Ep 308 | Generating Revenue as an Affiliate with Aya Hesham

Are you looking for innovative ways to boost your nonprofit's revenue and expand your reach? In this episode, we explore the often-overlooked strategy of affiliate marketing and how it can benefit mission-driven organizations. I sit down with Aya Hesham, CEO of Vivian Agency, to uncover the potential of strategic partnerships that align with your cause and resonate with your audience.

Demystifying Affiliate Marketing for Nonprofits

Aya breaks down the concept of affiliate marketing and explains why it's a powerful tool for nonprofits:

• Creating mutually beneficial partnerships with aligned businesses
• Generating additional revenue streams without compromising your mission
• Offering supporters new ways to contribute to your cause

Finding the Right Partners

Discover practical strategies for identifying and approaching potential affiliate partners:

• Analyzing your audience to determine relevant products and services
• Leveraging affiliate networks to streamline the process
• Ensuring partners align with your organization's values and mission

Implementing Affiliate Marketing with Authenticity

Learn how to integrate affiliate partnerships into your nonprofit's communication strategy:

• Crafting genuine stories around recommended products
• Balancing promotional content with your core messaging
• Testing and refining your approach to maximize engagement

Overcoming Common Concerns

We address potential hesitations about affiliate marketing in the nonprofit sector:

• Maintaining ethical standards and transparency
• Focusing on value-add for your audience rather than “pushing” products
• Viewing partnerships as an extension of your mission, not just a revenue source

Whether you're a small grassroots organization or an established nonprofit, this conversation offers fresh insights on diversifying your income streams while providing additional value to your supporters. Don't miss this opportunity to explore a strategy that could transform your approach to partnerships and sustainability.

Want to skip ahead? Here are some key takeaways:

05:23 Identifying Relevant Affiliate Opportunities Learn how to research and select partners that align with your cause and resonate with your audience.

12:47 Crafting Authentic Promotional Content Discover strategies for sharing affiliate offers in a way that feels genuine and adds value to your community.

19:36 Integrating Affiliate Marketing into Your Strategy Explore practical tips for incorporating affiliate partnerships into your existing communication channels and content plan.

26:15 Scaling Your Affiliate Program Understand the time investment required and how to grow your affiliate marketing efforts sustainably.

Full Transcript

[00:00:00 – 00:03:45]Hey friends, today we're talking affiliate marketing. And what that means is when you promote a product or service of somebody else's and in exchange you get a commission if people purchase from you or from your link or from them, right when you drive traffic to somebody else, they make a purchase and now you get a commission for sharing that resource. And I know this isn't something that's super common in the nonprofit space, but if you think about some of the products and services that are connected, collaborative, or that engage with your audience. So for example, if you are a pet rescue and you have a partnership with a dog collar company who brings things into your physical location and you know you get a portion of what they sell, things like that, or if you are providing resources for kids and you have an Amazon link that if people are buying additional resources that you don't have, you get a commission from them. That's affiliate marketing. And that's what we're talking about today with Aya. And I'm super excited for this topic because I think it's something that a lot of people aren't talking about. But once you kind of listen to this episode, you're really going to get some creative ideas for how this might work out in your unique situation. Turning Partnerships into Profit Aya helps brands scale their revenue visibility through strategic affiliate and influencer partnerships. As the CEO of Vivian Agency, she leads a team of top specialists dedicated to building communities for brands by connecting ambassadors and their audiences to the products they love. And I think that's the theme that I love about this episode, is it's not just about selling and like pushing product, it's really about continuing to provide the value that you know your audience needs and that your community needs so that you can support them while still bringing in an additional revenue stream for yourself. Because we all know we need multiple streams of revenue to kind of keep the lights on and keep things sustainable for our organizations. So I hope that you check it out, give it a listen, even if you're a little weary about it. Just see what you think before we get into it. This episode is brought to you by Oh My Hi. Oh My Hi is a super easy website builder. If you're looking for something to look clean, elegant, simple, drive your mission across to your donors and visitors, then Oh My Hi is definitely a great place to start. Starting at only $20 a month, it's a great opportunity for you to have support, have the donation features that you need embedded into your website, have something that looks clean and professional, but by support I mean, they have weekly live Q&As where you can literally show up and ask your questions and get support right away with where you're stuck on your build. So if you're looking for a website that's low tech but high reward and has a great connection to your donors, definitely check out Oh My Hi. In fact, the news or the nonprofit template the that they have we helped them with and helped them design and lay it out. So I hope you'll check it out and you can learn more from their co founder Becky Launder at thefirstclick.net/ohmyhi and that's H I like hello. So I hope you check it out. Let's get into the episode.

You're listening to the Digital Marketing Therapy Podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell Mulhern. Each month we dive deep into a digital marketing or fundraising strategy that you can implement in your organization. Each week you'll hear from guest experts, nonprofits and myself on best practices, tips and resources to help you raise more money online and reach your organizational goals.

Hey friends, Please join me in welcoming Aya to the podcast. Thanks for being here today.

[00:03:45 – 00:03:46]Thank you for having me.

[00:03:48 – 00:04:04]I'm excited to talk about affiliate marketing. I was just telling you we've never talked about this on the podcast before, even though it's something that I love. Why is. Well, maybe just start off with like, what is affiliate marketing and why is it something, something that you think is such a powerful tool for nonprofits?

[00:04:05 – 00:04:53]So in very simple terms, affiliate marketing is when someone who has an audience or a community promotes products and they earn commissions on sales of these products. There are a few different compensation models, but the most popular models are commissions or a percentage or a fixed amount per se. So that's the affiliate marketing. In very simple terms. I think it's such a powerful tool for nonprofits because it does help them earn money that they can pour into resources, into development, into more marketing for themselves, into finding more donors to their cause. So I think it's such a powerful tool for monetization that it's not fully utilized until this date.

[00:04:55 – 00:05:27]Yeah, well, and I think it's kind of a great way also to maybe even think outside the box in your partnerships with other businesses. Like maybe they can't donate. They don't have the ability to donate straight dollars, but you can kind of if the product makes sense and is in alignment with your vision and mission, it's like a way for them to contribute. So this could also look like, correct me If I'm wrong, but like, let's say you work with a mortgage lender and they give you a certain percentage of their commission, and if you promote them as like a partner, that could be another version of affiliate marketing, even if it's not a product.

[00:05:28 – 00:06:45]So affiliate marketing is applicable on products, physical ones, digital products, services. So the concept itself can be applied to so many different things. One thing that also affiliate marketing is not really popular in is B2B, but the concept is still the same. It's just finding the right people to promote the relevant products to them and to their audience. So I think the concept is very applicable and especially for nonprofits, because typically nonprofits have a specific cause, and this is a way that affiliate marketing can work both ways. So it's either that maybe somebody is not even able to be a donor to the cause, and so we're partnered with them, so they're indirectly donating because of the commissions that we're earning from promoting their product. But also it could be a way to getting donors by forming partnerships on an affiliate basis first with some companies that are relevant to the cause, and then when they see that the nonprofit is already supporting them, then they are more inclined to pour their donations and everything towards them because they're partners. They're not just random people asking for money.

[00:06:47 – 00:07:03]Yeah, no, that's so good. Okay, so how do we start to find partners? Like, where do we kind of, where should we be looking? And how do we maybe even start that conversation? Because it's kind of a little bit different than what we're used to and going in to make an ask for sponsorship or straight donation.

[00:07:04 – 00:09:19]So the best way to approach this is first, you need to segment your audience and your donors, your email subscribers, your community, your forum, whatever way that you're using to communicate with people. And you need to analyze this community and audience to see what their interests are, what they're if possible also to get like what their demographic looks like. But I think the easiest way to kind of dive into this is to go for the companies and the products or the services that resonate with the cause of the nonprofit. So let's say the cause of the nonprofit is something that supports health and wellness. Then there is a ton of wellness products out there from really great companies that would make great recommendations on affiliate basis from a, I'd say more technical type of where to find these companies, because you could Google companies all day long. But the easiest way as a publisher in that sense for the nonprofit to find a lot of affiliate Programs in a specific niche is to actually start a publisher account on affiliate networks. So there are so many affiliate networks, and each affiliate network is more recognized in either a certain geographical area or for, let's say, a niche. So you have shareasale impact, CJ and so many other affiliate networks. And as a start, if the nonprofit would just start a publisher account and then start looking for programs that are relevant to their niche and on that affiliate network, from that one account, you can access a lot of programs. There is no cap on how many programs someone can join. It's for free to join, so they don't have to pay anything upfront. As a publisher there, they can find the affiliate links, their affiliate discount codes, any assets, communication with the brands on there as well. And so many things that they can start with in order to just, like, put them on the first step of the ladder.

[00:09:21 – 00:10:34]Yeah, well, because we are affiliates for a lot of programs. And I think for us, where we started was with what we already use. So I love that you brought up the example of if you're, you know, serving people with. In a health and wellness space, like, well, what are the products that you're already recommending to your audience? Because I think the other brilliant piece to this that we don't think about is if you are supporting a nonprofit or you're a donor and you believe in the cause, you're probably likely also going to want to use those products. And if I can buy those products knowing that some of that money is coming back to my favorite nonprofit because I'm buying them anyway, like, why would I not want to make sure that I'm doing that? So I think a lot of times we think about it as nonprofits on the reverse of, like, well, maybe that's not ethical for us to get money from a company if we're pushing product because we're a nonprofit, but instead thinking about it as an opportunity for your donors and your audience to support you even more on products you're already recommending and using. Because the other example that comes to mind is if you're a dog rescue, having, you know, products in your store that people can purchase, knowing that they're also giving back to your organization.

[00:10:35 – 00:12:01]Yeah, I agree. And also the concept of pushing product, I'd say, is not the word I'd like to use. It's not pushing, it's inviting. Because you're not forcing anyone to do anything. And the best way to do that is by just telling them why you think this product was actually worthy of your time. To spend, to join their affiliate program, to create content, to share this content with your audience and community and to put like a discount code and recommend it. So they also need to see why you actually took the time to do that. And they need to see why this product offers value and this is not pushing it on them. But rather than just someone or a team just recommending something that made an impact on their lives. I really believe in the storytelling approach. And whenever we work with a brand, I always recommend that they send out a product or a free trial for their services to affiliates and influencers so that they can actually have a real life experience and then they can share that authentic experience and the impact of that product or service that it had on maybe one aspect of their life. And then it makes sense. It makes sense for the audience. They don't feel like it's being pushed. It's just someone telling the story and, and then telling you what made an impact on that story.

[00:12:02 – 00:12:55]I think that's really important. And I love that you tied that together because you used the word authentic. That was in my head. I mean, it's not just about going out, finding a bunch of companies and being like, okay, we're going to make all this money off of this affiliate income. I think it's that genuineness of this is tied to our mission. This is directly related to what we do. And I also like that you said, really explaining, like we took time to find these partners because we knew that they were genuine and something that we can trust. So you can trust us because you don't want to burn those bridges. Yeah. Okay, so you talked a little bit about communication and how we kind of share these opportunities with our audience. But could you maybe just give us some additional strategies like how, you know, how do we make sure that people know that we're partnering with these organizations so they buy from us.

[00:12:55 – 00:16:40]So the first thing, actually I might backtrack it a little bit. So the first thing is to focus, really, really focus on doing the research on your audience interests and demographics and also your cause and what relates to it and who supports this. Let's say your cause, let's say something environmental. Then you have to make sure that the brands that you're promoting, even if they're not directly relating to your cause, are at least eco friendly or support something that's relevant to your cause. Because relevance is everything. If the brand is not relevant, the product is not relevant and you just lose and burn bridges with your community. And you're not only like losing an audience or an email subscriber, you're also losing the donor to your cause. So that's very important to maintain the relevance. And the second thing is to maintain the quality. So I would highly recommend is to have someone on your team to be able to test these products and do really proper research on them. If it's something that can be tested, that you could try for a few days and the brand offers that, then that's a great opportunity for you to really have that authentic experience and really tell an authentic story. And, and at the end of the day, if it turns out that the product is not that good or it didn't really deliver what it promises, then you can just exclude it from your affiliate offerings or from your store without it even making it to the audience. So you didn't burn any bridges, you did like a quality control first. So that second thing is the quality of the products that you're promoting and the relevance. And the third thing would be is to of course join the affiliate network and have everything set up there. And the fourth step would be to start creating your content strategy. So you need to identify the communication channels that you have right now with your community and your audience. And then the second thing is which of those communication channels perform best. So let's say you have a really high open rate and really high click through to rate for your emails, then email is the way to go. And then second thing, if maybe you have like a forum or like a group chat even, you need to address and see how and how much is it active and how would you approach that? Also don't dive in. Say hi, we're promoting this brand today or we're affiliated with this brand today. Actually do some preparation. So let's say you just received a product from the brand and you're going to try it and test it out and then do an introductory post or an introductory email first saying hi, we have just partnered with X and we are trying out their products and testing them to see if they really deliver what they promise and just give a very brief introduction. This sparks curiosity first in your community and then if it turns out that you had a great experience, then you can remind them. Remember a couple of weeks ago when I told you I was trying out this product? So it turns out it did this, this and that really delivered what it promised. I highly recommend it if you're interested in this. Also here is an extra discount code for you or you can buy it through this link and add your affiliate link, et cetera. So just doing A very brief introduction. And then if the product didn't really make the cut during your testing period, then you could just never show it to anyone and just never bring it up again. Nobody would remember, probably.

[00:16:40 – 00:17:06]Yeah. Yeah. Well. And I think the important thing is you have to share it on various channels and share it often. It's not like the first time you share it. Then everybody's going to remember, oh, next time I go to reorder this thing, I need to come back. So I think it's important to kind of create that cadence for how it fits into your overall communication strategy with regards to the other things that you're doing so that people don't forget about it.

[00:17:06 – 00:18:29]Exactly. You need to constantly remind them. But also you can't be too pushy. So you need to have a content plan. And in that content plan, so let's say you're doing social media content for the nonprofit accounts and you have like, on Mondays we post this, and on Tuesdays we post this. Then have a couple days a week where you're posting something that's very brief and not pushy about the affiliate products. Just a brief reminder and have them on schedules and then rotate them and shift them and see how each performs. See if you get more clicks from your stories or if you get more clicks on the emails, then you should direct your efforts towards the strategy that has caught the most engagement. And then also always be in communication with the brand. Ask for more if you need to. If you need more assets, ask for them. If you feel like your audience will really appreciate a discount and the brand isn't offering, try to ask the brand for a discount or for a maybe exclusive, exclusive bundle just for your community even. You can even put like product bundles together and you can do like, hey, this is like if it's a wellness thing, let's say and say, hey, this is like my morning routine. And there's like five or six products from different companies. But this is like this nonprofits like trusted bundle and it goes from there.

[00:18:31 – 00:18:58]So when we get started, because I think the power and a strong affiliate platform for you as an individual company is in working with a variety of brands because that's how you're going to really start to see that income grow, most likely. But we want to start. What would you recommend? Really? Just starting with 1. Get used to it, figure it out and then kind of layer on from there. We don't want to all of a sudden bring in 10 brands all at once.

[00:18:59 – 00:20:25]Don't bring in 10 brands, but also do not start with only one. Start maybe two to three brands first. Just to see also what types of products your audience is most engaged for. So make sure that they are in different categories, maybe under the same big category, but addressing different things. Let's say it's wellness. Then you have a supplement, a gadget, and let's say something that's what I don't like. Another different category. I lost words. So just try out different categories. See if your audience was more interested in the gadget, then you know your next couple of affiliate programs that you're joining are probably gadget focused. And if they're supplements, then they're probably supplement focused. So don't only start with one just because it's too little for you to test. And there are also so many factors why it wouldn't convert. There are some factors that could be relevant to the brand. It could be how your audience took that specific type of product or that specific brand. So maybe a batch of two to three affiliate programs for the first month and then start growing from there, adding a couple each month. And just so to make sure that you're also having the time to create proper content, you're doing everything you can to properly, properly present it to your audience.

[00:20:27 – 00:21:11]Yeah, no, that's really good advice and beta testing because I think we kind of think we know exactly what everybody's going to want, but the market will tell us what works and what doesn't, and that's going to save you time in the long run. Also, like on your research. Right. Because now you kind of know where to put your efforts. And so speaking of that, if we're kind of trying to put this in, if we're listening to this, we're like, okay, this seems like a cool strategy for our organization. Might be really beneficial. How much time and effort do you think we would need? I know you don't have a crystal ball and it's different for everybody, but roughly how many hours in a week or how much time do you think we would want to dedicate? If we're thinking of adding this in to our strategy to get it up and running.

[00:21:13 – 00:22:00]In the very beginning when it's just you testing out a couple of companies or a couple of products, I'd say maybe it would take 20 hours per week of really dedicated work. So you're really vetting the companies. You are spending time familiarizing yourself with the affiliate network that you've joined. You're familiarizing yourself with the terms and conditions, creating content, testing out different content approaches. I think 20 hours per week sounds reasonable for like the first, but it definitely would turn in the future if this like beta testing was a success and you start adding more and more affiliate programs, then it definitely could be something that's a full time position, even in the nonprofit, like 40, 50 hours a week.

[00:22:02 – 00:22:52]Yeah, but I think the thing that's really interesting about it is like you can really clearly tie it to revenue in different ways, just like you would with your fundraiser. Right. Like, they have an expectation of bringing in so much money. And the same could be true for this role, which I think is great. And I also think like this affiliate manager person at the beginning, I mean, this to me seems like there's a great opportunity for a volunteer to step in because so much of it is research and so much. So if you've got that person who's like good at technology that you trust, that knows your mission, because, like, like you said at the beginning, you don't necessarily have to promote this stuff right away. So if you have somebody that's a volunteer that's really excited, they could be, you know, reaching out, getting the products, helping you test it. And then, you know, from there your team could decide what else you put out publicly.

[00:22:52 – 00:23:30]And it could be even, not even like one volunteer. It could be a group of volunteers. So you have like a bigger reach and more ideas and more brains thinking into it and more creativity at the end of the day. And you could also like, for the volunteers, you could definitely. So of course working for the cause is rewarding, but you could also offer like an extra reward of maybe an extra recognition or maybe they get to test the product. If they get, if they close the deal with the company or join the affiliate program, they get to keep the product. And it's a really nice value, a really nice touch to also motivate the volunteers.

[00:23:32 – 00:24:43]That's really smart. I love that. Okay, well, Aya, this is all great stuff and I think really good information. As we kind of start to dip our toes into affiliate affiliate marketing will of course have all of the resources mentioned in the show notes at thefirstclick.net/308. Thank you so much for being here today. And like I said, show notes are at thefirst click.net/308. We'll have all of the links there for you. But thank you, this has been great. Okay, so now that you've heard what Aya has to say, what do you think about affiliate marketing? Is it something you might think about? Bring to your teams, Discuss, Brainstorm. I hope that you do. And if you want to check out the show notes and additional resources, you can do that at thefirstclick.net/308 everything will be there for you. For now, make sure you subscribe wherever you listen so you don't miss out on a single episode. Leave us a review if you have an extra moment or two so that more people can find this help this podcast and help them with their nonprofit growth. And while you're there, leave us a comment on our YouTube channel @DigitalMarketingTherapy. Let us know what your biggest takeaway is. Or if you have any questions, drop them there too. We'd be happy to connect. For now, thank you so much for listening and we'll see you next week. Bye.