In almost every industry, referrals are the gold standard of customer acquisition. Research has repeatedly shown that referred leads close faster, buy more, and stay longer — all with significantly less effort and at a much lower CPA than non-referred prospects. A University of Pennsylvania study[1] found that referred customers are more loyal and profitable — by a 16% margin — than their non-referred counterparts.

In most cases, the success of a business partner program is almost always driven by a scientific blend of quantity (how many partners you have) and relevance (what are you offering to partners for sharing your brand).

Digital marketing changes at the drop of dime, and as digitally connected brands, we are expected to anticipate those changes just as fast, if not sooner. If your brand is guilty of taking on the “all-adoptive” mentality, you may see that staying on top of the latest trend might negatively impact your bottom line, and eat up many of your resources. Now more than ever, it is crucial for marketers to understand the difference between a marketing fad and a marketing staple.

As most marketers are well aware of: Facebook is making significant changes to what users will see on their News Feed. Before your ad team erupts in chaos about how terrible this announcement is for brands, publishers and other third-party players, let’s take a look at how your company’s referral program can actually use this new algorithm to its advantage.

When I talk to marketing leaders about what they're looking for in an influencer marketing platform, I get asked fairly frequently about best practices for affiliate and brand influencer marketing. They want to understand how - and why - a platform like Ambassador is different than modern day influencer and affiliate networks. Rather than get into the technical mechanics here, I’d like to present a hypothetical situation instead. 

We are elated to announce the formal launch of our Partner Program. Over the past few years, we have had the privilege of working with some amazing marketing agencies and business consultants who have helped their clients recognize the true value and importance of word-of-mouth. 

People influence people. A trusted referral influences people more than the best broadcast message. A trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising. - Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO, Facebook The goal of referral marketing is simple: To harness the power of authentic word-of-mouth to drive a steady stream of high-quality referrals to your business (and grow revenue as a result). Executing against that goal, however, is a little bit more complicated. For referral marketing to work, you ...