Pragmatic Innovation is one of the Evergreen 7Ps® principles, but it’s not new or specific to Evergreen® companies to continually seek innovative ways to expand their reach and drive sales. What is new, especially in the age of digital marketing, is that the pace has picked up quite a bit. While we may be a 78-year-old company in a traditional industry – we are a manufacturing and distribution company that provides the world with better solutions for sewing, cleaning, and home – we’ve embraced the power of social media and online platforms to expand our reach and drive sales.

About two and a half years ago, led by our Director of Marketing, Tracey Wiltshire, Tacony Corporation began to explore collaborations with influencers and affiliates. For ages, our primary channel for selling our products was through independent retail and brick-and-mortar stores. It had become clear that, in order to stay competitive and drive sales, it was time to try something new. So, we leaned into leveraging the power of social media and online platforms.

Our first step was to understand exactly what influencers and affiliates were, how they worked, and how they might help us move our products.

Influencers are individuals with a significant social media following who can help promote the brand’s products, often through sponsored content. They excel at creating brand awareness and engaging with a broader audience, though they may not always generate immediate sales. To make this process more efficient, we’ve partnered with platforms like LTK, which allows us to reach a wide network of influencers on one centralized platform. By using LTK, we’ve streamlined our influencer efforts, enabling us to manage multiple influencers at once in a cost-effective way.

Affiliates, on the other hand, are participants in programs like ShareASale or Awin, who promote products through unique links, earning commissions for sales generated through their referrals. This method is considered low-risk and was a great place for us to start; businesses only pay affiliates after a sale is made, making it a cost-effective strategy. This is where we have focused our efforts for now.

Working with affiliates can get complicated, as there are many different types. As we set out on this new journey, we explored partnering with various types of affiliates, such as coupon and deal sites, content creators, and loyalty and reward programs. These affiliates help drive traffic, often through special offers or cashback deals, to our improved e-commerce sites. In advance of this initiative, we did a lot of work on our sites, making sure we were prepared for the increase in traffic and that they were set up to maximize conversion rates when people landed there.

Another way to understand how all this works and why it is effective is to look through the lens of the customer. Understanding the customer journey within affiliate marketing is key. While consumers may be unaware of the complex mechanisms behind the scenes, they often encounter loyalty programs or special promotions while browsing online. For example, a consumer might find a Tacony promotion on Rakuten, which leads them back to the brand’s site. This cross-platform exposure drives traffic and builds brand awareness.

Publisher sites represent another critical aspect of a successful digital marketing strategy. These are platforms where companies can feature their products, through lists like “Best Stick Vacuums,” for example, or other similar rankings. While getting featured on these sites often requires additional budget allocations, the exposure can be invaluable. For example, at Tacony, our commercial floor brand, Powr-Flite, recently saw a single, significant $13,000 sale from an article featuring their product as a top pick for tennis court cleaning. Sometimes the investment is minimized when these publisher sites, driven by good content and well-maintained accounts, seek out products to feature. This can result in organic traffic and sales without any investment at all.

We are still refining our approach, but we are gradually expanding our affiliate programs, exploring new platforms, and adapting to the dynamics of digital marketing. The initiative is still in its early stages, but the results so far have shown promise, especially in reaching new customers and driving online sales in a cost-effective manner.

As much as we have seen success with these initiatives, this strategy is not without challenges. Getting listed on these sites requires not only financial investment but also a deep understanding of how the affiliate marketing ecosystem works. As I think I have made clear, it’s complicated! It’s about striking the right balance between visibility and cost-effectiveness, a delicate dance that my team is doing a great job mastering.

If you have not stepped into this world yet and are considering it, the first critical step is to make sure your online platform is ready for the traffic that you hope will be coming your way. No number of affiliates or influencers will help you if your site is not ready to convert your visitors into sales. The next strongest recommendation I have is that you make sure you have someone on your team like Tracey, who is willing and able to dive in and become fluent in this new language. She has been instrumental in this work, and it’s complex. If you are looking to start an affiliate program, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of researching competitors to understand the market standards for commissions and offers. Fit can vary widely. For instance, in the sewing industry, we’ve found that 10% is the standard commission, with some outliers like Joann’s Fabrics offering as low as 2% due to their volume. Understanding these intricate dynamics allows our team to set competitive and sustainable commission rates from the outset.

Once you have taken the leap, managing your relationships with affiliate programs requires constant attention. Regular communication with affiliates is critical to ensure they have the necessary tools, such as landing pages and promo codes, to effectively promote products. This proactive management is crucial for maintaining a healthy conversion rate, which has been the most meaningful metric we track.

In terms of how this is affecting our bottom line, like I said, the early results are promising. We set a goal to grow e-commerce sales to 20% of our entire portfolio. When we undertook this initiative, we were basically at zero and today, a year and a half later, we are at about 14%. Some product lines are selling at higher volumes online than others, but 14% is the average across the board.

Embracing affiliate marketing has been far from simple. We’ve learned that it requires a blend of strategy, constant oversight, and adaptability to the digital landscape, which evolves at a dizzying pace. Yet, as Tracey and the team have demonstrated, with the right approach, it can be a powerful tool to expand a brand’s reach, increase online sales, and build lasting consumer relationships.