Thanks to the rising cost of living, Gen Zers are on the lookout for great money-saving hacks, while brands are looking for more cost-effective ways to gain new customers. The way to win over these young consumers and secure their spending? Deals, discounts, and affiliate partnerships, of course.
Having an effective affiliate marketing programme will help you to connect with and grow your audience, and it will also help you keep control over marketing spend – something that’s more important than ever before during these times of financial uncertainty. By taking the time to understand how young people are feeling, affiliate marketers can help brands to reach commercial objectives whilst remaining empathetic to audiences’ concerns.
But when it comes to affiliate marketing, how can brands specifically grow their student audience? And how can you prioritise scalable affiliate opportunities in order to maximise cohesive consumer experience? Read on for more…
The cost of living and Gen Z
Ultimately, Gen Z students are struggling to pay for basic necessities right now, meaning they have less disposable cash to spend on non-essentials. In fact, Student Beans’ insights agency Voxburner recently revealed that 80% of this generation are looking to cut down on non-essential spending and 69% are looking for cheaper alternatives.
Affiliate marketing and Gen Z students
So why is affiliate marketing important when it comes to growing your student audience? Well, affiliate marketing is a resilient revenue driver, and it helps advertisers to meet commercial goals across all sectors in an authentic, real way.
This creates real trust amongst consumers – particularly important right now given the rising cost of living and Gen Z’s trepidation when it comes to parting with their pennies. Gen Zers are looking to brands for support, and will only commit to a purchase if they know and trust a brand and its products. And once you’ve gained their trust, they’ll be with you for life!
Affiliate marketing partners can also help you to choose the right products to promote thanks to their understanding of the environment that young people are living in. And that’s the bonus of publishers like Student Beans – we, with the help of our insights agency Voxburner, can help you to know and understand Gen Z on an intimate level.
Top tips on prioritising scalable affiliate marketing opportunities to maximise a cohesive consumer experience
Check out our top tips for working with affiliate marketers as we explore the benefits that partnerships such as this can have…
1. Identify the right publishers for your audience and KPIs
- A publisher can positively impact the entire shopping funnel experience – they can push personalised offers, editorial teams can create content to influence buying decisions, and they can promote exclusive offers to push the last click
- With that in mind, it’s vital that you choose the right publisher to ensure that your audience feels included. For example, if you’re selling baby products, you probably won’t be offering a student discount. Doing so would alienate your audience and suggest that you’re out of touch!
2. Understand key changes in the student buyer journey
- As mentioned, consumers are moving away from impulse purchases thanks to rising inflation, but affiliate marketing can help you overcome this
- As shared by Voxburner, 90% of students would consider shopping with a new brand if they offered a student discount – affiliate links can help you tap into these many young spenders eager to spend!
- Flash discounts or stacking incentives will encourage students to buy non-essentials that they’ve been eyeing up for a while
3. Capitalise on major sales periods
- Students are waiting for seasonal sales before making a purchase (again, you can thank rising inflation for that), but students are spending more during these seasons than they previously have. These seasons include Black Friday, Freshers, Back to School, etc.
- Make sure student discounts can be used in conjunction with other offers – this will encourage even bigger spending!
- Promote offers in prominent locations across your website to drive engagement
4. Work closely with the publisher
- These affiliate marketing experts know their consumer base inside-out, meaning they’ll be able to help you identify the best times for boosting your offer, when to run a certain campaign, or even what your competitors are doing (and how you can do it better!)
- Not every recommendation will increase your affiliate marketing spend. There are lots of ways to improve your CTR without spending money – check out more here.
Working with Student Beans to grow your Gen Z student audience
At Students Beans, we’re renowned for our knowledge of the Gen Z market (thanks to our insights, powered by our insights agency Voxburner!). Gen Z wants brands to align with their cultural values and understand what’s impacting them, and with first-party data gathered by publishers like Student Beans, we can help you get there!
Want to know more? Download our Supercharge Your Affiliate Marketing guide to learn more about how you can drive your affiliate marketing strategy, better connect with young people, and learn more about the key trends impacting the lives of Gen Z right now.
