This article was written by Yael Warman, Content Manager at Leverate.
It’s undoubtedly true that a number of misconceptions exist amongst Forex brokers when discussing affiliate marketing. With even the most conservative estimates putting the amount of brokerage traffic generated by Affiliates at around 70%, these misconceptions prevent brokerages from taking full advantage of this lucrative income stream.
In order to help brokerages make the most of their relationships with affiliates, we are setting the record straight on some of the most common misconceptions:
1. Affiliate marketing is only interested in sales
Whilst increased sales are of course a major point of affiliate marketing, businesses also benefit from new customers, as well as greater traffic across their websites. Traffic levels are higher, and with technology recording clicks and page visits, you can measure interest in specific products and offers.
As a by-product of increased visits and clicks, particularly from customers with a social media presence, your brand is likely to be liked and your page visited more frequently.
2. Affiliate websites are easy to manage
The belief exists across a number of industries that all that is required to sustain affiliate marketing is a quick and easy setup and no further work. In reality, a brokerage is often hard-pressed to manage the large number of affiliates that it may be working with. Brokerages are recommended to have an orderly system in place to ensure that compensation can be awarded correctly, and that your company can adapt quickly if a large percentage of traffic is particularly interested in a specific currency pair. A member of staff with specific responsibility for affiliate management is highly recommended.
3. Only one affiliate program is necessary
Within the forex business, a longstanding misconception exists whereby businesses believe that they only need to advertise one product that they offer. In reality, the best usage of affiliate marketing occurs when your business promotes a number of different products simultaneously, in a way that complements all of them. Within forex, for example, you could choose to highlight a number of currency pairs at the same time.
4. Affiliate marketing is outdated
Many businesses now view affiliate marketing as a thing of the past. This is due for the most part to Google’s new algorithms for SEO, but there are still other ways for your business to adapt. Even with the changes, affiliate marketing still makes sense, but you need to manage the program correctly.
Overall, whilst the forex business benefits considerably from affiliate marketing, there is a way to go before companies are taking full advantage of this revenue stream. Once the above misconceptions have been overcome, affiliate marketing can quickly become an even more productive element of your company’s activities.
