There is one magic number that you need to understand.  Just by knowing this number, you will put yourself at a higher level than 99% of, not just affiliate marketers, but marketers in general!  

The acronyms CPA and CPL stand for cost per acquisition and cost per lead, respectively.  These two phrases can be used interchangeably and are both just nerdy lingo for saying how much money one has to spend to acquire the contact information of a potential customer.  Knowing the definition is easy; mastering the number is the difference between doing affiliate marketing as a side hustle versus having it bring in seven figures of income. 

When I first heard of affiliate marketing, I thought it sounded like a great way to make money without high upfront costs and risk.  That being said, I believe that I was going it all wrong back then.  If I could go back with what I know now,  my numbers would be ten times crazier!  So, what was I doing wrong?  How do you do it right?  

What Is Affiliate Marketing?

First, let's break down what affiliate marketing is.  Affiliate marketers are essentially online saleswomen and salesmen who sell on the internet.  They get paid a generous commission for every product they sell; it's amazing!  Affiliate marketers do not have to worry about inventory or problems with customer service.  All they have to worry about is driving traffic making a sale.  

At the beginning of my affiliate marketing career, I thought I was doing everything right by only focusing on moving traffic.  When my greatest source of income cut me from their program with no warning, I was screwed!  I thought ‘how could this be legal?’.  Why would they want to cut their top affiliate?  I lost all of the contacts I had and had to start back at square one.  

How to Collect a Lead

To collect a lead as an affiliate marketer, all you need to do is create something of value.  Create something so valuable that someone would be willing to trade their email for what you have to offer in return.  Don't make it complex; it can be as simple as a blog post that recommends three different brands of superfood powders.  People who are interested in superfood recipes are going to love a post like this!  They will always be looking for the next best product to add to their collection.  Your job is to connect the product with the customer by putting your blog post in the right places and by targeting it towards the correct audience.  It's really that simple!  

Let's say you're running a blog post online and are paying for it to be advertised.  After a few days, you realize that your CPL is $10.00!  This is a really expensive CPL and indicates that something is flawed, either in your idea or campaign.  Now, if your CPL is more around $1.00 or less then you know you have something worth your time that will earn you money back.  

Getting Started

If you don't have any money to invest into affiliate marketing, that's okay!  You can promote organically.  All you have to do is pick a niche, start creating content on that niche, and then drive traffic via the link in your bio to your offer.  From there, you will capture the lead and be able to promote the affiliate offer.  I recommend using a platform like TikTok to do this.  At this time, TikTok is taking the internet by storm and is generously promoting organic content creators.  Hop on the trend while it's still hot!  

Like I've said in the past, the most important asset to an affiliate marketer is emails.  Today, I have over 300,000 of them!  The $700,000 that I have made from said emails was thanks to the strategies you just learned.  

To recap, you first need to know your CPA or CPL.  This number should be under one dollar if you want to run a successful campaign.  In fact, most of my CPLs range from 20 to 30 cents!  

Next, you need to decide how you're going to bring in traffic.  Are you going to run ads?  If you're going to promote organically, where are you going to post content?  

If you're thinking about this side hustle, I strongly encourage you to try it out.  It's low risk and doesn't require any upfront funds.  If you'd like an in depth tutorial on how to do affiliate marketing, I happen to have a pretty cool course.  You can find it at adrianbrambila.com/affiliate.  

I'd love to hear your thoughts and plans.  Comment them below!

Thanks so much for reading.

Peace.  

I make new content every single week, so be sure to subscribe to my Youtube and follow my Instagram @brambilabong and TikTok at @AdrianBrambila. I also have tons of resources and courses on my website that you won’t want to miss. Head over to www.adrianbrambila.com to learn more about what I do and how I live a financially free life.