Geoff CuddAffiliate marketing is a hot topic in digital marketing, and it’s not hard to see why: when you can leverage the power of the internet and the endorsements of others to grow your business in potentially drastic ways, you do it.
It’s no wonder it’s become one of the top ways to expand your reach and grow your customer base.
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We offer this website completely free to our visitors. To help pay the bills, we’ll often (but not always) set up affiliate relationships with the top providers after selecting our favorites. However, we do our best not to let this impact our choices. There are plenty of high-paying companies we’ve turned down because we didn’t like their product.
An added benefit of our relationships is that we always try to negotiate exclusive discounts for our visitors.
Best Affiliate Marketing Agencies & Services
Of all the companies and online sources you can use to find and hire competent marketers for your affiliate marketing needs, the following agencies and resources are the ones we’d turn to.
1. TOP Agency
Best for businesses that are looking for a premier affiliate marketing partner.
If you’re looking for affiliate marketing agencies that live and breathe affiliate partnerships, check out Top Agency. Their name is apt, as it puts their overarching goal front and center: to provide you with top-performing affiliate marketing services.
They do this through developing long-term partnerships with vested, quality affiliates. They aren’t about trying to conjure up overnight success but rather setting you up to reap the benefits of affiliate marketing over the long haul. To that end, the partners they suggest are hand-picked and the resulting data from these affiliates is measured and analyzed in real-time. Through the course of your contract, they’ll conduct regular A/B testing to determine the most effective strategies for your campaign and make any necessary tweaks.
They don’t just ensure your dollars are going far within the agency, either – they’re also constantly doing the math with regard to the affiliate partnerships they line you up with. The goal? Make it so that your affiliate revenue stream doesn’t just add up – it multiplies.
Top Agency ties their strategy together with a multi-pronged approach that includes social media, blogging, email marketing, and more. The goal is a comprehensive, full-funnel take that comes back to making the most of your affiliate partnership. It’s this holistic, strategized tactic that has us so impressed.
2. Fiverr
Best for companies looking to complete smaller, low-complexity projects with affordable but talented freelancers.
Fiverr is a well-known marketplace that makes it easy to hire freelancers on an as-needed basis for jobs of various scales and difficulties. It’s easy to get the hang of: just log on to Fiverr, list your job, and let interested freelancers come to you. That’s it.
Unlike some other freelance platforms, Fiverr has historically targeted small, one-off jobs rather than larger-scale projects. That’s not as much the case as it used to be, but it still is more likely to find both businesses and freelancers on Fiverr that are looking for quick hits rather than prolonged projects.
That said, you can still likely find someone on Fiverr who can give you the leg up on spinning up affiliate marketing arrangements with websites and affiliate marketplaces you’ll want to be featured on. Of course, you’ll want to be wary when farming out work for affiliate purposes: you don’t want to end up with a number of low-quality backlinks that might ultimately do more harm for your site than good.
Still, we like Fiverr for its ease of use and diversity of freelance talent. You can also take advantage of Fiverr Pro, a premium spinoff of the original concept where freelancers are already vetted by experts in their niche. It’s the perfect way to hire known freelancers that have established success with freelance affiliate marketing.
- Read our Fiverr Review
Best for companies looking to work with a small but mighty agency that does nothing but affiliate marketing.
Based out of Boston, AM Navigator is a small but mighty player in the world of affiliate marketing. After all, they’ve done little else aside from developing great affiliate strategies for their clients. Some of those clients include such names as SEM Rush, Forbes, and Nokia.
What draws such big names to this affiliate outfit? Their breadth of service, for one thing. You can turn to them to perform affiliate program audits, management, or consulting. You can also contract with them to get your affiliate program off the ground or relaunch it entirely. You can also mix and match some of these services.
No matter which angle you choose, the firm brings a thoroughness and data-driven approach to its work. Their style has been recognized with numerous industry accolades, including the #1 Affiliate Marketing Outsourcing Agency award in 2021. This is just one of many trophies this team has taken home since the company was founded in 2007.
When you want quality affiliate marketing services from a dedicated affiliate firm, this group should be on your shortlist.
4. GrowTal
Best for growth-oriented businesses looking to work with thoroughly vetted freelancers who know your niche as well as you do.
GrowTal pairs you up with top-notch freelance marketers that have already proven their mettle in their niche. Because the company has pre-vetted everyone you might work with, you can be sure that your work will be done to a level of quality and consistency that’s never promised or even likely with other platforms.
GrowTal’s vetting process is four steps, beginning with a review of an applicant’s online profile and culminating with an in-depth interview that is designed to gauge the candidate’s skill level, professionalism, and abilities. The final call on whether or not to accept a freelancer onto the platform is made by a seasoned pro within the particular marketing vertical that an applicant is interested in. Any hopeful freelancer looking to find work through this agency will need to impress these subject matter experts first before getting the chance to work with GrowTal’s clients.
Considering the leadership team for Growtal cut their teeth in the likes of companies such as Uber, Square, Shutterfly, and other big names, it’s no surprise that excellence is the name of the game here. And they seem to deliver: their stats show 62 percent savings for companies who choose to work with their pre-vetted freelancers over hiring someone in-house. It’s a compelling data point that underscores why GrowTal ultimately made our shortlist.
- Read our GrowTal Review
5. MonsterClaw LLC
Best for businesses looking for an affiliate provider specializing in B2B affiliate marketing.
Affiliate marketing has plenty of providers in the B2C space, but what about B2B? Finding companies that have honed an affiliate strategy for the business-to-business world of commerce is a bit more difficult, but MonsterClaw LLC delivers. Their robust B2B affiliate program is the bread and butter of their operations.
Right away, their statistics are enviable: to date, they’ve launched over 1,500 campaigns, generated nearly $50M in revenue for their clients, and have created over one million users’ worth of additional site traffic. On average, they help clients grow their business by 400 percent. Clearly, this group is on to something.
Their process behind these impressive data points is broken down into four steps. First, dive deep into the data – both that of your business and of your niche. Since they’ve been at this so long, they have troves of data for just about every business and industry niche, and they’ll use it as a jumping-off point for step two: creating an affiliate strategy and executing on it. From there, the team leans on the principles of consistency, quality, and optimization to build and maintain your custom affiliate strategy.
MonsterClaw LLC also offers additional services as well, including content marketing and IT services. Whatever package you opt for, you’ll enjoy perks like personalized support and focused collaboration. It’s a well-rounded approach borne out by real data, and that’s something we can’t argue with.
6. Upwork
Best for businesses that want to work directly with freelance talent for projects big and small.
Because Upwork offers excellent flexibility for hirers, you can have the job go on for as little or as long as possible depending on the scope of the project. When it comes to affiliate marketing, you can hire someone simply to make the cold calls and reach out to the companies you want to affiliate with, or you can go deep into affiliate research and strategy as well. It’s your play.
We think Upwork is the ideal solution if you just need some light affiliate marketing work done rather than anything too drawn out or time-consuming. For these higher-end projects that require a certain caliber of talent and skill, we’d suggest one of the traditional agencies on this list, which have built their business and reputation on the backs of tackling big jobs with outsized aplomb.
Though you certainly can find someone who can deliver a similar caliber of results on Upwork, finding that person may be a bit more difficult right off the bat – and if time is money, it may be worth hiring a proven firm the first time rather than working through false starts with freelancers who don’t cut the mustard.
That said, Upwork is, by all means, an excellent option to work directly with freelancers for those smaller jobs you can trust to a talented freelancer. We recommend checking it out before committing to any one affiliate marketing service.
- Read our Upwork Review
Types of Digital Marketing Agencies
What Is an Affiliate Digital Marketing Agency?
A digital marketing agency with a focus on affiliate marketing prioritizes affiliate relationships. Typically, they’re sitting on a large cache of historical data for a variety of niches, and they also have at the ready a long list of companies they typically partner their clients with. Ultimately, this is what you’re paying for when you contract with such an agency: their connections, their data, and their ability to strategize and connect the dots. Using their data and connections, they’ll pair you with the right affiliates that can easily fast-track your growth.
Many affiliate marketing agencies have an outsize focus on their niche, which is somewhat unique in the digital marketing sphere; oftentimes these agencies take a do-it-all approach. Of the companies profiled on our list, all are primarily affiliate marketing agencies, with only a small selection of additional services to offer clients. This speaks to their expertise in their chosen niche.
Tools like Lasso [review], an affiliate marketing plugin, offer ways to track and manage affiliates, but it doesn't address the need for finding and setting up those relationships in the first place.
What Does an Affiliate Marketing Agency Do?
An affiliate agency leverages data and partnerships to strategically pair your company with an affiliate partner, who will ultimately promote your products or services in return for a commission. While you can arrange these relationships on your own, dedicated agencies have the right connections in place already, taking out untold hours of pitching from the equation. It’s a fast-track way to growing sales and brand awareness.
An important point to note is that while all affiliate marketing professionals will know some level of digital marketing, not all marketers will know how affiliate marketing works. Forget this and you could end up working with someone who professes digital marketing knowledge but doesn’t have a clue about generating affiliate relationships, which very much requires specialized knowledge and industry understanding to pull off successfully.
How Much Does an Affiliate Marketing Agency Charge?
You won’t know until you reach out and have an exploratory call. This is because the work is so custom: depending on your company's needs, the agency’s available service packages, and the inevitable contract negotiations. And the quality of service couldn’t get any wider: you could pay a garden-variety freelancer to do a bit of affiliate work for you on the side, or you could contract with a full-service agency for thousands of dollars a month.
Our advice? Determine just how much you want to spend and how thorough of a solution you’re looking for. If you just want to test the waters of affiliate marketing, start with a qualified freelancer – there’s plenty on Fiverr and Upwork. For a more ambitious affiliate marketing plan, go with one of the agencies outlined above. This will require deeper pockets, but you’ll be rewarded with data-driven solutions from highly competitive digital marketing firms.
FAQs
Is it worth it to hire an affiliate marketing agency?
Generally, yes. These agencies will grow the reach of your brand through targeted affiliate partnerships, leveraging their expertise and relationships to get you paired up with influencers, blogs, websites, and other high-visibility sources you may otherwise never reach alone. This can result in consistent, reliable sales growth as you focus on what you do best: developing your product or service.
How do I choose from the best affiliate marketing agencies?
Start with a list like the one above, then determine what your needs and budget are. If you only want some light affiliate work done, consider an independent freelancer. Looking for a bit more support and maybe some analytics and an affiliate audit as well? Consider a traditional agency or a firm that contracts out vetted freelancers ready to take on more serious projects.
Which affiliate marketing agency is best for small businesses?
For small businesses, we’d recommend starting with Upwork or Fiverr. Why? Because of ease of use and price point. You can easily start finding someone to help with establishing some initial affiliate relationships before jumping into anything more serious. When you’re ready for a more serious foray into affiliate marketing, contract with a dedicated affiliate agency.
Claire Fountain
Taylor Munsell
Rashida Beal
