Affinity Marketing Definition & Strategies - The Ultimate Playbook

What is Affinity Marketing?

Affinity Marketing is a concept where two parties form a partnership that is mutually beneficial. The partnership can be between two brands, a company or an organization, or any other closely related entity. The basic idea here is that both parties can utilize their resources to create a mutually beneficial campaign.

For example, partners can gather leads sharing the same interests as their respective brands to amass a greater consumer base for their product or service. For example, a typical affinity group can be formed by:

• Membership organizations or associations
• Nonprofits and charities
• Companies that cater to specific demographics

The scale of these partner members can largely differ. A small affinity group can literally be a cafe selling baked items from a local bakery. On the other hand, a large affinity group can be a huge brand associated with a sports team in a major league. The brand uses the sports team's name to attract its fan base.

A company can also reach a pre-existing affinity group that is related to its niche to market its products.

The term affinity marketing is also known as co-marketing, co-branding, or partnership marketing. And the partnership is known as the affinity group. But affinity marketing is slightly different from co-branding.

Co-branding is a marketing strategy where an alliance of brands shares their brand name to associate it with a project, product, etc. The benefits of cobranding come from the association of these brands. But an affinity group is a entity - so the goal of affinity marketing is to benefit the whole affinity group.

History of Affinity Marketing

The first academic approach of affinity marketing dates back to 1992. Macchiette and Roy describe this notion as a combination of affinity and marketing ideas. Here, affinity is described as “an individual level of cohesiveness, social bonding, identification and conformity to the norms and standards of a particular reference group”. Marketing ideas are described as an “expectation of benefit for the individual satisfying consumer wants and needs”.

Features of Affinity Marketing

There are 3 major concepts that split affinity marketing into its characteristic groups. These concepts are -

1. The third-party endorsement
2. The shared incentives concept
3. The enhancement package

1. The third-party endorsement

This is a concept where the affinity group leadership advertises a company’s product or service to the other affinity group members. The company simply approaches the leadership and the leader then passively markets that company's product. This sort of advertising is carried out through personalized emails or exclusive sections in the affinity group newsletter or social media.

2. The shared incentive concept

This is the very basic concept and the reason why an affinity group decides to band together. For example, if an affinity group was created to promote low healthcare costs - the members can promote prescription discount cards or medical negotiation services, or any other agenda or product that matched their base goal.

3. The enhancement package

This concept essentially describes an approach where a product is designed such that they meet all the customer needs. To do this, the company must first validate its product idea and check if the customers are actually interested.

If we consider the previous example, a product that offers medical coupons and discounts or specifically prescription discounts is a product the affinity group would be interested in. So packaging all these benefits together will enhance the product. Additionally, the affinity group members can use this product as any other consumer would.

How is an Affinity Marketing plan developed and implemented?

Below we describe how an affinity marketing plan is developed and implemented.

1. Firstly, companies generally have a rough idea as to which affinity groups they wish to target.
2. With a rough list in hand, marketing and sales teams then research the potential of different market areas. The goal is to scrutinize each affinity group and examine how associating with them affects the sales of a product.
3. Once the target affinity groups are finalized, the next step is to design the campaign. Companies start by underlying all the specific goals and objectives of the campaign.
4. Next, the marketing managers reach out to the potential partners - these can be organizations or businesses to negotiate the terms of their partnership.
5. All the supposed benefits of the partnership are highlighted in the discussion. These benefits can simply be promotional offers or deals.
6. A legally binding agreement highlighting all the terms and responsibilities is then drafted and signed by the partners. With this, a partnership is established.
7. With the partnership in place, the marketing teams can start implementing their affinity marketing campaigns.
8. As the campaign progresses, the sales teams keep track of the conversions.
9. Finally, the partners meet frequently to discuss improvements or adjustments to the campaign based on the data and market research conducted.

What career-titles work with Affinity Marketing strategies?

Here are some career titles that work in implementing the affinity marketing strategy.

1. Marketing Manager - A marketing manager is responsible for a number of tasks. They help identify the correct affinity group for a company and work on estimating the demand for the product.
2. Promotional Manager - Promotional managers align with marketing managers to help determine the set of offerings that forms an affinity partnership.
3. Marketing Specialists - They consult the company about the different marketing strategies.

How to improve ROI with Affinity Marketing?

Affinity marketing is considered a good strategy to improve a company’s overall ROI. Since any company can form a partnership with another brand. But how exactly can affinity marketing be used to improve ROI?

1. Onboard Experts

Affinity marketing is different from traditional marketing. So the first step would be to onboard an affinity marketing expert on your team who has experience working with partnership programs.

2. Find the Right Partners

The next important step is to find the right partners. A compatible partnership can do wonders for your affinity program. Getting into a partnership where ideas don’t align which unnecessary friction can instead hurt your company. So choosing the correct partner is important.

3. Make the Partnership Beneficial for all Members

Design a partnership agreement that benefits all parties in the affinity group. Mutual benefit is the underlying principle of affinity marketing. All partners need to contribute equally and do their part to ensure all parties are benefitted.

4. Create a Program

Next, the teams can work together to create a well-structured affinity program. This will include having a scalable infrastructure in place as well as all the terms and guidelines the companies have to abide by.

5. Track your Progress

Finally, regular tracking of progress will help the affinity group course-correct their strategy. This will help teams determine if their campaigns are working.