How to promote MailerLite: Affiliate top tips and best practices
Nicole Pyzyk
MailerLite Support Team members Brigita, Sabina, and Maria.
As an affiliate marketer, you are your best asset for promoting MailerLite. Making authentic, valued connections with your audience ensures your word-of-mouth recommendations will be highly regarded.
That’s why we love our affiliates! But how can you promote MailerLite’s features and benefits while nurturing relationships with your audience and solving their problems?
We caught up with several top MailerLite affiliates to get their favorite tips and strategies for promoting MailerLite and making more sales. We’ll cover everything from content ideas, communication tips and marketing channels, general affiliate marketing strategies, and ways to maximize earnings.
Ready to take your MailerLite affiliate game to the next level? Let’s get to it.
Five tactics to promote MailerLite
1. Start a blog
We regularly update the MailerLite blog with useful content about email marketing and our product. Still, as an affiliate marketer, you’re uniquely positioned to build authority and trust with your audience, especially if you target a specific niche or industry.
Starting your own blog gives you the ability to control the types of content you share, address your audience’s specific needs, and experiment with your own messaging. It will also enable you to grow a community and engage with your followers, subscribers and readers.
What’s more, creating SEO-optimized content will allow you to reach an even wider audience, build your personal brand, and generate more income.
Ideas for blog content
Product reviews: Create in-depth reviews with your own unique insights and honest opinions about your personal experiences using MailerLite. Highlight features, benefits, pros, and cons and always be honest. Even though you’re trying to promote and make sales, the more authentic your review the better—after all, no product is perfect!
Product comparison posts: Attract bottom-of-the-funnel potential customers with an SEO-optimized comparison post, and explain why you think MailerLite is the best solution. Include your affiliate link so that if they’re sold on your comparison and ready to commit, you’ll get the sale.
Best marketing tools for small businesses/e-commerce/content creators/artists/authors, etc: Choose an industry and create a guide with your recommendations for marketing tools covering the whole spectrum of marketing.
How-to guides: Create guides on how to use certain features or solve specific problems. Bonus points if you look to your community for inspiration and common pain points.
MailerLite hacks: Have you found an interesting or unique way to solve an email marketing problem with MailerLite, that isn’t widely promoted? This is a great way to provide valuable, actionable tips that people may not find anywhere else.
Your success story: Have you grown your email list with MailerLite? Perhaps you increased your engagement rate or conversion rate through your newsletters. Whatever the achievement, share your MailerLite success story for others to be inspired by.
Community case studies: Reach out to your active followers and subscribers for case studies to share real-life examples of how MailerLite has benefitted them. Include quotes and metrics to make your case studies more credible.
Create an educational content guide addressing common pain points with signup forms - Vrushabh Mhatre, DigitaLeo
Create blog posts about the MailerLite team and culture - Prateek Shah, DigitalDefynd
Create newsletter automation guides and tackle complex topics and break them down. Make it entertaining, include actionable advice and curate a balanced piece of writing to help your audience, especially beginners. - David Gaughran
2. Start a YouTube channel
YouTube is a preferred channel among affiliate marketers, and it’s easy to understand why. Studies tell us that 92% of users use the platform to gather information and knowledge—yes you read that correctly, 92%!
More and more digital content consumers are turning to video to learn about products, find solutions to their problems, and check out product demos before they commit. Putting your face or voice on video allows you to use a personal touch to connect with your audience in a more engaging and authentic way. You can also very easily add your affiliate referral link to the video description, allowing you to claim referrals from your videos.
Some additional benefits of starting a YouTube channel include:
The visual aspect. It’s much easier to explain and demonstrate features, benefits and concepts when you can show them visually along with narration
YouTube is a high-traffic platform. If you create great content and optimize your videos, you could expand your potential audience a lot
You can interact with your audience easily. Connect with your audience through comments, Q&As, and live chats and use your YouTube channel to create a community
Monetization is possible. If you grow your channel enough and get a significant number of views and subscribers, you could earn additional income through YouTube’s monetization features
Ideas for promoting MailerLite in YouTube videos
In-depth tutorials: Create visual, step-by-step guides for users of all levels on how to set up an account, create an email campaign, and use more advanced features such as automation workflows. Demonstrating the basics will attract beginners who might go on to sign up to MailerLite while creating tutorials on more advanced features will allow you to provide aftercare for your referrals and develop a better relationship with your audience.
Video case studies: Interview users who have had success with MailerLite or create video overviews of your written case studies.
Live demos and webinars: Live demos are a great way to bring attention to your account and connect with your audience as you can interact in real-time. You can create webinars on email marketing strategies, automation, or growing an email list or do live demos on how to create a campaign, initial set up, or building an advanced automation. Another fun way to connect with viewers is with a live Q&A for all things MailerLite and email marketing!
MailerLite overview: Showcase the top features of MailerLite and highlight how it stands out against competitors.
Feature highlights: GIve individual overviews of MailerLite’s most popular features, such as the Drag & drop editor, automation, landing pages, website builder, and signup forms.
Email marketing tips and best practices: Share tips for effective email marketing strategies mentioning topics such as segmentation, personalization, template design, CTAs, and subject line optimization. You can also create a video guide on how to improve email deliverability.
Integration tutorials: Show your audience how easily they can connect MailerLite with popular tools like Shopify, Zapier, WordPress, and more.
Videos for specific audiences: Showcase how MailerLite can be used for e-commerce, bloggers, small businesses, nonprofits and more. For example, you can show e-commerce users how to use blocks, features and integrations relevant to them to grow their business and increase conversions, how bloggers can drive more traffic to their content and engage with readers, and how nonprofits can communicate with donors and promote fundraising campaigns.
Product updates: Create a roundup video of the latest MailerLite updates once every 3, 6 or 12 months. Highlight new features and improvements to show them how MailerLite is developing.
Be honest about getting a commission from your referral link, or ask people to sign up for MailerLite using your link because doing so supports your channel. Mention the product when it makes sense, not as if you are just trying to sell something. Make the recommendation a natural part of the video, because people want to get the product anyway. - Simon Gorges
Create tutorial and comparison videos on YouTube and focus on creating good quality content with an eye-catching title, nice thumbnail and ways to convert - Simon Gorges
Create content related to articles that are performing well. - Ankit Prakash, Sprout24
Try out partnerships and collaborations with other creators - Vrushabh Mhatre, DigitaLeo
Tip: Looking for ideas for video content? VidIQ’s keyword tool allows you to check out keywords to view their search volume and any related keywords.
3. Create an email marketing newsletter
What better way to promote MailerLite’s capabilities than with your very own newsletter? Building an email list with an email marketing newsletter is a great way to collect potential leads you can sell to. It gives you a direct line of communication with a highly targeted audience of people who are interested in exactly what you are trying to sell.
You can:
Provide valuable content and solve subscribers’ problems while promoting your affiliate products and sharing your referral link
Use automations to nurture leads
Use segmentation to make your emails more personalized and relevant for each subscriber
Build stronger relationships that result in higher engagement, more conversions, and higher lifetime value
Access performance metrics and tools that will allow you to track progress and optimize your campaigns for more engagement and conversions
Ideas for email marketing newsletter content
Blog content: Share your latest and most popular blog articles.
YouTube videos: Embed your YouTube videos in your newsletter.
Latest news: In addition to MailerLite’s latest news, you can add a personal touch to your newsletter by sharing your own updates.
Favorite resources and tools: Share the books, websites, articles, tools, people, and more that you’ve been enjoying lately and that you think your subscribers would like and benefit from.
Special promotions and discounts: Have a special discount code that your subscribers can use? Share it in your newsletter! You can also promote any special deals such as Black Friday discounts.
Industry news and trends: Discuss what’s happening in email marketing lately and add your take on the latest trends. Include your own insights and ask other email marketing experts to weigh in.
Email marketing tip of the week/month: Include a series of email marketing tips and tie in MailerLite features.
Surveys and polls: Increase engagement with subscribers and learn more about them with a survey or poll. Ask them about their challenges, thoughts on current trends, MailerLite-specific questions, what content they would like to see, etc.
Free templates and other lead magnets: Offer free, downloadable email templates, checklists, eBooks or other valuable content as lead magnets and grow your subscriber base. You can create general email marketing resources or MailerLite-specific content such as cheat sheets.
Subscriber spotlights: Ask subscribers to submit their email marketing/MailerLite success stories and tips and share them in your newsletter.
Community challenges: Ask subscribers to submit their favorite newsletter designs or successful campaigns and pick the top 3 to share.
Use social media, blogging, and ads to drive traffic to your newsletter via a freebie and encourage sign-ups. Then your newsletter will drive everything. - David Gaughran
Targeting the right audience can be a challenge. The key is identifying a group and creating a funnel or action plan, differentiating customer to customer and audience. - Vrushabh Mhatre, DigitaLeo
4. Be active on social media
As great as social media is for getting your content out there, its real strength is its power to connect people, build relationships and create conversations.
Don’t just share your latest article, engage with the community. Spark conversations in the comments section by replying and responding to peoples’ thoughts, comment on relevant posts from other content creators, share interesting content and resources from across the web, and conduct polls.
The more you engage with your audience, the stronger the relationships you’ll build with them. The stronger the relationships, the more they’ll see you as a source of inspiration and knowledge, and the more they’ll trust you.
Run social media campaigns on Twitter and Instagram, such as giveaways. - Vrushabh Mhatre, DigitaLeo
Use Facebook ads, and create supporting content to promote blog posts and increase visibility on search engines or platforms like Quora and Reddit. - Prateek Shah, DigitalDefynd
Facebook groups help a lot. Since many of them have individual people sharing their own personal experiences, there is no better way to learn than from people who are facing a problem in real-time. - Prateek Shah, DigitalDefynd
5. Complement your organic efforts with paid ads
Organic channels are more cost-effective, but they can take a little while to get kickstarted. By integrating paid ads into your affiliate marketing strategy, you can benefit from immediate traffic to your content and website along with precise targeting options and a measurable ROI.
Our affiliates' most favored platforms are Google Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads. They all provide advanced targeting options, although Google definitely takes the win when it comes to targeting! You can also take advantage of remarketing or retargeting campaigns—these involve delivering your ads to people who have already visited your site or interacted with your content.
The only caveat is that, due to Google’s policies, you can’t use branded keywords in your ad copy, this includes MailerLite. The best way to use paid ads is to advertise your own website, articles and other resources, where people will be able to find your affiliate link.
Best practices for succeeding with affiliate sales
1. Consider each phase of the customer journey
Create a three-phase funnel into marketing. The first is informational, the second is interest-based, and the third is action-based.
If you want to maximize conversions, build lasting customer relationships, and avoid turning customers off, it’s crucial to understand the distinct stages a potential customer goes through. Tailor your content and strategies to meet the specific needs of your audience based on where they are, from awareness and consideration to decision and post-purchase.
Create informative and engaging content that solves a problem while introducing MailerLite, its features, and its benefits.
Provide content that will answer your audiences’ questions and address any concerns. Think reviews, product comparisons, and customer success stories. The aim is to guide customers towards making a purchase decision.
It’s time to send in your call to action! Use compelling messaging, special discounts or other offers to encourage people to act.
Don’t make the sale and ghost your customers. Nurture the relationship with follow-up emails, tips, guides, and product recommendations. In doing so, you’ll ensure better customer satisfaction and a higher lifetime value.
2. Be authentic
Be authentic and share from your personal experiences. A good customer won’t mind buying from you if you’ve been able to help them out in an honest way.
Whenever a customer is looking to buy something, it’s because they need to solve a problem or fulfill a need. So your ultimate goal should be to solve that problem, not make a sale regardless of the person’s needs. If you remain authentic, discuss your personal experience, and be honest about any pitfalls you think MailerLite has in general or for a specific type of user, you’ll gain trust from your audience and they’ll be much more likely to purchase from you.
After all, if MailerLite isn’t right for someone and they buy it anyway, the purchase will only lead to a dissatisfied customer and potentially leave a bad taste in their mouth. One sale from a long-term, happy customer is much better than any number of short-term sales and potential reputational damage.
You can do this by:
Only promoting what you use and believe in. If you use and love MailerLite, your customers will trust your perspective
Give honest reviews with balanced opinions—don’t sugarcoat anything
Focus on providing value through educational content and problem solving
Engage with your audience in a real, authentic way and keep engaging with them after the sale
Stay up to date with your knowledge about MailerLite’s news and improvements
Being consistent with your messaging and brand voice across all platforms
Avoid any unethical practices or making misleading claims about what MailerLite can do or help your audience achieve
Follow privacy guidelines and protect your customers’ data
3. Be transparent about your affiliate relationship
It’s better to be completely upfront. I tell people straight-up that I get a cut if they decide to purchase, but the money allows me to create a whole bunch of free resources for authors. I find this openness and transparency increases the response from people. And always try to give more than you ask.
There’s nothing more off-putting than when someone shares an affiliate link without disclosing how it benefits them or the relationship they have with the brand. It immediately gives the impression that they are purposely trying to hide the fact and therefore diminishes any trust.
Being honest about your affiliate relationship is crucial for building a lasting relationship with your audience and empowers them to feel informed and respected. What’s more, some countries have regulations that require the disclosure of affiliate relationships. One example of this is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the U.S. which requires affiliates to disclose any financial relationships with brands.
Here are some tips for keeping transparent:
Use clear and conspicuous disclosures, don’t try to find any loopholes by making your disclosure less visible!
Include a disclosure every time you share your affiliate link on any platform
Include text and verbal disclosures where necessary
On social media, use hashtags like #ad, #sponsored, and #affiliate
An example of a good affiliate disclosure: This post/video contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something I recommend. This helps me to create more content and resources for my blog/channel.
4. Stay informed about your products and industry trends
Keep a close tab on new features or trends for the products you are promoting. Build up tutorials, guides, and educational materials around that.
By continuously learning about the industry and the products you promote, you’ll be able to do so much more than just sell.
Doing so will enable you to maintain a high level of relevance and accuracy so you can better educate current and potential customers, provide aftercare services, create valuable content that nurtures relationships and drives traffic, and enhance your credibility. It will also help you to stay ahead of the competition by jumping in on new opportunities and adapting your messaging in good time!
Here are some tips for keeping in the loop:
Subscribe to newsletters and updates from the companies/brands that you promote as well as industry newsletters
Use MailerLite! There is no better way to understand the product than to use it
Participate in online communities such as Facebook Groups, Reddit, Quora, and other forums
Attend industry events and conferences, whether in-person or online
Keep learning with online courses and certifications. You can learn more about MailerLite specifically with the MailerLite academy or check out email marketing courses on platforms like Coursera and Udemy
Follow industry thought leaders and influencers on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter (X), and Instagram
Don’t forget about competitors. You might be promoting MailerLite but it’s also crucial to stay up to date with what competitors are doing
Network with other affiliates
5. Don’t give up
Keep at it—it is only persistence that will bring in results. Have a razor-sharp focus towards promoting a particular product or writing about that in general and you will get somewhere. For us, trial and error has worked. We keep trying things, we keep learning, it’s an iterative process, like a feedback loop using your own business, and it helps you build results.
Affiliate marketing is a dynamic and competitive industry and it requires a lot of effort and adjustment to succeed. Perseverance is key, especially in the beginning stages, and lots of trial and error is needed to hone in your skills in content creation, SEO, social media, email marketing, and more.
Like most marketing initiatives, there is no magical set-it-and-forget-it formula. Continuous analysis and optimization is necessary to refine your strategies and improve overall performance. What’s more, it takes time to build a reputation and gain the trust of your audience—consistency is crucial! Not only will it enable you to create authentic relationships with your audience, but it will also help you to discover effective strategies that work best for you.
MailerLite affiliates' favorite tools and resources
Newsletter Ninja Facebook Group by Tammi Labreque:
A Facebook group for authors getting to grips with email marketing, offering valuable resources and assistance.
I learned most of what I know about email marketing from Tammi and her resources.
Canva:
A graphic design platform that allows users to create professional-looking graphics with ease.
Canva is a lifesaver for me... I can whip up a professional-looking graphic—and maintain consistent branding—in a matter of minutes with Canva.
Chad Bartlett:
A YouTube affiliate marketer known for valuable insights and strategies in affiliate marketing.
I have been following a lot of affiliate marketers over the past few years, but one YouTube affiliate marketer called Chad Bartlett stands out.
Don’t just be a saleperson, be a MailerLite community expert!
Affiliate marketing relies on the human connection and building authentic relationships with your audience. Just plugging the product isn’t enough!
Provide valuable content and resources and promote MailerLite in an honest and natural way, and the sales will come by themselves. People don’t mind buying from affiliates when they are authentic and transparent, so don’t be afraid to keep it real.
Ready to boost your income with MailerLite?
Become an affiliate and earn 30% recurring commission for every sale!
Do you have any useful tips, resources or ideas for promoting MailerLite? We’d love to hear them in the comments section!
