A Better Lemonade Stand #314

💛 Sponsor

📧 Get Bigger Sales from Email & SMS

Omnisend handled the boring part of analyzing millions of emails for you, so now you get to geek out over some data, like:

• What’s the ideal subject line length? 

• Which magic words will make people actually open your email? (Spoiler: It's not "FREE PIZZA.")

• How many CTAs before you’re just yelling at people? (Asking for a friend.)

• How long should your email be before it feels like a novel? (Less Dickens, more tweets.)

• How big should the discount be to make someone actually care? (Because 5% ain’t cutting it, Karen.)

We’ve got all those answers wrapped up in one infographic. Check it out, then get back to more exciting things than reading millions of emails

📈 Trends

💼 How Affiliate Partnerships Are Supercharging SaaS Growth

The SaaS industry is having a “creator moment.” Instead of one-off promotions, brands are forming ongoing partnerships with creators who genuinely understand the product and its audience.

Affiliate marketing can be an incredibly powerful growth channel for SaaS.

Unlike traditional sales and marketing, affiliate marketing is performance-based, meaning companies pay only for actual results, making it an attractive model for budget-conscious growth. But the key to success isn’t just launching an affiliate program; it’s about aligning your product with the right partners who share your values and truly understand your audience.

John Hue, founder of Stan (A Shopify-like platform for creators), recently shared his experience with various growth channels and found that affiliates provided the most at-scale leverage. While they experimented with paid ads, cold outreach, partnerships, organic content, and affiliate programs, it was affiliates that stood out. According to him, each channel has pros and cons: paid ads are quick but reliant on high costs, cold outreach is personalized but hard to scale, and organic content builds brand ownership but can plateau. Affiliates, however, offered an unmatched opportunity for sustainable, scalable growth, despite the challenge of onboarding and incentivizing them effectively.

From the content creator’s perspective, I’ve experienced the power of affiliate marketing firsthand. When previously scaling A Better Lemonade Stand’s blog to 250k monthly readers, I participated in dozens of affiliate programs, and I received hundreds of affiliate program pitches. However, in time, I discovered it wasn’t about sheer volume—it was about finding those few high-potential partnerships that truly aligned with my audience. That 80/20 focus made all the difference, driving $2.9M+ in direct sales for Printful by referring thousands of online stores to them and delivering 100,000+ qualified leads for Shopify, leading to thousands of trials and 750+ new customers.

The takeaway? When you find that fit, double down like hell. Cultivating those relationships and nurturing the right partnerships transforms affiliates from just another channel into a sustainable growth engine.

It’s all about setting affiliates up for success by supporting them with resources and tracking tools that foster long-term relationships and loyalty.

🚀 Here’s Why Affiliate-Driven SaaS Growth Is Taking Off:

1. 🚒 Affiliates as a Scalable Growth Engine: Why build a massive sales team when you can leverage creators with a following?

By incentivizing performance, SaaS companies reduce costs and maximize results.

One standout example is Zenefits. It leveraged partnership automation through Impact, finding, recruiting, and managing affiliates to power its HR and payroll software.

Zenefits saw a 96% increase in leads and a 3x return on ad spend, outpacing its paid search performance.

By offering commissions to influencers, SaaS brands are turning them into ambassadors who fuel sustainable growth without needing an ad agency.

2. 📚 Trust-Building Through In-Depth Content: When did you last sign up for a SaaS without researching it?

Affiliates understand the importance of trust. Through in-depth content like reviews, tutorials, and case studies, they help SaaS brands showcase product value, address common objections, and drive conversions.

Tip: To keep affiliate content authentic and aligned with your brand, experts recommend setting up a five-email drip campaign for new affiliates. This approach engages affiliates, reinforces product knowledge, and nurtures long-term loyalty.

3. 📲 Multi-Channel Reach: Affiliates aren’t just on TikTok or Instagram anymore.

Today’s affiliates operate on LinkedIn, blogs, TikTok, newsletters, and more, giving SaaS brands access to audiences across multiple channels.

The goal? Diversifying where these SaaS products appear so they reach audiences where they hang out, whether that’s a newsletter inbox or a Slack group.

Multi-channel presence is precious in SaaS, where prospective users often need to see a product several times in different formats to consider adoption.

4. 💰 Lucrative Recurring Commissions: High-paying, recurring commission models attract affiliates who want to sustain long-term earnings, and SaaS brands are noticing.

Canva has led the charge here, expanding its partnership network to 9,000 partners, including YouTubers, bloggers, and even podcasters.

By customizing contracts to meet partner needs and teaming up with brands like HubSpot, Canva’s affiliate program has doubled its partnership-driven revenue month over month since 2019.

⚠️ Here’s Why a Misaligned Affiliate Strategy Can Backfire:

Affiliate programs are not always a surefire win for every SaaS.

For some early-stage SaaS startups, jumping into affiliate marketing can cause many setbacks.

1. Expectations vs. Reality: High-caliber affiliates often expect brands to be established and very profitable. Building a high-converting site and clearly defined ICP for early-stage SaaS can help attract the right affiliates.

2. Premature Investment in Affiliate Management: Affiliate programs need dedicated resources and dedicated management, and hiring managers can be costly without a solid customer base. It’s often better to hold off until product-market fit is achieved.

3. Short-Term Revenue Pressures: Startups needing quick cash boosts may find that affiliates need time to build trust and motivation, making this a slower strategy for revenue generation than you might have thought.

4. Revenue Share Headaches: Recurring commissions can strain resources if affiliates only drive limited signups. Ensuring ROI before scaling is crucial.

⚡How You Can Build a Successful Affiliate-Driven Model

Affiliate programs can be a powerful growth tool, but only when built on a foundation of creator interest and a long-term engagement strategy.

1. Build an Irresistible Program: Make it easy for affiliates to join, offering high-value commissions, user-friendly resources, and tracking.

2. Prioritize Long-Term Partnerships: Find affiliates via platforms like Partnerstack who aren’t just interested in a one-off sale but are in it for the long haul.

3. Mine Creator Databases: Look for creators who share your brand’s values and can hit the ground running with an established audience.

4. Optimize for Multi-Channel Exposure: Encourage these affiliates to diversify their content on LinkedIn, newsletters, and blog posts to get the word out across different channels.

5. Supply Trust-Building Resources: Equip affiliates with guides and stories that help them create authentic, relatable content that brings in loyal users.

💡 Insights

🦄 How John Rush Scaled Unicorn Platform by 10x

Since acquiring Unicorn Platform in 2022, John has grown his user base from 25,000 to 250,000. The journey wasn’t smooth, as most of his early marketing efforts fell flat.

Here’s What Worked:

• SEO: Delaying SEO was a big regret. Now, a mix of AI content with human oversight is driving growth.

• Social Media DIY: After a competitor took a hired marketer, John built his own following, reaching 100K.

• Targeted Podcasts: Despite a crowded space, this was costly but effective for brand trust.

• Conferences: Draining but worthwhile early on, although not scalable.

👉 Get All 20 of John’s Growth Strategies

⚡Eric Simons’ Vision for Code-Free App Building

Bolt CEO Eric Simons showed how quickly and easily building web apps with a simple prompt can be. Like Cursor.ai, Bolt allows you to turn ideas into functional apps with AI.

Examples of Bolt Creations:

• Instant Directory: Simons created a live directory app that was fully functional with only a single line prompt.

• Creating a Mini-Game: Matt shared how Bolt created a Tetris game with impressive results on projects like simple games and fully styled app interfaces.

According to Eric, Bolt is optimized for ease of use and speed for non-technical creators, whereas Cursor provides more power and flexibility for developers.

🔗 Try Bolt Yourself

🤳 Why We Watch YouTube: The Keys to Quality in 2024

The latest Why We Watch report reveals a deep dive into the evolving digital video landscape and what keeps viewers hooked. These findings give a blend of technical excellence and emotional resonance as essential markers of quality content:

What Keeps Us Watching:

• Emotional Connection Rules: While clear visuals and audio are foundational, emotional engagement is what truly resonates. Content that captures attention, offers relatable storytelling and fosters a personal connection ranked highest across age groups.

• Trust is the New Must-Have: Among weekly video users, 82% expect high-quality content to be trustworthy, with YouTube ranking #2 for reliability behind streaming platforms. For younger audiences, YouTube is considered the most trusted source of video content.

• Community Over Consumption: The "appointment viewing" model is out, as viewers look to platforms like YouTube for community. Content choices on platforms like YouTube create a shared culture, with 55% of users reporting a sense of belonging tied to their viewing habits.

🔗 Inside 2024’s Streaming Success

💸 Influencer Rates Unpacked: What’s the Real Cost of Reach?

Passionfroot’s latest data gives us a snapshot of influencer rates across platforms, and the numbers show that while follower count influences pricing, engagement quality, and niche relevance may give better results. (especially in B2B)

Here's a Quick Breakdown:

• YouTube and TikTok: High-tier influencers can generate over $20k, while micro-influencers go for $500 to $1.5k.

• LinkedIn: Highest B2B rates, with top creators earning up to $2.5k even with smaller audiences.

• Newsletters: CPMs of $10-$30 make newsletters a cost-effective choice, focusing on impressions rather than follower count.

🔗 See Influencer Pricing Across Platforms Here

🧰 Apps & Tools

🔍 Scrapin: LinkedIn scraper API for real-time data extraction of profiles and company information.

🤖 Convergence: AI personal assistant that learns and adapts to your workflows using Large Meta Learning Models.

👁️ ViewOn: This AI platform offers personalized video reviews for your website.

🎙️ Revoldiv: Great for scraping transcripts from any podcast / mp4s for free.

📨 Newsletter Landing Pages: A library of 300+ newsletter landing page examples with their conversion rate data.

🤖 Product Updates

🚀 Airtable’s New Portals: Connect with Clients and Partners

Airtable's new Portals feature (currently in beta) makes it easy to collaborate with external clients, vendors, and partners, bridging the gap between Airtable and tools like Softr.

• Custom Guest Access: Give external collaborators a branded sign-in page with permissions tailored to their role to create a secure way for them to engage with your data.

• Granular Permissions: Control who sees what with intuitive access settings, letting you manage guest interactions without compromising security.

Airtable also plans to add white-label options, letting you fully customize the portal with your company’s branding for a seamless experience.

🔗 Get Early Access to Airtable Portals

💬 ChatGPT Drops the 'GPT'

OpenAI’s $15.5M buy of Chat.com signals a move to make AI chat mainstream.

Previously owned by HubSpot CTO Dharmesh Shah, the domain now redirects to ChatGPT, dropping “GPT” for the more approachable “Chat.”

Analysts see this move as making “Chat” a household name and making it an everyday tool, much like Google’s dominance in search.

🔗 Read More Here

🖇️ Everything Else

🪙 Big Brands Betting On Newsletters: HubSpot acquiring Mindstream shows why newsletters are taking over B2B marketing, as they convert better, build trust, and reach niche audiences. (👉 How Newsletters Transform B2B Growth)

📝 Big Brands on Reddit: Fortune is using r/economy and r/politics to share article summaries directly in high-traffic subreddits for brand visibility over clicks, keeping Fortune at the top of mind. (👉 See How Reddit Fits Their Brand’s Strategy)

📈 AI Boosting Productivity: 86% of marketers claim that using AI saves them over an hour daily on tasks like brainstorming and data analysis. (👉 Get the Full AI Marketing Trend Report)

🎙 Real-Time Learning Goes Next-Level: Voice AI's upcoming screen access promises to make learning seamless and immediate, letting users gain new skills on the spot. (👉 How Voice AI Could Change Your Workflow)