Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a performance-based channel where businesses reward third-party partners, known as affiliates, for generating traffic, leads, or sales on their behalf.
Affiliates promote a product or service through their own channels, which might be a blog, a newsletter, a social media account, a comparison site, or a content platform. They use a unique tracking link, and when a visitor from that link takes a defined action, such as making a purchase or completing a form, the affiliate earns a commission. The business only pays when results are delivered, which makes it a low-risk channel relative to many forms of paid advertising.
Affiliate programmes are common in e-commerce and SaaS, but they work in B2B contexts too, particularly where trusted voices in a niche can influence purchasing decisions. Industry analysts, consultants, and specialist publishers can all be effective affiliates for B2B products if the commission structure and the audience alignment are right.
For marketing teams, affiliate marketing works best as a complement to owned channels rather than a replacement. It extends your reach into audiences you cannot easily access through your own email list or paid campaigns. Managing an affiliate programme requires tracking infrastructure, clear terms, and ongoing relationship management with your partner network, but the performance-based cost model means you are paying for outcomes rather than impressions.
How does affiliate tracking work?
Each affiliate is given a unique URL containing a tracking parameter. When a visitor clicks that link, a cookie is set in their browser that attributes them to that affiliate. If the visitor then completes the target action within the cookie window, typically 30 to 90 days depending on the programme, the affiliate receives credit for the conversion. Affiliate platforms handle this tracking automatically and provide reporting dashboards for both the business and its affiliates.
What is the difference between affiliate marketing and referral marketing?
Affiliate marketing typically involves third-party publishers or content creators who promote your product to their own audiences in exchange for commission. Referral marketing involves your existing customers recommending your product to people they know, usually in exchange for a reward like a discount or account credit. Referral programmes rely on personal relationships and trust, while affiliate programmes rely on reach and content authority.
How do you find affiliates for a B2B product?
Start by identifying who already talks to your target buyers: industry bloggers, newsletter writers, consultants, software review platforms, and trade publications. Many of these will have existing affiliate or partnership frameworks. You can also use affiliate networks to find publishers in your category, or reach out directly to creators whose content already overlaps with your product’s use cases.