What Is Affiliate Marketing Exactly?

the process of promoting another brand’s product(s) or service(s) in exchange for a commission once the prospect uses your dedicated link to complete a purchase. You can also secure affiliate payouts for helping brands gain qualified leads such as signing up for a webinar or demo. Commissions aren’t released right away. Instead, each affiliate program will set payment thresholds and timeframes.

  1. Sign up for a brand’s affiliate program. Once accepted you’ll become an affiliate partner.
  2. Create content or an ad promoting the brand’s product or service with your affiliate link attached.
  3. The shopper clicks your link, completes their purchase or sale-related action, and the sale or lead is attributed to your affiliate account.
  4. Once the cooling-off period ends you receive a payout.

For example, say you are a fashion influencer. You could promote a jewelry brand’s signature watch. Each time a person uses your affiliate link to buy the jewelry brand’s watch you’ll get a cut of the sale through a commission payment 30 days after the purchase is delivered to the customer.