By Bryce Gruber
That’s a jarring headline, right? I know. You probably spent the last 20 or so years developing the world’s best relationships and understanding every obscure ingredient and material that goes into client widgets. The truth is excellent relationships are no longer enough to win the consumer PR game in 2022 or beyond. Publicists are now required to understand the world of affiliate marketing and e-commerce best practices to even compete. There’s good news, though. Your relationships and PR skills give you a significant edge. And you make more money.
Why the industry shift?
Simply put—print is on life support and brands no longer pay for ads. Consumers still like product-driven content (heck, they’re actively searching Google for it all day), but magazines aren’t dumb enough to give it away for free. It costs loads of time and resources to churn out good content, and we need beefy ROI to make sense of it all. Your average “These Are the Best Cuticle Creams” story may cost large publishers upwards of $1,500 to produce by the time a writer, top editor, art team, production assistant, SEO specialist and syndication lead gets hands on it. That’s a lot. Depending on who you talk to at which publisher, the return needs to be at least five-fold… easily. We need to sell a bunch of cuticle creams to make sense of it all.
But that’s good news for you, PR friend
Publishers now have skin in the game. Instead of just thinking your client’s widget is interesting or visually appealing, we want it to sell just as much as you do. Your bills being paid are our bills being paid. The inverse is also true.
It also means that just about any story that includes a thing you can buy, shop for or subscribe to is going under the commerce or affiliate umbrella. It’s no longer editorial-as-usual. And that means you need to get your clients sorted out an acceptable platform yesterday. Don’t worry—it’s all within reach even if you’re technologically challenged.
Who should you be pitching?
Like I said, if you have a product, service or subscription that is for sale, you are now falling under the commerce content domain. Commerce content is just about anything that includes for-sale items. Editorial is now a totally different world, focused on product-free service content and features. Every publisher assigns different titles to these commerce teams, but they’re all functioning in parallel ways.
I am deemed a Senior Shopping Editor and have the freedom to cover a wide range of shoppable topics ranging from women’s coats to lip balms, table saws for Grandpa to linen sheets for newlyweds. Other major publishers give their commerce editorial teams titles like Commerce Editor or Affiliate Editor. The important thing to remember is that it’s easy to see who writes content that is obviously commerce-driven, and then pitch them. Senior editors usually dictate story angles and outflowing assignments, whereas associate-level editors take on either shorter-form or quick-turnaround stories with less experience necessary. Freelancers receive already-calculated story assignments. Gone are the days when freelancers would dream up their own storylines, but that’s another topic for another time.
What’s the best affiliate system to use?
That really depends on who you are, what your brand is looking to achieve and what their budget looks like. Entry-level systems can be implemented on ShareASale for just a few hundred dollars in set up and then a small monthly sales minimum (or a $35/month maintenance fee, whichever is greater). More robust systems with in-depth click reporting can be had through Rakuten or Impact.
There’s also some noise in the industry right now that Impact Radius is going to entirely transform the industry with their Trackonomics system. While it’s possible, it’s not coming immediately. Electric cars will be the way at some point too, but right now they’re mostly out of reach for average drivers and will take a few years to become the absolute norm. Think of Trackonomics the same way, only it’s super expensive to use the Impact platform and if I had to guess—ShareASale, Refersion, Rakuten, etc. won’t go out without a major fight. I suspect by mid to late 2023 all the big platforms will have something to compete with Trackonomics. Streamline transactions and increase efficiency with reliable payment processing.
The point? Don’t chase what you think will be trending. Set up what you can realistically use and afford for the next year and see what shakes out. No matter what you do, make sure your offers are pushed through to an umbrella network like Skimlinks. Most publishers use these code-simplifying tools as standard practice, and if you don’t enable Skimlinks on your affiliate system you’re all but useless in most stories.
Is this really good for PR, though?
Yes, yes, yes. It’s so good. From my perspective, I’d rather work with a publicist who knows their affiliate stuff any day of the week than with a robotic-feeling affiliate manager. You already have the people skills and the communication know-how that’s nearly impossible to replace. You’re priceless, really. You know what writers need and want and how to whisper all the right things in our ears to make us feel safe and loved.
But also, this is a retainer add-on for you. You can outsource affiliate set-up or white label it and then manage brand platforms on your own. It’s the proof-is-in-the-pudding method that brand owners love to see, and you can take a piece of the pie. It’s not uncommon for affiliate managers to take anywhere from two to eight percent of affiliate sales generated, and for medium and large brands? Sheesh, that’ll blow a typical PR retainer out of the water.
It’s no secret that the economy feels a bit shaky and brands are getting nervous. The added warmth and protection of new, somewhat passive income streams for you and risk-free marketing for brands is sure to grow in popularity.
Need more ideas or have questions? I write a weekly Affiliate Tribe newsletter on Substack. Don’t be shy.