they respond to.

Think: Drop, Dosh, Figg

Consider BNPL Partners, aka Buy Now, Pay Later Partners

We’ve seen an influx of traffic to these strategic partnerships due to a popular and evolving consumer payment option that allows shoppers to make a purchase and defer payment for the goods or services they acquire. Instead of paying the full amount upfront, buyers can split their payments into multiple, often interest-free installments over a period. In other words: buy now, pay later.

BNPL services have gained prominence in marketing efforts for e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retail environments, and are often offered by third-party providers or integrated into the checkout processes of online stores.

Think: Affirm, Klarna, Afterpay

Research CUG Partners, aka Closed User Group Partners

Closed user group partners are business entities made up of large exclusive groups that are only accessible through a closed portal via login. These strategic partners work well for brands who have an appetite for testing within specific market segments and who have margin for offering an exclusive discount to consumers, whether that be evergreen or for a short duration.

Strategic partners like CUGs can work with you on your program goals to curate an offer that would resonate best with their audience and give directional feedback for what’s worked with similar verticals. Popular closed user groups include employee benefit programs, student portals, military benefit sites, airline rewards, and others.

Think: EBG Solutions, Student Beans, ID.me

Investigate the World of Technology Partners

We don’t have a fun acronym for this one, and it’s a bit more broad. However, there are unique technologies that operate within an affiliate payment model that can bring high-value, incremental revenue to your partnership program.

These strategic partners offer solutions that help manage, optimize, and track affiliate campaigns, making it easier for both advertisers and partners to achieve their goals. For example, you may want a partner to suggest product add-ons or schedule reminders for users in real time or after a certain amount of lapsed time on a webpage.

Think: UpSellit, RevLifter, Katalys

Get Started with New Partnerships Today

The changing economy and recent market trends have opened the doors to new opportunities for performance-based partnerships, including the four we’ve listed above. What other partnerships have you recently discovered or think are flying under the radar? We’d love to hear from you at partnerships@tune.com.

Once you’re ready to grow your program with these new strategic partners, consider a robust, SaaS-based platform like TUNE instead of using an affiliate network. We outline the benefits of working independently with partners and a solution like TUNE in this Partnerships 101 blog post.

Discover how to expand your affiliate program to new partners and channels in our Ultimate Guide to Mobile Partner Marketing. It’s everything you need to know to combine the power of performance-based partnerships with the focus and reach of mobile user acquisition efforts.