With so many digital marketing trends constantly on the rise, it can be challenging for even the savviest marketer to keep up. 

This is where our guide right here comes in handy. Did you know, in fact, that one of the best ways to do business today is through affinity marketing?

Keep reading and you’ll find out more about what affinity marketing entails, why it’s so effective, and how to incorporate it into your marketing strategy in ways that can help you make the most of it.

7. Keep Testing and Tweaking

Even the (seemingly) most effective marketing campaign can always be improved, and this is especially true in affinity marketing, where the possibilities of success skyrocket thanks to the joint efforts of a group of brands.

For this reason, you need to be ready to adjust your affinity marketing campaigns (and your overall strategy, too, if needed) often, based on the insights that you consistently uncover with your tracking and monitoring processes.

Both you and your partners will need to agree on which specific KPIs to track, which channels to focus on, and which techniques to use in order to boost performance for all parties involved. 

This can sometimes be a bit tricky because, understandably, different companies have different priorities and ways of working.

It’s not always glamorous behind the scenes, honestly. Sometimes you’ll have meetings that go in circles or KPIs that just don’t make much sense when pulled against each other. Even so, that messy process of hashing things out can uncover ideas the group would never have stumbled on solo. If you hit a wall, try shaking up the regular agenda—maybe swap in a different voice or move the meeting off Zoom for a change. It’s surprisingly effective and, well, a little less soul-draining.

To achieve the highest possible consensus, the best thing to do is keep referring back to the mutually-shared goals that you had established at the beginning of your partnership. 

These will bring back home what is truly important to all of you, and why that collaboration was built in the first place.

You’ll realize pretty quickly that compromise isn’t just an occasional necessity in these partnerships—it’s the glue. Some groups get so hung up on perfect alignment that they stall everything out, missing opportunities because they’re worried about every last detail. I’ve seen actual progress happen when folks agree to “good enough for right now” and then revisit things after a month or two of actual campaign data. Not everything has to be an epic negotiation session; sometimes, just shipping the latest experiment gets you further.

Wrap Up

Affinity marketing can be a great, effective, and lucrative way to boost your brand’s exposure, reach out to more customers, and reinforce a sense of trust and credibility in your audience.

If you follow our top tips on affinity marketing best practices, you (and your partners) will be well on your way to achieving all of the above, and more.

Remember that, just like any other type of marketing, affinity marketing is still about creating awesome journeys and experiences for your customers. 

Would you like to learn even more about the creative world of content experiences? Read our magazine issue on this topic!

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