Rethinking Affiliate Strategy in a Freelance-Led Media World
Credibility > commission rates.
The content of this Substack is all about affiliate marketing and how it relates/supports those in the Public Relations industry. At the heart of PR is the relationships you build & nurture.
This giphy is helping to set the stage for the main theme of this newsletter which feels like everything the icon RuPaul stands for:
Acceptance. Authenticity. Resilience. Creativity.
I’m a performer, baby - we gotta make this sh*t fun.
For years, affiliate set the stage & taught brands to speak & expect in metrics:
commission rates, conversion lifts, network readiness, revenue share.
But underneath the auto pilot, is uncomfortable truth:
Freelancers — the people writing the majority of today’s commerce stories — don’t make a single dollar from affiliate links.
Not one.
They’re paid per story. They work their asses off, navigating shrinking budgets and collapsing commerce verticals. They do the work because they care about good, functional products, honest reviews, and the credibility of their byline — not because your commission bumped from 10% to 15%.
We always want to provide hot tips and as much value as we possibly can and some of that, like everything else in life, is understanding the other side so that you can learn how to approach your work a little better.
I’ll never forget what EIC of Entrepreneur Magazine said during a training call…
Now, I’m paraphrasing this from years ago, but I remember Jason saying, “Remember, you are pitching a human! Do not send a message that sounds robotic. There is someone on the other end reading who has a life outside of work; that has emotions & feelings and worries and dreams just like you. Treat your relationships as such!”
He also made it very clear that choosing a PR career would mean telling clients that they were, in fact, NOT a good fit for ________ (fill in the blank), but instead, fit better at these other publications and the reasons why.
I’m sure we’ve all been there. I just recently had to tell a client that pitching their CPG protein product to Vogue wasn’t a fit. Unsure if they agreed. But that’s one reason why brands hire me and I take that job very seriously. It all boils down to education. It’s honesty. It’s doing the job well, not just loudly.
But here’s the tension 🫤
Even when you pitch human-to-human…
Even when the product is fire…
Even when the affiliate readiness is perfect…
It still doesn’t guarantee coverage & it can feel quite exhausting; the need to “think out of the box” or pitch the right person at the right time.
Several weeks ago when Hannah Singleton, one of my favorite writers, was sourcing questions for HER Substack, I asked…
Because Hannah is ALWAYS so refreshingly real & wanted you all to learn from her & get her perspective as a freelance writer. Her insights explain exactly why the old affiliate playbook doesn’t work anymore, and what PR needs to shift immediately.
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