Affiliate Marketing Tactics That Actually Work for Brands & Influencers

During the early days of modern influencer marketing, when blogging was at its peak, I would come across so many bloggers sharing affiliate links to products they were writing about. They became examples that gave me a real understanding of affiliate marketing and how it worked. 

Today, however, affiliate marketing is no longer just reserved for bloggers. In 2025, it’s become a cornerstone of influencer revenue—and a core channel for brands seeking measurable ROI. And with the rise of AI-enabled attribution and real-time creator dashboards, affiliate programs have leveled up to be smarter and much more engaging.

In this post, I break down some effective affiliate marketing tactics to help you build creator-focused programs that bring results. Let’s take a look.

Winning Tactics for Affiliate Marketing

Many brands have been winning with their affiliate marketing because they employ tactics that work. Here’s a quick look at some of those tactics to give you an idea.

Bundle Codes with Product Drops

Product drops are when you’re most likely to see sales pouring in because people are swept up by the excitement and the fear of missing out. Take advantage of this golden opportunity by pairing it with affiliate discount codes that will drive even more sales.

When you get creators to promote your product drop, it brings visibility to the drop and helps you attract potential customers. A discount code seals the deal for those who are still on the fence about buying the product. So it’s a highly effective way to immediately maximize sales soon after a product launch.

Flower Knows Cosmetics partnered with beauty and Japanese pop culture creator Karen Kasumi to promote the launch of their Shell’s Jewel collection. In addition to providing her with free products to try from the entire collection, the brand gave her an affiliate code that her followers can use to get a discount on items from the collection.

Smart Link Attribution

While brands have always been tracking affiliate performance, brands like SKIMS and Ulta Beauty are moving on from the one-sided approach to maintain better transparency. They’re now leveraging smart link attribution tools with intuitive dashboards that allow creators to track their own performance.

That means influencers also get to see how their links and discount codes are working. By maintaining this level of transparency, brands can effectively build an ecosystem of trust with their affiliate partners. 

Additionally, it also boosts engagement by enabling influencers to actively participate in performance tracking. They can even use these insights to understand their top-performing content and adapt their strategies accordingly.

Evergreen Content Pays Off

Time-sensitive promotions may be great at driving short-term sales. But if you want your affiliate program to pay off even long after your campaign originally launches, evergreen content is the answer. Encourage creators to focus on content that continues to be relevant even months after the post date.

That way, they can continue to gain passive income while helping you generate sales. Mother Science encourages creators to share timeless skincare routines with affiliate discount codes, ensuring that they keep driving sales long after the content is originally published.

Dos and Don’ts for Effective Affiliate Marketing

Simply knowing the winning tactics for affiliate marketing doesn’t give you all the info you need to build a success program. There are plenty of mistakes you need to avoid and best practices you need to implement. Let’s take a look at the dos and don’ts that you should consider for your affiliate marketing program.

Affiliate Marketing Dos

Off Early Access to Gear Up for Launch

Affiliate marketing is a popular way to promote a product launch. Brands typically give out free products from the new collection along with discount codes that influencers can share with their followers.

You can take this a step further by offering early access to your upcoming product drops. This will give influencers enough time to try the products and gather enough info to create high-quality content. It also creates an opportunity to build anticipation on the weeks or days leading up to the launch, which is highly effective if you want to drive immediate sales once the product drops.

Clionadh Cosmetics partnered with makeup creator Noopur to promote an upcoming product drop. The brand provided her with early access to the product so she could start creating content several days before the launch. 

She helped share information about the drop timing and even provided her followers with a discount code they can use to save money while supporting her.

Encourage Authenticity and Creative Freedom

Creators are convincing mainly because of their expertise and authenticity. They’re not afraid to share their honest opinions about products – whether they’re a hit or a miss. This enables them to build trust with their followers, who look to them for advice and purchase recommendations.

Additionally, their expertise and creativity shine through in the content they create. This helps them to engage their audiences using their unique voice.

So if you want your affiliate marketing efforts to pay off, you need to trust your creators to do what they do best. Encourage them to be their authentic selves and give them plenty of room to get creative. In other words, don’t try to have too much control over affiliate content or you’ll end up with something that seems bland, dry, and forced.

When Bissell partnered with the following health and wellness creator, they trusted her to show the true potential of their CrossWave OmniForce. The influencer put the vacuum to the test as she showcased how effectively it cleaned three different kinds of spills. 

She didn’t edit the video to show the vacuum miraculously cleaning the spills like brands often do in their promo ads. Instead, she was careful to show the actual cleaning process with just a few minor cuts and edits to trim the video length. This type of authenticity is highly effective for building trust and driving sales through affiliate marketing.

Layer Rewards with Tiered Bonuses

Not all affiliates are made equal. Some may offer greater value to your business than others, making them a great investment for your brand’s promotional efforts. Make sure to compensate them accordingly with layered reward systems where affiliates who perform well get access to better incentives.

Affiliate programs with tiered bonuses are a great way to align your incentives with the value that each creator brings to your business. This type of performance-based marketing allows you to prioritize influencers who drive sales for your business.

For instance, HubSpot offers three different affiliate tiers based on the number of signups that affiliates can drive each month. In addition to different commission systems, affiliates get access to additional perks as they level up.

Affiliate Marketing Don’ts

Limit Programs to Static Links in Bios

Links in bios are better than nothing, but they can be inconvenient and confusing. First of all, they require users to click away from the influencer’s content to get to the link. This creates an opportunity for distraction, which could take away some potential sales.

If the influencer uses a static URL that hosts links to all the promotions they’ve ever shared, this also adds to the task of trying to find the actual product or affiliate link. Not only does it create confusion, but it’s time-consuming and adds to the customer journey. 

Instead, opt for affiliate discount codes that can be included in the post caption. Alternatively, brands with Instagram Shopping enabled can also have influencers directly tag products from their Instagram Shop in their posts. This simplifies the buying journey to support more conversions while enabling accurate sales attribution. 

Brands on TikTok can also have affiliates promote products from their TikTok Shop through videos and LIVE streams. This automates the sales attribution process while streamlining the customer journey. According to TikTok, creators like @itsnisrin have worked with brands like Boohoo, The Inkey List, and Lookfantastic, generating over £450k+ worth of sales.

Rely Solely on Commissions with No Brand Support

Many brands make the mistake of treating affiliate creators as independent entities. While this is true in the sense of creative freedom, that doesn’t mean you just leave them to manage everything on their own. Simply rewarding them with commissions will not yield long-term results for your affiliate program.

Instead, you need to build real, sustainable relationships that will help them feel like a true part of your brand. That means providing them with support and additional perks beyond commission fees. 

It means giving them access to products and resources to help with their promotion efforts. When affiliates feel valued for their contributions, they’re more likely to authentically promote your products and stick with you for years down the line.

Huda Beauty offers plenty of affiliate perks like early access to new products, product vouchers, and access to exclusive events. This creates a better opportunity for affiliates to try the brand’s products and produce content to promote them.

Treat Affiliate Creators as Just Ad Distributors

In the same vein, brands often fall into the trap of treating affiliate creators as just ad distributors. They don’t take the time to build a relationship with them, which affects the quality of their partnership and the authenticity of their promotions. Their promotion efforts might seem forced, inauthentic, and lacking in passion.

But when affiliate creators are treated as an extension of the brand, it creates a sense of belonging that adds authenticity to the partnership. In addition to providing them with extra perks, it’s important to make creators feel like a part of the brand. You could invite them to exclusive brand experiences, tap into their expertise, or even have them share feedback or suggestions to guide your product development.

Tips and Suggestions to Scale Your Affiliate Marketing

Knowing the mistakes to avoid and the best practices to follow will set you up for affiliate marketing success. Beyond this, let’s also look at a few tips and suggestions on how you can scale your program for growth.

Gamify Your Program with Affiliate Tiers

Gamification is a great way to engage your affiliate creators and encourage them to ramp up their promo efforts. This involves setting up different affiliate tiers that will allow creators to level up based on their performance. 

Provide a creative name for each tier to make things fun. Example: Star Insider, Nebula, Supernova, etc. Then set up a system where creators get to earn badges, bonuses, or even collab opportunities based on the sales they’ve generated. 

Provide Dashboard Access for Performance Tracking

Make it easy for affiliate creators to track their own payments and performance. This creates transparency while giving them the insights they need to optimize their content and grow their affiliate sales.

Invest in tools that offer creator-friendly analytics and payout insights. Give them the chance to see how specific affiliate posts are performing, how much traffic they generated, how often their codes were used, and more. So they can create better, more impactful content to improve engagement and conversions.

Repurposing Top-Performing Affiliate Content

Don’t let your top-performing affiliate content go to waste. When a piece of content is able to generate tons of clicks and sales, take it as a sign that it resonates with the audience. Make the most of it by repurposing the content for various promotional efforts.

For example, you could reuse the affiliate content in your paid advertising campaigns. You could even run a partnership ad so the ad directly shows up from the influencer’s account, which be a great way to boost trust. Alternatively, the affiliate UGC could also serve as social proof in your marketing emails, cart abandonment emails, and even product pages.

Audit Your Affiliate Program for Creator Experience

Finally, make sure to constantly optimize your affiliate program to make it more beneficial for both your brand and your affiliates. This requires auditing the program for creator experience. 

Collect feedback from affiliates to understand if the program is rewarding for them and if there’s any room for improvement. Is it easy to use? Are there any common challenges? Is there enough transparency in performance tracking and sales attribution?

Regularly audit the program to identify areas that need improvement. So you can build something that enables your business to effectively maximize its affiliate sales while supporting creators in the process.

Gear Up for Affiliate Marketing Success

You now know the best affiliate marketing tactics that work today and the best practices implement them. I’ve also shared a few tips to scale your efforts and get more out of your affiliate marketing program. Put these ideas into practice and witness exponential growth in sales and brand loyalty.