How I Partnered with 10 Brands in 30 Days as a Small YouTuber

Step-by-step affiliate marketing tutorial and full income reveal

Image provided by Unagi Electric Scooters

This article contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

As a content creator, blogger, or anyone that runs a successful website, affiliate programs let you monetize the eyeballs you attract allowing you to earn a commission for promoting a product or brand.

Done right, affiliate programs can be an excellent source of passive income.

And people are figuring this out. Google Trends show that the search for ‘affiliate program’ and ‘affiliate marketing’ doubled between 2015 and 2021 and really spiked in the last year.

My challenge for July was to reach out to brands and get connected on affiliate platforms to give myself opportunities to promote products and earn passive income.

In 2020, I earned my first dollar from affiliate partners so I went into my newest 30-day passive income challenge with a little experience under my belt.

I’ll tell you how I partnered with 10 brands, but first I’ll quickly cover the nuts and bolts of affiliate marketing.

AFFILIATE MARKETING EXPLAINED

In the past, referrals or “word of mouth” advertising helped businesses grow their brand and develop a loyal customer base. This type of marketing still exists but in the form of affiliate marketing.

Users tend to trust the accounts they follow. So, when the affiliate (aka a content creator, aka maybe you) promotes a link, the product or business they are promoting is seen as trustworthy.

With affiliate marketing, brands pay for performance — they don’t pay affiliates unless affiliate links perform. Generally, they pay per sale. However, they may choose to pay based on leads or link clicks.

It’s an easy, cost-effective way for brands to increase their sales and grow their business.

Today I’m going to share:

The top affiliate programs for content creators
My process for finding and choosing brands to work with
The affiliate programs I joined
Brands I connected with and income earned
4 quick tips for earning passive income via affiliates

TOP AFFILIATE PARTNER NETWORKS

The first thing I did was get re-familiar with affiliate partner networks I knew of from the past and begin researching what new affiliate programs I could join.

I learned about dozens of affiliate programs so my head was spinning. Here are a handful I came across the most to help get you pointed in the right direction:

I was already connected with Impact, Ascent, and Awin (Impact is my favorite). The affiliate programs I decided to apply to were CJ, Share-a-Sale, Flexoffers, and AvantLink.

The process is unique for each. They generally want to know how you plan to promote affiliate partner links. You also need to provide details about your website, social sites, how many followers you have, and so on.

The gist: they want to make sure you’re legit and have a following and a plan.

I have 15,000 subscribers on my main YouTube channel The Money Resolution and close to 5,000 subscribers here on Medium. I didn’t think I’d run into roadblocks getting accepted.

Unfortunately, I was wrong.

My application to join was denied by Share-a-Sale and FlexOffers. I was accepted by Commission Junction. (My application is pending with AvantLink, though only 30% get accepted)

HOW TO FIND BRANDS TO PROMOTE

Next was the fun part: brainstorming brands I wanted to work with!

When you promote products you like, it becomes easier to convince others to consider what you’re recommending.

I only want to promote brands I use and trust so naturally I thought of all of the brands I use and trust.

I was shocked by how many brands I thought of. I quickly wrote down over 65 brands! That was too many to research so I put each brand into 1 of 3 categories:

Tier 1: Dream brands.
Tier 2: Brands I use less frequently that I’d still support and trust.
Tier 3: Brands that didn’t fit with my channel or likely didn’t have an affiliate program.

I challenge you to do the same; sit and reflect on brands you’d like to work with and promote in a perfect world. Seriously, it’s fun!

Next, I researched each brand to see if they had an affiliate program and, if so, which affiliate platform they used. Roughly 2/3 of my Tier 1 brands had an affiliate program and roughly half of my Tier 2 brands did. On a spreadsheet, I grouped brands together by affiliate platform:

Note: Some brands have their own program and don’t leverage the big affiliate programs. I decided not to pursue these brands because it was more hoops to jump through to apply and I wasn’t qualified for most.

From there, it was time to apply. Unfortunately, I had to eliminate 10 brands that were using affiliate platforms I wasn’t accepted into. For the rest, I applied.

I highly recommend you document everything!

Each application can be unique so it’s good to have a few reasons you’d like to apply to brands ready to copy, paste, and edit to speed up the process. When you can, provide specific ways you’d like to promote the brands and why.

SUMMARY OF HOW TO FIND BRANDS

My process for finding brands to work with was:

Brainstorm a list of brands I use.
Decide on the brands I want to work with the most.
Research each brand to see if they have an affiliate program.
Group brands together by affiliate platform and remove brands with no affiliate program.
Apply to as many as possible.

In the end, I applied to around 25 and I was able to link up with 10 so far (if I exclude Awin). I have around 10 applications pending. I’ve been rejected by 6 brands.

HOW TO EARN MONEY FROM AFFILIATE PARTNERS

So, how do you make money from all of this? And is the income worth all the effort?

Your earnings from affiliate programs will depend on the commission model. For example, the pay-per-sale model offers between 2% and 30% commissions on average while some companies offer flat commissions.

The payment methods also differ. Some companies pay soon after a lead generation or sale. Others have a minimum threshold amount before paying out.

They’re all unique so read through the information provided for each partner so you have a good understanding of potential income and payouts.

In the end, the brands send money to the affiliate platform. The platform pays you out. In most cases, the money is sent via direct deposit.

REVENUE REVEAL

I’ve connected with 10 companies but have I promoted any or made any money?

I actually have!

I’ve worked with 2 brands on my new YouTube channel so far.

The first was Vint, which is a company that allows users to invest in rare wines and spirits. I made a dedicated review video in February about Vint because it’s a company I use and trust.

My February passive income challenge was alternative investing and I decided to invest with Vint after independent research — choosing them over VinoVest. I also featured Vint as a channel sponsor on a recent video with a 1-minute plug in the middle.

From those two videos that had affiliate links in the description (and a few random YouTube Shorts and articles), I was able to drive 65 clicks from around 1,200 total views. That led to 4 “actions” and $100 in revenue so far.

Author’s Impact metrics. Note: “Actions” were a combination of account creation and bank account linked.

Not too shabby for a small new YouTube channel!

Imagine if one of those videos took off and I gained 10,000, 50,000 or even 100,000 or more views… I could have earned $10,000 or more from 1 video. In theory, I could even pay to run a video as an ad for extra exposure. THAT’S the power of affiliate marketing!

TODAY’S ARTICLE IS SPONSORED BY…

More recently I got connected with another brand: Unagi. Unagi is an electric scooter company, one that I’ve been using for the last few months. They agreed to a channel partnership if I talk about my experience using their flagship scooter: the Model One Classic.

Here is the script I read in the video version of today’s article — feel free to use it as a template for yourself!

I’m loving my Unagi scooter. It’s one of the lightest electric scooters on the market at just 28 pounds, making it extremely easy to fold up and carry.

It has 3 speed levels depending on your experience or preference and it maxes out at 20 miles per hour. Plus, you get up to 12 miles on a single charge or you could upgrade to the Voyager for up to 25 miles on a charge.

Not to mention, this thing is a looker and both models come in 5 great color options. The Unagi scooter is well designed and looks and feels premium. It’s crafted from high quality materials.

And, of course, you’ll save on gas. I use it mostly to go to the gym or pick up groceries when I just need a few things. If I was still living in Seattle, I’d probably use it twice as much because parking and traffic are a a nightmare in big cities.

If you’re interested in buying, the Model one is just under $1,000 but what’s really cool is you can alternatively rent it for $59 a month. Check it out if you could use some handy wheels and let Unagi know I sent you by using my affiliate link in the description.

Thank you Unagi for getting involved with the channel.

AFFILIATE MARKETING TIPS

Finally, 4 quick tips for you if you’re looking to get started with affiliate marketing.

1. Connect with brands and affiliate managers directly.

Try to get on a call or chat face-to-face. My most successful partnerships came after getting to know the people at the companies and talking through ideas to learn more about the brands and the best ways to promote them. A well-crafted direct email is a good way to start the conversation.

2. Keep your expectations low.

When I first learned about affiliates and sponsorships I thought I could unlock a massive passive income stream, even as a small YouTuber! I worked with 4 or 5 brands in the past, but over 3.5 years I’ve only earned around $1,500 total. That said, I do still get $20 to $50 randomly some months from older videos. It’s always a nice surprise!

3. Keep it simple.

Focus on cultivating really strong connections with just a few brands. It’s a lot less to manage compared to having 20 brands you work with across 5 affiliate platforms. The “apply to 25+ brands approach” I took isn’t the method I’d recommend for most people. I was on a mission to learn and connect with as many brands very fast (so I could share it all with you today!) but my energy was spread out, scattered and unfocused.

4. Don’t include product promotions in every video.

Promoting products and brands in every video can turn off viewers. At a minimum, it will slow down the trust you need to establish with viewers as a priority. I recommend promoting brands and products in around 1 in every 4 videos, depending on your niche and frequency of posting.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Affiliate marketing and promoting brands you love is an absolutely fantastic opportunity for content creators if you commit to it and can manage it.

Some content creators make the bulk of their income from affiliates, brand deals and sponsorships so it’s great to learn about that path, even if you’re small or just starting out. It’s a misconception that you need a lot of followers to work with brands.

But never work with brands just for the money. Stick with brands and products you use and trust.

Pro tip: Put your email in the description of everything you post and use a separate email address for this. Most emails will be junk and spam — but one email could change your financial life!

Want to work with me? Get in touch!: [email protected]

CONCLUSION

Let me know what you thought of my approach and drop any questions you have. If you want access to more, including my passive income planning and research document for every monthly challenge, sign up to my Patron.

Thank you for reading and I hope you’ll subscribe so you can see what I’m up to next which is…

Passive income from Credit Cards.

I LOVE this topic. I’m excited to dive in and share what I’ve learned soon!

Watch the video version of this article here.