Official Affiliate marketing trends for 2021 — the new beginning

Hey guys,

After what could be called “a bizarre year ”, January 1st, 2021 is probably one of the most anticipated days in our recent history. Although there are voices that request seeing some terms and conditions before really signing up for it, we’ve all got our hopes high.

And what's a better way to celebrate the start of the new year, the new beginning, than to launch your campaigns with a bang?

Read on and learn everything you need to know about affiliate marketing trends for 2021 and how to make money with it.

☑️ Is affiliate marketing still worth it in 2021?
As the 2020 prognoses said, affiliate marketing is worth well over 16 billion dollars and it’s still growing — approximately 10% YoY according to the Awin Report. And these findings are based on the stats from before the covid-19 pandemic, that is before the digital channel became the new normal for a significant part of our daily lives, all over the world.

The 2021 prognoses are still in the making, but affiliate marketing is already said to go way beyond that number in 2020 and skyrocket even further in 2021.

The best example of that being the Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 results that have truly gone mad. Well, we all have to see those numbers really.

According to Salesforce insights published on December 1st, right after the BFCM weekend finished:

• Black Friday brought $9 billion in online sales in the US alone — that’s up 29% YoY.
• Cyber Monday peaked with $10.8 billion in online sales in the US alone — up 15% YoY.
• Total digital sales for the holiday season reached $270 billion globally — up 36% YoY.
• And $60 billion in the US alone — that 29% growth YoY.
• The number of consumers participating in Cyber Week (as prompted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and online rather than an in-store trend) grew by 22% as compared to 2019.

So… if these numbers aren’t what proves affiliate marketing to be one of the most profitable branches of digital marketing to get into in 2021, then we don’t know what is. All you have to do to learn is to give it a go — and there’s plenty of ways to do so.

Especially if you follow the industry insights and top trends for the upcoming year that we’re about to share in this article!

☑️ Improving campaign sustainability & fighting market volatility
This point is especially important given the lessons learned in 2020 — keep optimizing and never take things for granted. And yes, it’s one of the most prominent trends in digital marketing. This is because tapping into the viral trend is just half of the success if advertisers can’t keep their campaigns going.

That’s why working on the longevity of your affiliate marketing campaigns and knowing how to prevent sudden market changes from destroying weeks of your work is a great trend to follow.

We’ve answered the first part of the question here — by giving you some pro tips on how to make your affiliate marketing campaigns last longer.

When it comes to the second part, that is preventing your campaigns from suffering the impacts of market volatility, then summarizing what we’ve learned in 2020 might just be the answer you need. This is because last year proved to us, with all certainty, that even when there’s a major economic crash, being able to react and adapt fast is the key.

☞ Tips for fighting market volatility in 2021:

• Continuous monitoring of market trends.
• Investing in a variety of niches (in case one gets into crisis, there’s a back-up).
• Using the viral trends on a short-time basis.
• Setting automatic notifications to inform you about any sudden or worrying events.
• Ability to react quickly if your campaigns go down.
• Adapting to newly emerging trends if your old inventory goes into crisis.
• Staying in touch with your affiliate partners: affiliate programs and networks, traffic sources, ad exchanges, trackers, spy tools, etc.
• Making use of auto-optimization options offered by affiliate software of your choice to stay on top of your business and make money even when you sleep… or protect yourself from losing money when you sleep.

These are just a few of the general rules that every affiliate marketer should be aware of. You might be following them already, or you might have just found a solution to one of your most pressing problems. Regardless of which group you belong to, they’re surely one of the most useful and profitable trends to follow in 2021.

☑️ Seasonality & the key marketing dates for 2021
As every year, there are some dates and events that all marketers should be aware of. This is because the whole marketing business is heavily influenced and dependent on seasonality. Again, one of the best examples proving the case in point is the grand Q4 and the BFCM weekend.

Just to give you a few of the upcoming events and seasonal trends that will surely get a great deal of attention, while at the same time being a profitable business opportunity to tap into, here’s a brief version of the marketing calendar for Q1 2021.

Affiliate marketing calendar for Q1 2021
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☑️ Campaign tracking & data-driven decision making
What’s the single best thing about digital marketing as compared to the old-school worth of mouth kind of thing? It’s data.

As much as this phrase has become a cliche now, data truly is the king. But no king can reign successfully if there’s nobody to support him… or collect taxes. That’s why campaign tracking is essential.

Tracking affiliate marketing campaigns allow advertisers to make data-driven decisions, hence the best decisions. Any kind of tracking software that’s designed to track your campaigns, collect marketing data, help you observe trends, or identify the best and worst-performing placements of traffic is your time, life, and most importantly, money-saver.

You wouldn’t want to invest your money into something and then have no idea what happened to it right? Same way, you wouldn’t want to get only partial information, right? What we’re trying to make clear here is that quite often the basic analytics are not enough. What everybody in the affiliate industry should know is that there are several custom-made tools or other solutions for smart marketers who know that knowing your data is everything.

Especially if modern AI-powered solutions can effectively do some of the jobs for you, as long as you’re able to fuel these tools with data. A tracking pixel, postback tracking, traffic tokens — choose as you please, but do track.

That’s why whether you use multiple traffic sources and need one tracking tool to store your data, or you prefer to rely on the tracking solutions offered by your traffic source, remember that tracking and analytics are key. And in case there’s something you’d like to know about postback tracking but were too afraid to ask, here’s some handy information.

☑️ Affiliate marketing automation — make money while you sleep well in 2021
As in every sphere of life, there comes a time when faster, better and cheaper solutions come into play. But in the case of affiliate marketing automation tools, it’s not only about that. These AI-powered tools are what can truly save you both time and money, not to mention the energy when working on optimizing your affiliate campaigns.

Things work pretty simple for affiliate marketers — the more campaigns you run, and the more profitable they are, the more money you make. But what if I can’t run any more campaigns? Or I can’t get my campaigns profitable? Well, that’s when things aren’t that simple anymore.

Many affiliate campaigns, various ad exchanges and platforms, traffic spikes, market volatility, global pandemic, and only 24h in a day — how is one able to combine all these? Well, that’s what the auto-optimization tools are all about.

What we believe can truly help affiliate marketers sleep well at night, without worrying about losing money or losing money-making opportunities, is making the most of the affiliate marketing automation solutions. Are you currently using any?

☞ Examples of affiliate marketing automation tools:

• Rule-Based Optimization
• Traffic source notifications
• Conversion capping
• Budget capping

That’s why using the already available automation tools, as well as staying vigilant to anything new that might pop up on the market is essential to the success of your campaigns. 2021 might be big for automation and innovation so stay focused.

⚠️ If you want to find out more about:

• The most profitable niches for 2021,
• The hottest digital trends for 2021,
• The effects of COVID on affiliate marketing in 2021,
• How to drive user engagement,
• Landing page and creative trends for 2021;

✅ CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE ✅
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Magda