Is affiliate marketing dead? Well, according to Statista, affiliate marketing spend in the U.S. is set to reach 6.82 billion in 2021, and 8.2 billion dollars by 2022 (up from 5.4 billion in 2017). A recent study by VigLink also shows that over 77% of affiliates experienced an increase in revenue every year since 2016.
Between 2017-18 alone, online searches for the term ‘affiliate marketing’ rose by an impressive 44% according to Google Trends. Spending in the affiliate area has consistently grown by 10.1% yearly. Affiliate marketing is responsible for generating an average 16% of the orders received online. See more affiliate statistics here.
But although there’s a huge surge in the use of affiliates, does this translate to affiliates themselves being successful? After all, many affiliates struggle and they spend money on advertising to make these sales. Affiliate marketing is a useful cheap marketing option for businesses, but do those affiliates succeed in their own right? Are most affiliate businesses profitable? When a business uses an affiliate, they only pay when the sale is made. Affiliates therefore are a relatively cheap marketing source for some businesses.
Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?
A recent Gallup poll showed that a massive 85% of workers were dissatisfied with their jobs and particularly their bosses. Many of these dissatisfied workers are looking to the online world for a solution. Will they find it in affiliate marketing? Well, the statistics of affiliate marketers who actually succeed and make a full time living from it are pretty low. Only around 5% of affiliates are known to make a success of affiliate marketing. See affiliate marketing failure rate.
But looking at this statistic, that’s including many would-be affiliates who are seeking an overnight success. Many people think affiliate marketing is some get rich quick scheme and then quit immediately when they don’t see instant success. Plus there’s many who sign up to an affiliate program but put zero work in.
Affiliate marketing is something with very low overheads which anyone can “try”. This means there’s a massive drop out rate. The same would be true of any business but with brick and mortar businesses, financial barriers to entry prevent many people even attempting it. But affiliate marketing is different because you don’t need a building, staff or any equipment. Barriers to entry are very low and anyone can”have a go”!
All you need is a laptop and an internet connection. But those who think of it as a quick win are misinformed and affiliate marketing is changing. There’s more competition than ever, particularly since 2020 and the pandemic lockdown measures ruining people’s livelihoods.
Is Affiliate Marketing A Solution?
For those who are solution focused and have a big enough problem or reason to make it work, affiliate marketing can be a lucrative career path. But it takes time and effort, like with building any business. To replace your income inside a year is pretty rare, although it can be done. Many affiliates don’t realise this and get disappointed and disillusioned within a few months. They blame the business model and wonder why affiliate marketing doesn’t work?
But the problem is in fact those who have gone into a business without the necessary mindset and support. Transitioning from employment to entrepreneurship is a huge deal. As an employee, you’re trained to turn up, work and get paid. An entrepreneur needs a different mindset. They can’t expect to bring their “worker bee” mentality to a business and expect the same in return. They must learn entrepreneur mindsets and overcome their own sometime limiting ideas and behaviours.
Affiliate marketing is a skill and it takes time and effort to learn. Like any career path, you shouldn’t expect something for nothing, and you get out what you put in. If you’re looking for quick riches and an easy path, I wouldn’t recommend affiliate marketing. But if you’re prepared to learn new skills and commit for the long term, anyone can make it work for them.
Earning With Affiliate Marketing – Issues
There’s many issues you’re likely to come across as an affiliate marketer. You can easily waste your time and get nowhere if you don’t get the right training and support. Ultimately you get paid for results in affiliate marketing, not for your time. In a job, you’re paid for your time. Unfortunately this can train us to think our time is worth something, even when we do nothing with it!
There’s many strategies for affiliate marketing too. Blogging, paid marketing, list building and video marketing are just a few. As someone who browses the internet, you’re likely to find a number of affiliate marketers – whether you know it or not. You may have even purchased items through affiliate links online. As an affiliate, you’ll no doubt become more aware of your competition, of which there’s plenty.
As an affiliate, you’ll need to find your own way of getting products and services in front of your audience. With a growing number of affiliates, this can become more difficult, especially if you compete for a finite position on a particular platform.
But there’s many ways to skin a cat, as the saying goes and affiliates aren’t limited to a single marketing strategy; there’s thousands of social media platforms to choose from.
Business Models
There’s various affiliate marketing business models available to new affiliates. Amazon, for example pays affiliates from 1% to 12% commissions on a sale they generate. Digital products pay much more – more like 40% in many cases. Then you have recurring commission affiliate programs which pay you ongoing commissions for previous sales. And of course high ticket commissions pay the most to affiliates.
As a new affiliate marketer with no training or experience, you’re likely to find a lot of problems. You can pick the wrong business model and choose the wrong marketing strategy too. In 6 months of hard work you can get absolutely nowhere. This is why your education is so important if you are to become successful as an affiliate marketer. Armed with support, the best business models and training, you’re much better off than going in blind and alone. You can go down a rabbit hole for months and still fail without it.
Is Affiliate Marketing Dead?
So is affiliate marketing dead? The simple answer is no absolutely not. Many people are already making a good healthy living from affiliate marketing and many will join them over the coming few decades. With the current climate and the growth of automation replacing jobs in many sectors, plus growing uncertainty and dissatisfaction with jobs and bosses, affiliate marketing offers an attractive proposition no matter how difficult it may be to get the wheels of an affiliate business turning.
Anyone can start an affiliate business from anywhere globally without a business premises or any staff. You only need a laptop and internet connection, you don’t need any experience and you can work from anywhere. But with these huge benefits you need to weigh up the 95% failure rate. Not everyone will succeed with affiliate marketing, but many can and will.
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