Affiliate Marketing and Pakistani Influencers

 First and foremost, I don’t mean to bash any influencer or even influencer industry, the purpose of the article is to educate our general public more on the topic of affiliate marketing and talk about how brands are marketing their products 

Affiliate marketing is an advertising model in which a company compensates third-party publishers to generate traffic or leads to the company’s products and services. The third-party publishers are affiliates, and the commission fee incentivizes them to find ways to promote the company. (Investopedia).

In other words, whenever a purchase is made through an influencer, they get a little commission for that purchase from the brand or company, and that is tracked usually through codes, which influencers call the discount codes.

It’s a well known marketing tactic and Morphe is one the biggest brands following that.But a few years back there was a backlash and people threw a lot of hate on Morphe and all the big Youtubers and influencers which were in contract with Morphe like Jaclyn Hill. The point was if MUAs and Youtubers are in contract with them and earning on every purchase made through them, they should at least be ethical enough to mention that to their followers and that’s what they started. I’m writing this based on what I saw, do your own research to get all the facts right.

A lot of brands have started affiliate marketing in Pakistan as well now, one relatively famous skin care brand that I can think of is using affiliate marketing and have a long list of 1st tier influencers in their list as well, but one thing that bothers me is because again they are not exclusive.

There’s nothing wrong with being paid for promoting stuff, that’s basically the way of earning for influencers but I think when they are specifically earning through their followers purchasing that specific product, the followers also need to know.

Reason being, the purchasing decision of a potential customer and the fact that influencers will get a commission through it, are in a direct relation. You cannot say that if your follower knew about the fact that you will be paid through their purchase, their buying decision won’t be affected. Also, being an influencer you owe it to your followers to be open and honest. 

Again, don’t mean to offend any blogger or influencer, I think our influencer industry is doing a great job specially for small businesses, but it’s only through relatable and honest convos that we can build a meaningful and lasting relationship. 

Toodles