In 2020 none of my clients had these, now they all do...

Using two examples from real businesses, this month’s edition covers affiliate links and PR advice for folks that sell products and services.  

Q: I sell products and want to get digital press, like in best-of lists and holiday gift guides.

I've heard affiliate links are key... can you explain more?

A: You can think of affiliate links as a revenue share or as a commission paid out to an effective salesperson (aka the publisher of the article). The publisher uses cookies to determine if a reader makes a purchase later that day, week, or month. By law, if an article is using affiliate links, they must be disclosed.

Affiliate links give you an advantage.

Even though money is exchanged in the form of a % commission you pay to the publication for each sale, this is not advertising. The editor still has say over what pieces they choose for their coverage. They still have editorial say. However, when choosing between 2 similar products, many editors will choose the affiliate link product because it gives their publication revenue. Some publications don't cover products without affiliate links products at all.

You still have to go have good images. You still have to have a good story. You still have to be providing content that the publication writes about.

Readers generally still trust affiliate link editorial as much as any other kind of editorial features.

An antidote, before the pandemic none of my retainer PR clients had affiliate links set up. Now they all do. The media has changed and we’ve evolved to stay on top of it.

If you want to learn the ins-and-outs of product PR with affiliate links we just launched a mini training on this topic. Check it out here.

Q: My business has multiple facets. I teach, design my own products, and license work.

Should I start a PR strategy with services and products?

A: First, it's really important to think about your business' point of view.

Does including your services make sense on the same website and social media platforms as your products? Sometimes it does, if there's a lot of overlap. But sometimes you have two separate businesses.

Here's an example- There's this incredible lighting designer who makes stunning lights that cost around 20k. They do not belong on the same website as her online store that sells $100 pieces. The price points are different, the potential buyers are different, and the media opportunities are different too.

Think about your intended client and if there’s overlap. From a PR perspective, will everything on one site going to be confusing to a publication?

At the end of the day, the media profiles grown-up companies. If your business crosses different areas — teaching, products, licensing – your website has to be professional and grown up. It shouldn't feel like you dumped everything I do onto one page without any thoughtful connection. It’s not a portfolio website, it’s your business.

To answer your question—should I keep everything together as one business or to pull it apart into several? The best place you can start is with some peer research:

• Can you find a few renaissance businesses in one of your niches who have everything they do funneled into one business?

• Do publications you're interested in write about them?

• How do these businesses talk about their different areas on their homepage and about page?

• How are services vs products, or items at different price points presented on each website?

If you find examples of renaissance businesses *with press*, you're probably in the clear, and now you have some good references. If not, consider pulling your business apart.

Generally, it's very hard to say if there's a good one size fits all, but ultimately you need to be intentional with who your audience is for that storytelling moment.

Useful tools to help you get started:

Use Affiliate Links to Get More Press (our newest training, only $37)

How to Write Great Landing Page Copy

Access to our 90-minute workshop: Grow & Get Press