How Affiliate Marketing Can Power Small Business Growth

Marketing as a small retailer is overwhelming.

Limited time, small teams, and even smaller budgets make it hard to compete with larger competitors. Exposure is critical to growth, but finding efficient, cost-effective ways to get your brand out there isn’t always easy.

That’s where affiliates could come in handy for your business. Affiliate marketing allows small businesses to widen their reach by partnering with others to promote their products — without draining internal resources.

An Introduction to Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing tactic in which a brand collaborates with an influencer, blogger, online media outlet, or other publisher to promote and sell its product to consumers. What makes it different from a typical Google Ad is that instead of paying for promotion that may not work, you only pay if a publisher successfully drives a sale, lead, website click, or another pre-determined outcome.

Common Types of Affiliate Marketing Sectors

Affiliates should be viewed as more than just distribution; they're strategic partners to your business. When launching an affiliate program, it's important to choose the right types of publishers that align with your specific marketing goals.

The most common affiliate marketing sectors include:

• Bloggers and editorial content (e.g., Half Baked Harvest Blog): Bloggers and content sites earn money by writing and sharing content their audience wants to read. They can promote affiliate brands directly within the content or alongside it.
• Coupon code sites (e.g., RetailMeNot): Brands can target bargain-savvy customers by partnering with coupon code sites that drive traffic to their deals or offers. And remember, there's a difference between coupons and deals. Deal sites often show specific products that are at a deep or temporary discount in which the user might want to consider making a purchase. Despite the appearance, these have the potential to drive top-of-funnel interest.
• Review sites (e.g., The New York Times' Wirecutter): These sites review and compare different products, many of which will be affiliate brands. Audiences search for product reviews to reassure themselves of quality and value before purchasing.
• Email marketing (e.g., an influencer who has created a newsletter to showcase their monthly favorites): Email marketers contact their lists regularly, with the frequency depending on the types of offers or newsletters the user has signed up to receive.
• Social media influencers (e.g., Charli D'Amelio): Influencers have developed an online presence and are respected within their niches. When they promote or discuss new products, brands can go viral if their audience engages with them.
• Loyalty programs (e.g., Capital One Shopping): An affiliate loyalty program rewards affiliates for dedication and performance in promoting a brand. Different from a customer loyalty program, which pays in points and aims to retain customers, an affiliate loyalty program gives out commission incentives to affiliate partners and aims to expand its reach to new customers.

Exploring the Pros and Cons

Before embarking on your affiliate journey, it's essential to know what you're getting yourself into.

A few pros of affiliate marketing include:

• Cost effectiveness: Unlike platforms like Google Ads, where you pay for clicks or impressions, affiliate marketing operates on a performance basis — i.e., brands only pay commissions when desired goals are reached. Being listed on a publisher site can give you a halo effect when trying to create awareness with consumers.
• Brand awareness/social validation: By promoting your products online, publishers expand your reach and boost brand recognition, as well as provide third-party validation for your offering. Also, collaborating with influencers that boast loyal, engaged followers can build recognition and trust in your brand.
• New audiences: Working with a diverse mix of publishers allows you to tap into well-established audiences that might be out of reach through traditional advertising. This broader exposure helps small businesses explore new markets, which is essential for growth.

On the other hand, some difficulties you might face include:

• Time management: Recruiting, onboarding and managing affiliates takes time, and you’ll need reliable systems to track performance and ensure accurate payouts.
• Compliance awareness: If you manage your program independently, staying compliant with affiliate marketing regulations becomes your responsibility. These rules vary widely by region, so you must stay informed to avoid legal or reputational repercussions.
• Building relationships: Attracting and retaining a team of loyal, high-performing affiliates takes time and effort. Keeping affiliates engaged means constant communication, support, and performance tracking.

How to Make it Work for Your Business

Affiliate programs can be launched in two ways: manually, by building direct relationships with partners, or through a network which provides more scale and offers vetted publishers and streamlined tools for tracking, communication and payments. Either way, you have the freedom to determine the structure and how it can best suit your business' needs — from commission rates and creative assets to who promotes your brand and how.

One of the most essential foundations is proper tracking. Strong analytics help you understand what’s working, such as who your customers are, where they’re coming from, what content drives conversions, and which partners perform best. These insights will be critical for optimizing your strategy over time.

Overall, affiliate programs offer a low-risk way to test new products, campaigns, and audiences as you scale your business. They’re a flexible, cost-effective marketing method that promotes easy growth, making them a smart move for any small retailer looking to compete online.

Adam Weiss is president of North America at Awin, a global affiliate marketing platform.