Brand Ambassadors in Affiliate Marketing

I’m thinking about adding brand ambassadors for StatsDrone and it got me thinking about brand ambassadors in affiliate marketing.

I don’t think there are enough partnerships in affiliate marketing. I think too much of affiliate marketing has been very transactional and I think this is what will change in the near future.

What does a transactional partnership look like? It could be someone promoting a product via a post on social media. Sometimes, there isn’t as much effort put into these things and I believe there is a sea of social media influencers that prefer to work like this. 

Speaking of affiliate marketing and promotion, I’d like to give a shoutout to our newsletter sponsors in StatsDrone , FTDx and Optimiser Partners (on Affilka by SOFTSWISS).

I think there will always be people and companies that prefer more transactional based approaches and that is great when it works well.

Let’s take my situation with StatsDrone.

Do I want affiliates promoting StatsDrone in a transactional way with a tracking link or do I want them creating content, videos and collaborating with us?

The true answer is I actually want it all because it all adds up.

What I don’t have currently are brand ambassadors in the true sense other than some customers having referred others.

If we did take on brand ambassadors, I wouldn’t want it to be just a quick extension of our affiliate program. I’d want it to be a bit more meaningful and creative where everyone looks good. 

Media and beyond a tracking link

In most affiliate programs, you can get a tracking link and perhaps some banners and promotional inventory.

Most of the time, there isn’t much inspiring material given to affiliates to work with. 

This is where I think a real partnership can happen and thrive.

Either the affiliate or brand ambassador can come up with their own content and ideas as a means of promoting the product or it can be a collaborative effort.

We have seen more of these iGaming brand ambassadors work more for operators than affiliates but I think affiliates have a big opportunity. 

I mean, when you look at Playmaker, their podcasts are super charged brand ambassadors but we know this comes with heavy investment too. 

Incentive models

So how can anyone make money as a brand ambassador and what are the commission models?

• Flat fee

• Referral commission

• Equity

Flat fees you can almost think about like being a sponsored blog post. It is a one time payment and for any type of influencer or media company that has traffic, they can leverage their network instantly.

Referral commission is basically using your affiliate program as the means of paying someone a reward. I mean, they could have promoted a product this way without being an ambassador but being an ambassador makes it look more organized.

Personally, I think the optics look better.

Equity is where you can offer something like an option or shares to someone. This is interesting for some people but I think more people prefer a more guaranteed payment.  Shoutout to Travis Jamison for telling me about OWM.

SEO Mentors by Odys Global

One company that I think is leveraging influencers is Odys Global. Shoutout to Alex Drew for what he's done in partnering with prominent SEO names. I think this is a great SaaS example and I'm sure more of these ideas can be applied to affiliate market.

So, should StatsDrone setup a brand ambassador program?

What are some great examples of brand ambassadors done in affiliate marketing?