Affinity affiliate scheme

[KC Honie]

^^^  I fully expect and am happy to pay to upgrade to 2.x...  A company like Serif cannot stay in business if they don't charge for major upgrades.

[Mike Rossides]

Any news on an affiliate program?

If one does not exist, do you have a reseller program of any kind?

[jamesgangcreative]

I just signed up having used the trial for the PHOTO and got PUBLISHER as well. I've been using PS CS4 and finally got to the point that it wasn't going to upgrade on my Mac. And, since I'm in my 60s - not 17 - and have no idea how much longer I will be on this planet, I came looking for what I assumed would be a very robust affiliate marketing program (I spent my career in advertising and p.r.). 

To be able to market myself as someone using the software I think would give me added credibility and offer my own "value-add." I will put links up to the software and promote the icons, but yes, it would be nice to get a few extra pennies in the process. 

The people who are going on about the "immorality" of affiliate marketing must not ever watch YouTube videos. It is now getting impossible to get actual fair reviews where the person is not getting some sort of remuneration for opening a box and talking about it for fifteen minutes. 

 

 

[Catshill]

Reviews from “paid” reviewers lose independence and impartiality. 
I am happy to champion products and services I like without remuneration. I benefit from others who do the same.

 

[Cyan Cooper]

Our company helps YouTube channels grow, and we've created our own YouTube presence that teaches people how to do it themselves. One of the #1 things people ask about is creating thumbnails, and we've been using Affinity to create thumbnails for years.

We want to recommend Affinity Photo in our thumbnail tutorials, and provide affiliate links for the software. Is there still no affiliate program?

[Catshill]

10 hours ago, Cyan Cooper said:

Our company helps YouTube channels grow, and we've created our own YouTube presence that teaches people how to do it themselves. One of the #1 things people ask about is creating thumbnails, and we've been using Affinity to create thumbnails for years.

We want to recommend Affinity Photo in our thumbnail tutorials, and provide affiliate links for the software. Is there still no affiliate program?

There is nothing stopping you recommending good products to your customers and it is a great way to keep them engaged with you. That is what my business does. You will also not be clouding the waters by being upfront and your recommendations will have more validity. Result = happier customers.

[Cyan Cooper]

On 3/13/2021 at 11:16 PM, Catshill said:

There is nothing stopping you recommending good products to your customers and it is a great way to keep them engaged with you. That is what my business does. You will also not be clouding the waters by being upfront and your recommendations will have more validity. Result = happier customers.

How is this in any way an answer to my question?

[Patrick Connor]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:22 PM, Cyan Cooper said:

Is there still no affiliate program?

There is no affiliate program, sorry

[Catshill]

On 3/20/2021 at 5:35 PM, Cyan Cooper said:

How is this in any way an answer to my question?

You wish to generate income by recommending a product? 
The approach suggested will give you an opportunity to do that. It is just the source of funding are your customers not the manufacturer of the product. 
 

[vwatson]

On 3/20/2021 at 1:35 PM, Cyan Cooper said:

How is this in any way an answer to my question?

You might as well give up. It's a sin around here to inquire about affiliate programs. 😆

[pixelstuff]

7 hours ago, vwatson said:

You might as well give up. It's a sin around here to inquire about affiliate programs. 😆

I don't think it would be a sin to simply inquire about an affiliate program, but the context around it may rub some the wrong way.

• I regularly recommend Affinity products and wondered if there was an affiliate program.

Vs.

• I want to recommend Affinity products if there was an affiliate program.

 

One of those sounds almost like you don't really care about the product at all, but would pretend to if you could be paid.

[vwatson]

I used the word "sin" in jest. 

If one were to seriously promote Affinity products, it would take an investment of time and possibly money. I see nothing wrong with affiliate programs. They're simply another advertising channel. If Serif chooses not to offer one, that's fine. But I don't feel our motives should be judged when we request one, as has been done by some in this topic.

There's a big difference between casually recommending Affinity products vs putting effort into a marketing campaign to actively promote the software. I don't recommend products as an affiliate unless I believe in them, so that isn't an issue for me.

[Copper Star Media]

So I have a suggestion for everyone that wants an affiliate program.

Create something in an Affinity product that leads people to a paid product.

Example...

Create a video on how to make a super simple business card in Photo. You show the whole process but at the end of the video you show a business card that has way more detail and put a link to a mini-course where people can pay you to take the time to go through every detail of creating that biz card. You'd make a hella lot more money AND be able to grow a mailing list to promote more short training courses for people who wanted them. 

Because the software is SO cheap (it really is and you know it!), people who are new will buy the software. Now you have a captured audience! Thank about that for a minute. You helped them buy into your training, and now you can sell different training courses for whatever amount you choose. All you have to do is ask them what they want you to teach them and you'll have more content than you can keep up with.

Sure, I'd love an affiliate program. But to me this is a no brainer. I know I can make money by sharing something that I love (I have all three Affinity products) and I'll continue to share regardless because they are that good. Plus with YouTube you can earn ad money, so there's that. 

There's always ways to monetize if you think beyond an affiliate program. 

Here...I'll give someone this idea. 

I have yet to really teach myself how to use Designer because I'm super busy. I use Deposit Photos and download a lot of vectors that I want to use because it's faster for me. However, sometimes when I download those I'll get several on one page and I can't figure out how to just select and separate the one I want from the whole pack. I hope that makes sense. 

Anyway...do a video teaching how to download vector image packs and separate them into individual images. But then TEACH people how to make the vectors themselves in a mini-course that you charge minimally for just to get them on your mailing list. Heck, you could even do videos on how to create something simple and then do an expanded course.

Sorry for such a long post.

 

[MarcosDesign]

Well.. A person with a certain, considerable amount of followers can either say: "Lets face it guys - no program on the market can compete with Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign.." and get money for it and also, depending on the popularity and the reach, the programs themselves.

Or say, hey try Affinity, their products are as good as Adobe products and they cost not much - and dont get anything.

If I get Adobe for free by recommending it, I will use it instead of Affinity - even tough I started using Affinity because the products can do so much for little money.

 

Affiliate programs are not evil.

Some people just live from creating tutorials, learning materials, recommendations for people who need answers to their questions.

They do what they love in life - and its only fair that they can somehow make their living out of the YouTube videos and online courses they make.

 

Affiliate is no MLM, or other "scheme". Who the hell would say such a thing? Only those who dont know what it means.

I am sad to hear the general tone from what seem to be employees of Serif.

[jmwellborn]

Welcome to the forums @MarcosDesign.   The only Serif employee posting in this topic is Patrick Connor.   And as you may note, he has already posted that Serif does not have an affiliate program.  

[Alfred]

21 hours ago, Copper Star Media said:

I have yet to really teach myself how to use Designer because I'm super busy. I use Deposit Photos and download a lot of vectors that I want to use because it's faster for me. However, sometimes when I download those I'll get several on one page and I can't figure out how to just select and separate the one I want from the whole pack. I hope that makes sense.

Depending on how the objects are arranged in the file, you may be able to use the ‘Separate Curves’ command on the ‘Layer > Geometry’ submenu.

[Inspired Earth]

As the owner of a Mac related blog (which includes software reviews and recommendations), I am putting in a vote for Serif setting up an affiliate program. I'll write up an article on Publisher etc., even without affiliate links. But in my prioritisation of articles, those that I can monetise typically get written first. I expect that's going to be the case for many others who each an income from affiliate programs.

The overheads on running affiliate programs are likely fairly minimal these days. It can be almost entirely (if not 100%) automated, after the initial investment of time setting it up. I run one myself, for my own products, and it's mostly automated.

In response to those who seem to have a disdain for or negative opinion about affiliate programs ... I see little value from questioning peoples' ethics and motivations for being affiliate marketers. It's simply another way of marketing, like advertising, writing articles on your company site, creating helpful (and product related) videos on a YouTube channel, etc.. Which are all methods businesses in the 21st century utilise to drive sales and market penetration.

As an example ... Amazon (which from year to year ranks between being the largest to second largest retailer on the planet), generates around 40% of their sales through affiliates funnelling people their way. https://www.prweb.com/releases/dekh/news/prweb10816600.htm

[Catshill]

5 hours ago, Inspired Earth said:

As the owner of a Mac related blog (which includes software reviews and recommendations), I am putting in a vote for Serif setting up an affiliate program

Serif have already stated a number of times and in this thread that this is not part of their business plan. 

[Inspired Earth]

23 hours ago, Catshill said:

Serif have already stated a number of times and in this thread that this is not part of their business plan. 

And what is your point Catshill? That Serif have no interest in customer / market feedback?

[Catshill]

23 hours ago, Inspired Earth said:

And what is you Catshill? That Serif have no interest in customer / market feedback?

My interpretation is that the company have made an assessment that the current pricing model along with independent referrals from mostly happy customers works for them and the majority of users. 

[Inspired Earth]

2 minutes ago, Catshill said:

My interpretation is that the company have made an assessment that the current pricing model along with independent referrals from mostly happy customers works for them and the majority of users. 

Thanks for your assessment. I'd made a similar assessment.

And, like many other people, I am putting in an informal "vote" that I'd like to see an affiliate system implemented. It's otherwise known as customer / public feedback.

[KC Honie]

As an aside, I WILL ABSOLUTELY NOT PURCHASE A PRODUCT THROUGH AN AFFILIATE, I see it as nothing more than someone hawking a product for the money, they could care less about the capabilities of the product.  I will completely discount a review by an affiliate.

I applaud Serif for refusing to lower themselves to an affiliate program.

[Patrick Connor]

30 minutes ago, KC Honie said:

I applaud Serif for refusing to lower themselves to an affiliate program

I don't think anyone ever said that! There's nothing intrinsically wrong with them. To others in this thread please don't respond to posts of this type.

Serif don't have an affiliate program, we just don't need one at the moment.

[KC Honie]

2 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:

I don't think anyone ever said that! There's nothing intrinsically wrong with them. To others in this thread please don't respond to posts of this type.

Serif don't have an affiliate program, we just don't need one at the moment.

I said that!!!

An affiliate program is nothing more than a huckster program.

Of course all my opinions, YMMV...

[jamesgangcreative]

This horse has left the barn. Time to move on.