Top 9 Affiliate Marketing Agencies in 2023 and How to Choose the Right One for You

By Nick Becker16 minute read Affiliate Marketing

Are you looking for the right affiliate marketing agency for your retail business?

We know it can be quite a daunting experience, and you simply don’t have the time. But don’t worry, because we have done some of the heavy lifting for you.

In this article, we’ll introduce you to some of the best affiliate marketing agencies around, and give you a few guidelines on picking the right digital partner for your business.

Let’s get started!

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    What Services do Affiliate Marketing Agencies Offer?

    Many affiliate marketing agencies are full-service digital marketing agencies, which specialize in performance and affiliate marketing. As such, they offer a full suite of marketing services and can tie your affiliate program into the rest of your marketing strategy.

    The most frequently offered affiliate marketing services include:

    • Affiliate Discovery and Recruitment Strategy Development: finding and vetting high-quality publishers, influencers, and ambassadors that fit your brand reputation and reach and resonate with your target audience.
    • Contracting and Legal: setting up the affiliate agreements, commission structures, and legal obligations and contracts to protect your business from legal liability and reputational damage.
    • Competitor Analysis: analyzing competitors and competing affiliate programs to ensure that your program is aligned with current trends, and competitive and appealing to publishers. Competitor analysis also allows for the identification of gaps and unique opportunities to leverage.
    • Fraud Monitoring and Affiliate Partner Management: ongoing monitoring of your affiliates to ensure that there is no fraudulent activity and that they are representing your brand truthfully, and are not using unscrupulous or unethical tactics to earn their commission.
    • Affiliate and Publisher Support, Content Management: maintaining close relationships with the affiliates, publishers, influencers, and ambassadors in your affiliate program, as well as providing supporting information, documentation, images, etc. to ensure that they’re publishing up-to-date and current content that accurately depicts your products and brand values.
    • On-going Monitoring, Analysis, and Strategy Optimization: keeping track of your affiliate program data, KPIs, and attribution and conversion metrics to ensure that the affiliate campaign is working well and to provide insights into how to continually improve and optimize it.

    As you can see, there is a great deal of work that goes into establishing and maintaining a successful affiliate marketing campaign. If you do not have the necessary time, skills, and resources in-house, an affiliate marketing agency is the best way to go!

    Top 9 Affiliate Management Agencies in 2023

    1. Gen3 Marketing

    Location: Philadelphia, PA, and Santa Barbara, CA, United States

    Founded: 2007

    Gen3 Marketing is an award-winning digital marketing agency and the largest independent affiliate agency in the world.

    As such, Gen3 Marketing has access to an extensive publisher network and a huge pool of diverse talent and expertise, as well as access to a scope of data that cannot be matched by smaller agencies.

    However, despite being such a big agency, Gen3 Marketing maintains close relationships with its clients, giving them personal, one-on-one attention and fully customized services. They go out of their way to understand their client’s business, customers, and industry to create tailored affiliate programs for each client.

    In addition to Affiliate Marketing, Gen3 Marketing is a full-service agency that specializes in paid search management and SEO. They also offer PPC management, paid digital media management, social media management, digital PR and outreach, and Amazon advertising.

    As an affiliate marketing agency, Gen3 Marketing offers a full set of services from program strategy and development to affiliate/publisher recruitment to ongoing management, analysis, and program optimization. They provide customized services that meet their client’s unique needs, managing the whole program for them or working closely with the client’s in-house teams.

    Affiliate Marketing Agencies - Screenshot of the Gen3 Marketing Homepage

    2. Hamster Garage

    Location: Chicago, IL, United States

    Founded: 2019

    Hamster Garage is a leading partnership and affiliate agency servicing global brands like Airbnb, Canva, and Turo. 

    After managing a multi-million dollar affiliate program at Airbnb, the founder of Hamster Garage realized there was a need for an agency that understood growth from the inside.

    Brands value Hamster Garage’s in-house background and ability to grow with its clients. Hamster Garage is as close to an in-house marketing team as an agency can get, which is why they often beat established global agencies head-to-head. 

    The Hamster Garage team brings decades of experience across traditional affiliates and strategic partnership opportunities, including influencers, podcasts, brand partnerships, and third-party email.

    As a performance agency, Hamster Garage can take channels typically managed by brand teams — influencers and podcasts — or business development teams — brand partnerships — and make them work on a performance basis.

    Hamster Garage Agency Homepage

    3. PartnerCentric

    Location: New York, NY (Fully remote agency with employees all over the US)

    Founded: 2006

    PartnerCentric, Inc. is the largest woman-owned (WBE-certified) affiliate marketing agency in the industry. They are experts at employing revenue-producing affiliate marketing strategies through a mix of service and our proprietary Control Suite technology tools.

    PartnerCentric drives the highest ROI (7x across our portfolio) for some of the world’s most respected brands, from emerging startups to F500 leaders and our clients are supported by the most tenured account managers in the industry, with an average of over 14 years of experience.

    Discover their new Control Suite and get affiliate marketing right the first time.

    PartnerCentric new home

    4. Acceleration Partners

    Location: Boston, MA, USA; with teams in London, Berlin, Singapore, and Sydney.

    Founded: 2007

    Acceleration Partners is a premier global partner marketing agency with programs in 40 countries, for over 170 brands. They’re experts in affiliate, influencer, content, mass media, and B2B partner marketing.

    Acceleration Partners emphasizes developing performance-based, scalable, sustainable affiliate programs, and offers a full suite of expert affiliate marketing services to help you set up, manage and optimize your affiliate marketing programs at a regional or international level.

    You can count on Acceleration Partners to develop an affiliate marketing strategy that is unique to your brand’s needs, thoughtfully and strategically recruit the right partners for your brand, and build a data-driven affiliate program to drive measurable outcomes that are meaningful to your business.

    Acceleration Partners will support your brand’s goals with a dynamic range of capabilities and high-touch client service. Their dedicated publisher development teams focus on developing meaningful, lasting, relationships, with the right strategic partners, that go beyond traditional affiliates to include influencers, mass media publishers, tech, and even brand-to-brand partners.

    Acceleration Partners is a six-time Global Performance Marketing Award (GPMA) winner in the “Best Affiliate and Partner Marketing Agency” category and has won numerous other industry and culture awards.

    Acceleration Partners Homepage - Nov 2022

    Acceleration Partners is also credited with the expansion of the hugely successful Pura Vida brand ambassador program, which we recently covered in:

    9 Best Brand Ambassador Programs and How to Simply Create Yours

    5. Perform[cb] Agency

    Location: Sarasota, FL. United States

    Founded: 2002

    Perform[cb] Agency is notably different from other affiliate marketing agencies due to a diversified service offering that is scalable and customizable to your specific business needs. They help brands along every stage of the brand journey from launching a brand new app to helping to incrementally grow an established e-commerce brand’s affiliate program. Perform[cb] Agency have won several awards and were recently shortlisted for “Best Performance Marketing Agency” by the International Performance Marketing Awards.

    Bonus: They offer a free affiliate marketing audit via their website.

    Performance Marketing Agencies - Screenshot of the Perform[cb] Agency's homepage

    6. Grovia

    Location: Seattle, WA, United States

    Founded: 2020

    Grovia is an innovative affiliate agency focused on partner recruitment. Backed by in-house partner development technology, Grovia specializes in driving incremental revenue through content partner discovery, recruitment, and activation. 

    For businesses looking for professional help recruiting partners, Grovia offers a recruitment solution that pairs businesses with a team of certified partner developers for scalable outreach campaigns and partner onboarding services. For brands that want a more self-service solution, Grovia offers a search engine for affiliate discovery that provides tools for discovering content information, qualifying partners, and building outreach lists. 

    Grovia provides recruitment solutions for over 200+ brands, including venture-backed companies like Gorgias, SwipedOn, and Leonisa. 

    Grovia Homepage

    7. DMi Partners

    Location: Philadelphia, PA. United States

    Founded: 2003

    DMi can scale and diversify affiliate programs away from deal and coupon sites by working with industry-leading media and content partners for brand exposure, implementing a sales-driving influencer marketing strategy and honing in on the recruitment and development of traditional affiliate partners.

    DMi’s Affiliate Marketing is relentless when applying data-driven insights into customer conversions.  They determine how to properly reward and incentivize high-value partners who focus their strategies around incrementality.

    For 18 years, DMi has championed a collaborative, people-focused approach to navigating the digital landscape to get results for their business partners.

    DMi partners

    8. Affiliate Manager

    Location: Orlando, Fl. United States.

    Founded: 2002

    Affiliate Manager places a strong emphasis on ethical affiliate marketing. The award-winning agency also boasts a product development team and produces tools for custom campaigns and client needs. Top clients include Athletic Greens, Tony Robbins, and Groupon.

    PS: They also provide a free affiliate strategic consultation!

    affiliate manager website

    9. Daisycon

    Location: Almere, The Netherlands

    Founded: 2002

    This Dutch affiliate marketing agency forms part of a larger marketing collective called Linehub. Their main service regions include The Netherlands, France, Germany, and Belgium. Daisycon is positioned as a one-stop shop for all performance marketing solutions. Top clients include Vodafone, Doktor Online, and media agencies like OMD.

    Daiscon website

    4 Reasons Your Business Should Use an Affiliate Marketing Agency

    When it comes to running successful affiliate marketing programs, businesses do not always have the resources or the expertise they need to make the most of an affiliate marketing campaign.

    Here are four reasons your business will benefit from professional affiliate marketing services:

    1. Affiliate Marketing Agencies Have Access to a Large Network of Verified Third-Party Publishers, Influencers, and Ambassadors

    The best affiliate marketing agencies have established relationships with many influencers, brands, ambassadors, and publishers, in a variety of niches.

    Top affiliate marketing agencies will select the best affiliates for your program, based on your unique needs, niche, and target audience, from their pool of known, vetted, and trusted publishers.

    This takes a huge amount of work off your plate and allows your affiliate marketing campaign to get off on the right foot. Partnering with high-quality affiliates, that are perfect for your brand, and have a proven track record gives your affiliate program an immediate competitive advantage!

    2. Affiliate Management Agencies Rely on Maintaining Great Relationships with High-Quality Publishers

    Top affiliate marketing agencies also know how to nurture relationships between brands and their affiliate publishers.

    This is particularly useful for partnerships with in-demand influencers and desirable brand ambassadors in your niche. Competition is fierce and having an agency that is constantly maintaining those relationships is a huge advantage for your business.

    3. Access to Data and Expert Analysis for an Effective, Data-Informed Strategy

    Professional affiliate marketing agencies are experts in their field. They have extensive experience working with every aspect of an affiliate marketing campaign, from influencer/ambassador discovery, to contracting, commission calculation, ongoing management, and content curation.

    This level of skill and experience is seldom available to in-house teams, even if they have a good handle on how affiliate marketing works.

    Top affiliate marketing agencies use advanced analytics to provide data-driven decisions to drive a successful campaign. In addition to accessing the data, they have the skills to interpret it and translate it into actionable insights to optimize your affiliate marketing campaign for ongoing success.

    4. Affiliate Management Agencies Offer Dynamic and Quickly Scalable Solutions

    A successful affiliate marketing program can:

    • Quickly adapt, as and when new data-driven insights become available.
    • Be easily be scaled (up or down), to ensure that the program continues to drive a positive ROI for your business.

    Managing your affiliate marketing program in-house limits both. However, using an experienced affiliate marketing agency allows you to do both with ease.

    Top affiliate marketing agencies have the skills and expertise to analyze and gather actionable insights from advanced campaign data, and they know how to implement those changes effectively.Affiliate marketing agencies also can manage your affiliate program as it grows, no matter how quickly, without you having to hire or train new employees.

    The same goes for campaigns that are shrinking (in terms of size, not necessarily profitability) and need less time and attention. An agency can re-allocate employees to other projects so that you don’t have to carry the cost of a team that is now bigger than you need it to be.

    “Affiliate Marketing Statistics show that in 2023 more than 80% of brands had affiliate programs, and the US, 40% of merchants reported affiliate programs as their top customer acquisition channel. Globally, the affiliate marketing industry is responsible for over 16% of online sales”

    Findstack

    Are You Ready to Work with an Affiliate Marketing Agency?

    Some businesses will benefit from professional affiliate marketing services more than others. So, how exactly do you know if an agency is the best option for your business?

    Let’s break it down so you can see at a glance if an affiliate marketing agency is the best fit for your business.

    Consider the following to see if your business is ready to work with a top affiliate marketing agency, or if you would be better off managing your program in-house for a while longer:

    Businesses that will benefit from using an affiliate marketing agency:

    • Have a well-established business model, brand, and clearly defined product offerings
    • Aim to grow their business and affiliate program in the near future
    • Have a budget available to invest in their affiliate marketing program
    • Wish to establish a new affiliate program for the business or for a new product they are launching
    • Do not have the necessary personnel, skills, and expertise to grow the program in-house
    • Have an established affiliate program that is growing faster than they can keep up with and manage effectively

    If any of the above sounds like you – an affiliate marketing agency is the right choice for your business!

    Businesses that would be better served to keep their affiliate marketing campaign management in-house:

    • Have not yet fully established their brand, business model, or product offerings and are still evolving and changing rapidly
    • Are growing very slowly and do not wish to scale up their affiliate program in the near future
    • Aim to establish a small affiliate program with a limited number of participants
    • Do not have the budget to hire an agency
    • Have all the necessary personnel, skills, and expertise in their in-house team, which also has the time and resources to manage the affiliate campaign

    If any of the above sounds like you – you could still benefit from using an agency, but you do not necessarily need one (yet!).

    5 Tips for Finding the Right Affiliate Marketing Agency For You

    The simple concept behind affiliate marketing is this: you share revenue with people who promote your products on their online outlet.

    In other words, you have a product you want to sell and you work with an affiliate agency that manages the program for you. Affiliates promote your products to followers. Consumers buy your products, and revenue is split across all channels involved.

    Consider which affiliate management agencies you want to work with based on their previous clients, fees, technology, approach and ethics.

    What is Affiliate Marketing and How You Can Leverage it – Neil Patel

    Take advantage of free consultations and demos.

    • A top affiliate agency usually offers a free consultation, audit or demo – so use them! It’s a great way to get an introduction to the agency. And use it to get an idea of their culture, most importantly, it gives you a deeper look into how their software would benefit your affiliate program needs.

    Research competitors.

    • We can learn a lot from competition, and affiliate marketing is no different. If you’re not sure where to start, then look into your competitors. Keep track of which agencies they use and how they run their programs to consider how you can operate similarly or differently.

    Understand objectives.

    • As you dive into research, keep your program objectives top of mind. For instance, one goal could be to increase site traffic by 15% month-over-month; or, grow revenue by $5,000 within one month. These goals will determine the type of agency you want to work with.

    Calculate commission.

    • Have a commission rate in mind as you explore agencies. Many eCommerce websites run affiliate programs at a return on advertising spend (ROAS) of 10 or higher, meaning the average commission rate of 8-10% per order generates approximately 10-12.5 times higher revenue than the commission itself.

    Recruit affiliates.

    • You know what they say: 80% of sales come from 20% of customers. The same is true for affiliate marketing, so be selective in how you enroll affiliates. The right (or wrong) affiliates can make (or break) your revenue. Recruit based on business objectives and the affiliate’s potential.

    How to Identify the Best Affiliate Marketing Agencies for Your Needs

    The best affiliate marketing agencies are ones that can provide you with detailed information that backs up their promises and showcases their track record working with similar affiliate campaigns.

    Once you have been through the steps above, and shortlisted the agencies you want to interview, take note of what they will offer you and how they compare to one another.

    Right from the start the best affiliate marketing agencies will plan to provide:

    • Proof of a network of high-quality publishers in your industry and niche
    • A clearly defined strategy to select and recruit the best affiliates for your campaign
    • Case studies and verifiable testimonials and recommendations from past clients
    • Individual expertise, experience, and qualifications of the people on their team
    • A clear and detailed roadmap of their plan to achieve results for your campaign, with clearly defined goals and measurable KPIs
    • Regular reporting and feedback on your campaign
    • A dedicated team for your campaign, with an assigned point of contact for you
    • A good understanding of your industry, your competitors, and your needs as a brand
    • Guidance on local laws and regulations, such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the USA and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), in the UK
    • Monitoring and moderation of your affiliates to ensure that they’re promoting your brand ethically, and are upholding your brand reputation

    Now that you have some basic guidelines in place, you might want to scroll back up and take another look at our affiliate agency list or navigate to our digital marketing agencies ultimate guide 🙂

    To expand your eCommerce business even more, check out our article on conferences you need to attend.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What affiliate marketing agencies offer/provide?

    Affiliate marketing agencies use their connections within your industry to identify the most effective affiliates for your business. They achieve this through their existing connections, such as powerful social media influencers and content creators, to drive more traffic to your website and in turn generate more sales. Check out our full article on what the right affiliate agency will offer your business!

    How to select your affiliate marketing agency?

    When recruiting an affiliate marketing agency, make sure to take advantage of their free consultations and demos. This will help you understand their culture better, as well as whether the software they use will be suitable for your business. Read on further for all the helpful tips in our article, on trying to find the best affiliate agency for you.

    What are the best affiliate marketing agencies?

    These are some of the best affiliate marketing agencies out there today: OAK Digital, DMi Partners, Grovia Daisycon, and GIMO. To see our full list of agencies, and to uncover what makes these agencies so effective, go and check out our full article.

    What is an affiliate marketing company?

    An affiliate marketing company is any company that compensates third-party publishers (affiliates) to generate traffic or leads for them. Affiliates earn a commission, which incentivizes them to promote the company and its products or services. Check out the full review for some of the best affiliate marketing agencies to partner with, as a company or as a publisher.

    What is the average commission for affiliate marketing?

    Affiliate marketing commission structures vary from fixed rates per action or conversion to percentage rate commissions. Percentage-based commissions are usually between 5% and 30%, depending on the nature of the product/service being promoted. Learn more about affiliate marketing in the full review.

    What companies can I do affiliate marketing for?

    There are many companies, big and small, that offer affiliate marketing programs. Some of the most well-known affiliate programs include Amazon Associates, eBay’s Partner Network, ShareASale, GoDaddy, and ClickBank. If you’re interested in being an affiliate publisher or influencer for more specific niches, connecting with an affiliate marketing agency is a good idea. Check out our review of the top affiliate marketing agencies to work with.

    Is affiliate marketing easy?

    The concept of affiliate marketing is very simple: a seller provides a third-party publisher with a commission-based incentive to promote the seller’s products/services. This model drives traffic, leads, or conversions for the seller, and earns a commission for the publisher. While the concept is very simple, running a successful affiliate marketing campaign is complicated and time-consuming. Check out our full review for the best affiliate marketing agencies to run your program for you.

    References

    Inc.com: How a Sports Betting Affiliate Marketer Makes 2 Million a Year 

    BigCommerce: Affiliate Programs: A Step-by-Step Guide for Ecommerce Sites

    BigCommerce: Best Ecommerce Website Design

    Ecommerce-Platforms.com: Affiliate Marketing for Ecommerce

    Finances Online: 55 Important Affiliate Marketing Statistics: 2022 Market Share Analysis & Data

    DemandSage: 70+ Affiliate Marketing Statistics 2023

    1086644 

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