First of all, if you do not know what affiliate marketing is, here is a quick explanation: An affiliate marketer is a person who promotes products from third-party companies on a commission basis. Read this post for more details.
Affiliating is an extremely popular concept all over the world. It offers you the opportunity to generate income from the comfort of your home. The only requirements are a laptop or desktop computer and an internet connection.
- On the one side, there is the affiliate who promotes somebody else’s product or service, through a website or social media channels, managed by the affiliate.
- On the other side, there is the affiliate program (sometimes it may be called a partner program) which is managed by the vendor of the product.
But it seems that in Kenya, this concept is relatively unknown. So why is that? Here are a few possible explanations.
Lack of good affiliate programs
It is true that only a few Kenyan companies have good affiliate programs. That means that the abilities of an affiliate are somewhat limited. Affiliates could choose to promote a product that is offered by a non-Kenyan company. In that case, the product must either be a digital product, or the product must have the option of easy shipping to Kenya.
At the same time, it is important for the affiliate to get commissions not only for today’s sale but also for future purchases of that customer that you just referred to the company.
Nowadays, everybody wants to be an influencer
There are lots of influencers in Kenya, and some of the make a lot of money. That much is true. And in a way, an influencer is similar to an affiliate marketer – both help companies to present their products, and get paid for it.
The difference is that influencers usually get paid upfront for a specific promotion, and after that, they have to run another promotion to make sure they earn an income.
A typical affiliate, on the other hand, establishes a popular website or a social media channel and then monetizes the traffic he or she gets to create a consistent income. Once your platform has reached a point where you get a certain number of visitors on a regular basis, the platform will generate commissions for you.
And once you have built up a good customer base of people buying from that vendor, those commissions can even be a passive income for you. That means that your website just sits there and generates new customers for you, meaning even if you do not put much work into the website, you still make money from it. Obviously, that won’t work forever – you definitely should constantly work on your website to keep it popular.
So, which concept appeals to you more: being an affiliate or an influencer?
Examples of affiliate programs to promote
One of the most popular affiliate programs in Kenya is what Jumia offers. It is a good way to start, but similar to global players such as Amazon and eBay, there is one catch: The Jumia affiliate program only pays you a commission for the immediate sale of that one item you promote on your website or on your social media platform. There is no long-term commission scheme that gets you paid in the future if you refer a new customer to Jumia.
The LottoPawa affiliate program, on the other hand, is an ideal way to get started as on affiliate. Here are some of the advantages:
- LottoPawa is a relatively new Kenya lottery, so there is a vast amount of people who do not yet have a player’s account yet.
- LottoPawa offers a better product compared to the existing lotteries. Better payouts, better value for money, the largest top prize of KSh 200 million, an attractive bonus system that makes it easier to convert your visitors to money players, and transparent rules are just some of the advantages.
- If you refer a new player, you earn a 10% commission on all purchases of that player during the next 24 months.
- And last but not least, everybody loves to play the lottery. So you have a huge audience to promote LottoPawa to. Who would not spend KSh 60 every once in a while if they can win a jackpot of 200 million?
Stay tuned for more info on how to be successful as an online affiliate!
