Module 5: Recruiting affiliates who actually promote
Affiliates don't fall from the sky. This module covers finding the right promoters, pitching them, and giving them what they need to sell for you.
Who makes a good affiliate
The best affiliates are people who already talk to your buyers: bloggers and newsletter writers in your niche, YouTubers and podcasters covering adjacent topics, complementary (non-competing) businesses, and communities or membership groups. A business coach's ideal affiliates are accountants, bookkeepers, and virtual assistants who serve the same small-business owners. A running shoe store's ideal affiliates are local run clubs and marathon training bloggers. Map it from the buyer's side: where do your buyers hang out, and who already has their attention?
Rank prospects by two factors: audience fit (do they reach your buyers?) and promotional history (have they promoted products before?). Someone with a perfect-fit audience who's never promoted anything is a gamble; someone who's promoted competitors' products is proven. Start with 20 prospects in a simple list: name, audience/channel, audience size, why they'd promote you, and contact info. Ten great prospects beat a hundred cold ones.
Recruiting anyone with followers. A 500K-follower meme account will sell zero B2B software — audience fit beats audience size every time. Ten affiliates with 2,000 perfectly-matched followers each will outperform one celebrity with a million indifferent ones.
Build brief
List 10 specific people — bloggers, YouTubers, newsletter writers, local businesses — who reach your buyers. Who is number one on that list?
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The outreach that gets replies
Affiliate outreach fails when it's generic. The email that works has four parts and stays under 120 words: (1) proof you know their work — one specific sentence about a post, episode, or project of theirs; (2) why your product fits their audience — one sentence connecting the dots; (3) the concrete offer — commission rate, cookie or attribution window, and payout terms; (4) an easy next step — "want me to send your link and a short brief?" No attachments, no ten-paragraph pitch.
Example: "Hi Dana — your episode on bookkeeping mistakes freelancers make was excellent, especially the part about mixing personal and business expenses. I run a course that teaches freelancers to set up clean books in a weekend ($297, pays 40% = ~$119/sale). Would you be open to me sending your affiliate link and a one-page brief? No pressure either way." That's it. Personal, specific, concrete numbers, low pressure.
AFFILIATE OUTREACH
Subject: Partnership idea for [their audience]
"Hi [name] — I've followed your [specific thing] for a while. Your audience of [who] is exactly who [product] helps with [outcome].
We pay [X]% commission ([~$Y] per sale), 60-day cookie, and I'll personally onboard you with [swipe copy/assets].
Worth a 15-min chat? [link]"
The email that gets replies: four parts, under 120 words
Proof you know their work
One specific sentence about a post, episode, or project of theirs.
Why your product fits their audience
One sentence connecting the dots.
The concrete offer
Commission rate, cookie or attribution window, and payout terms.
An easy next step
"Want me to send your link and a short brief?"
Build brief
What would you put in a partner kit to make promoting you effortless — what links, images, and talking points would it include?
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Arming affiliates to sell
Affiliates promote what's easy to promote. Build a simple partner kit — one page on your site or a shared document — with: their tracking link and code, a 2–3 sentence product description they can copy, 3–5 email or post templates they can adapt, answers to the five most common buyer objections, and any images or logos they're allowed to use. This kit is the difference between an affiliate who signs up and an affiliate who actually posts.
The templates matter most. Most potential affiliates never promote because they don't know what to say. Give them a short email they can send their list, a social post they can adapt, and a 60-second talking-points script for video or podcast mentions. Make every template editable and honest — affiliates who sound like themselves convert better than affiliates reading your ad copy verbatim.
Finally, give new affiliates a reason to promote now: a launch bonus ("promote in your first 30 days and earn 50% instead of 40%"), a contest for a specific month, or early access to a new product they can announce. Affiliates have limited promotional slots; urgency and bonuses move you to the front of their calendar.
List 20 potential affiliates — people whose audiences match your buyers. Not follower counts: relevance. One column for name, one for why they're a fit.
What's the most important thing to include when pitching a potential affiliate?
Your turn: Draft your affiliate outreach email in under 120 words: one specific sentence about their work, why your product fits their audience, your concrete numbers, and the easy next step.
Saved.