Top Differences Between Digital Marketing and Affiliate Marketing That You Should Know
The world of digital marketing is vast with various online marketing channels on which effective strategies are built. Affiliate marketing is one of them. Well-known for creating easy passive income, affiliate marketers promote a company’s products and earn per-sale commissions when customers make a purchase.
So how is digital marketing different in practice from affiliate marketing? Let’s find out.
Digital Marketing vs Affiliate Marketing
By comparing the key areas, you will be able to determine the differences between both.
Definitions Comparison
Digital marketing is the umbrella term for all kinds of online marketing practices. Being a broader discipline, it has several different components including affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing is a type of advertising resource to earn additional revenue. Instead of selling your own products, building your brand and profiting that make up for the fundamental goals of digital marketing, you simply advertise or refer to others’ products or services and earn rewards when customers buy them.
Components of Affiliate Marketing Compared to Digital Marketing
In affiliate marketing, there are three components.
- Owner of the product
- Affiliate marketer, the one who promotes/refers the product
- Customer
Affiliates including influencers or bloggers usually apply for an affiliate program – a business agreement between the product owner and the affiliate marketer. The mediators of affiliate programs are known as affiliate networks which help track payments and send unique links to be used for referring. Some of the popular affiliate networks are Amazon, Vcommission, etc. While the Amazon Affiliate program is free for anyone with a website, others may not be free. Amazon Affiliate program also pays for each sale. Others may pay for each click on the link or the number of visitors.
On the other hand, the different parts of digital marketing are mentioned below.
- Content marketing
- Video marketing
- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- SEO
- SEM
- Analytics
Unlike affiliate marketing, digital marketing is not just about selling a product or service. It deploys various tactics (free and paid) across all digital channels (brand website ranking, social media, email, etc) to grow a brand by resolving genuine queries of customers. Another difference is that digital marketing strategies keep changing from time to time based on the business objectives. The budgets also keep changing for digital marketing campaigns. All in all, digital marketers take control of the product. Affiliates do not own the product and the affiliate program will define how they can use the link for advertising.
Comparing Advantages of Affiliate Marketing and Digital Marketing
Affiliate marketing is not new and has existed ever since the late 90s internet boom. Its average spend in the US went up to 8.2 billion USD in 2022 from 5.4 billion USD in 2017 (Statista). In 2024, that too globally, the market size for it is going to be USD 15.7 billion. Each year, since 2015, it has been growing at a rapid rate of 10%. Another resource, Forrester Group shows that 83% of advertisers use affiliate marketing to increase brand awareness.
One of the biggest pros of affiliate marketing is that it costs little to no money to get started. After gaining enough traffic from an audience who trust the content on a website or blog with affiliate links, affiliates earn commissions in a steady way as long as the product is available. One also does not need to hire an extra hand.
Digital marketing trends keep changing and professionals constantly have to keep an eye on them. According to Forrester and eMarketer, social media is growing at a rate of 17% per year between 2016 and 2021. By 2028, the global social media market size will be US$ 255.8bn, according to Statista. Plus, the demand for video marketing is growing exponentially as well, that is predicted to take 82% of all consumer traffic on the internet by 2025, according to Personify. Check more on the best digital marketing strategies.
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Choosing Affiliate Marketing or Digital Marketing
So you can see, both do not necessarily work exclusively but together as a whole for an online business. To gain traffic to your affiliate website/blog, you will need to practice good SEO or if you are an influencer-turned-affiliate, you need to know about social media marketing. Ultimately, both affiliate and digital marketers help promote products. With the correct approach, both can be used for business advantage by reaching a much wider audience and selling a product much faster.
FAQs
How does affiliate marketing differ from other forms of digital marketing strategies?
Affiliate marketing primarily involves promoting others' products or services to earn commissions, while other digital marketing strategies focus on promoting a brand, its products, or services directly. Unlike traditional digital marketing, affiliates do not own the products they promote but earn through referrals or sales.
What are the primary differences in the objectives of affiliate marketers compared to digital marketers?
Affiliate marketers aim to generate revenue by directing customers to other companies' products or services through their referral efforts. In contrast, digital marketers focus on building brand awareness, customer engagement, lead generation, and direct sales for their own or their clients' businesses.
Could you explain the role of affiliate networks in the context of affiliate marketing, and how do they differ from traditional digital marketing channels?
Affiliate networks act as intermediaries connecting product owners and affiliate marketers. These networks facilitate tracking, payment distribution, and provide unique referral links. Unlike traditional digital marketing channels such as social media, email, or content marketing, affiliate networks specifically cater to managing affiliate programs and tracking referrals.
In terms of revenue generation, how do the earning mechanisms of affiliate marketing differ from those in traditional digital marketing campaigns?
Affiliate marketers earn commissions or rewards based on the performance of their referrals, such as successful sales or clicks on referral links. Conversely, traditional digital marketing campaigns may involve direct sales, advertising fees, or chargeable services, where revenue generation is based on the effectiveness of the marketing campaign itself.
Considering the evolving landscape of digital marketing trends, how does the future look for affiliate marketing in comparison to other established digital marketing strategies?
Affiliate marketing is steadily growing, as indicated by its increasing market size and adoption rates. While other digital marketing strategies like social media and video marketing are expanding too, affiliate marketing's performance-based model and ability to reach wider audiences through influencers and content creators suggest a promising future in the realm of online marketing.
Aquib is a seasoned wordsmith, having penned countless blogs for Indian and international brands. These days, he's all about digital marketing and core management subjects - not to mention his unwavering commitment ... Read Full Bio
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