How Affiliate Marketing Works in Uganda – 2022’s Ultimate Guide
Jeff November 4, 2021
Most people who explain how affiliate marketing works usually explain it in general terms that do not elaborate fully on how the system works from the affiliates’ or marketers’ side.
They explain it this way;
” It’s a process of earning a commission by promoting other people’s (or companies’) products.
Pat Flynn
Quite simple, right? In general terms, that’s how the system works, but, in reality, for someone who’s beginning, there’s more involved for them to reach the point of making their first commission that marketers never tell them.
The truth is, most marketers lure newbies with flashy results without explaining what it takes, let alone the fact that some aren’t even genuine.
How then does affiliate marketing work in Uganda from 2022 onwards?
In a nutshell, you’ll need to create a channel through which you communicate with your audience; this requires effort, dedication, and some bit of funds for some channels you make; then use that channel to build a strong relationship that will lead your audience to trust your recommendations; time is needed for you to reach that point because relationships don’t grow overnight.
Once that is done, you will earn a commission from every sale your audience makes through your channel.
Now, don’t get me wrong; this guide was not created to discourage you from pursuing your affiliate marketing career; affiliate marketing is a wonderful opportunity for you to create a sustainable way of making money online. In fact, ttunda Classifieds participates in some forms of affiliate marketing.
The point is this: If you want some money to fix a need now, starting affiliate marketing won’t work for you now, and if you are looking for ways to make some extra income, note the word; “extra” means you already have a means of income but want to add some extra income to it, affiliate marketing will work for you.
On the other hand, if you are broke and want to make money online, we recommend these other methods instead of affiliate marketing.
Enough of the negativity, let’s get to the real stuff – Starting a successful affiliate marketing business in Uganda from 2022 onwards.
Here’s a summarized way of how affiliate marketing works in Uganda in 2022;
- Create a channel of communication
- Build a strong relationship
- Join an affiliate program
- Share affiliate links on your channel
- Earn passive income
- Follow-up on successful sales
- Repeat the process to scale
Let’s now look at each of those steps in detail.
1. Create a Channel of Communication
A channel is a platform that you’ll use to reach your audience with helpful information that they’re looking for online.
It could be a niche website, a social media page, a YouTube channel, or an opt-in page that allows you to build an email list that you’ll use to send helpful emails regularly.
Whatever option you choose, as a marketer, you’ll work at growing an audience by offering valuable content that addresses their unique needs; that is the foundation of affiliate marketing – growing an audience.
That could involve thoroughly researching the people you intend to serve; finding out what their needs are, what they fear, and what they consider to be the ideal result they want; then creating content that satisfies those needs.
When people you want to serve find your content helpful, trusting you won’t be a problem; they’ll keep coming back for more solutions; they’ll also recommend you to their friends with similar needs. As you consistently create helpful content and share it via your channel, your audience will also grow.
2. Build a Strong Relationship
In the beginning, your focus is not to get income; your goal should be showing your audience that you relate to their challenges.
You’re showing them that – Look am with you, I understand, and I’ll be there for you – That’s your objective.
It requires presenting your content in a way that shows them that you’ve their interest at heart, not their wallet. It could also mean doing kind deeds for them.
Those deeds could include giving them gifts like eBooks, helpful suggestions, or responding to their personal questions at an individual level.
As you keep doing this, they will look at you as someone who cares about their wellbeing and successes.
With time, they’ll start feeling indebted for your helpful advice.
And every time the suggestions you give them work, that trust grows.
It is now the time to think about recommending other people’s products and services to them. It’s time to go to the next step.
3. Join an Affiliate Program
Affiliate programs are incentive strategies that businesses use to increase their sales; They allow marketers like you to promote their products to your audience with a commission as a reward for each sale.
There are thousands of businesses with affiliate programs or partner programs. And the good thing is, most of them are easy and free to join.
Other businesses that don’t have the time to manage their affiliate programs; outsource them to affiliate networks where affiliates can join and choose which program they’d want to promote.
The good thing about affiliate networks is that you manage all your affiliate accounts in one place, and there are more tools to help you promote the products to your audience.
The downside about networks is that some might require a monthly subscription for you to use their platform.
Examples of affiliate networks include; Amazon, share a sale, click bank, Rakuten affiliate network, Wealthy Affiliate, and many others.
4. Share Affiliate Links on Your Channel
An affiliate link is a website URL with a unique tracking code that product vendors or online stores with affiliate programs use to identify their visitors.
On joining, most platforms create an account where you can manage your affiliate campaigns.
Some have already done-for-you HTML banners, email templates, site widgets, and messages that you can use in your campaigns.
The good thing about these links is that your users won’t even know that they are affiliate links.
However, for FTC compliance, it’s a good thing to specify to your audience that you have affiliate links on your channel.
That’s why it’s good to develop a relationship with your audience; They won’t care if the links are affiliate links that give you a commission every time they purchase through your platform.
Most of them already feel indebted to you for the helpful information you have been sharing with them; They naturally want to pay back something in appreciation.
With a big audience with such a mindset, the returns could be staggering; you can find yourself earning a consistent monthly income from your audience.
5. Earn Passive Income
At this point, you have already earned your audience’s trust; It’s now time to reap from your hard work.
But don’t fall into the trap of sounding like a marketer; let the selling happen naturally, and don’t fall into the trap of forcing it.
Instead, continue delivering your content in a tone that your audience feels you have their interest at heart; This makes them comfortable sharing your content with other friends.
Remember that your audience isn’t the same when it comes to taking action, so don’t become pushy by bombarding them with one campaign after the other instead, maintain the same regular tone of a helpful friend.
6. Follow Up on Successful Sales
It’s no doubt that you want your audience to become more like fans who can always buy items through your platform.
So, don’t settle for making one sale and be like someone who washes his hands and says: “Okay friends, I’ve helped you up to here; the rest is up to you.”
Instead, make your audience feel like you are with them each step of the way. Follow up on each sale you make from individual referrals.
One way you can do this is by talking to the company you’re promoting to create a dedicated page where your referrals go after making a purchase.
That page can psychologically instill a sense of care in your referrals. They won’t feel as if you have left the rest up to them.
Another way is to create a follow-through step-by-step guide to help them maximize how they can use the item they have just bought through your platform.
Even a mere message to find out how they are faring with the product can go a long way in instilling a sense of care in your referrals.
Whatever way you choose to use, to follow up on successful sales, your goal is to make your audience feel that you haven’t left them.
7. Repeat the Process to Scale
After building a thriving affiliate business, you would want to make it sustainable for a long time. One way you can do this is by repurposing your channel.
That means that if you were using a blog to communicate to your audience, you might consider building an email list that you could also use to reach out to them too.
Have you been using a social media page to communicate to your audience? You might consider creating a YouTube channel to tap on the YouTube audience.
It’s always good to always think of scaling because affiliate programs could change. A typical example is when Amazon decided to slice their affiliate commissions to less than half of the actual price.
Affiliates who used the Amazon partner program as their sole source of income faced a dramatic fall in commissions. Others even lost their businesses altogether.
So, don’t keep all of your eggs in one basket; repurpose your channel so that it’s future-proof.
Affiliate marketing in Uganda in 2021 might look challenging but, if you start on a firm foundation by first focusing on building a robust relationship, you will create a sustainable affiliate business.
We are also excited to let you know that we are soon running a one-year challenge that could take you from a complete beginner to a successful affiliate marketer within a year.
Do you want to be the early bird to gain access to this course? Yes, I am in!