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Let’s talk about affiliate marketing in 2025. Because while the basics are still the same – recommend products you love, earn commission when people buy – the how is definitely evolving.
The online space is more crowded.
Ads are more expensive.
AI is changing how people find and read content.
But here’s the good news: affiliate marketing still works. Really well. Especially when you get creative, focus on connection, and lean into playful, strategic ways to stand out.
Below, I’m breaking down exactly what’s working for affiliate marketing in 2025 (and what’s not), so you can future-proof your strategy and have more fun doing it.
What’s not working anymore
Running ads directly to affiliate offers (for most people)
Look, I’m not saying no one should run ads direct to affiliate offers. But in 2025, the cost of ads has gone up so much that it’s really hard to make them profitable for affiliate marketing – especially if you’re just getting started or working with a small budget.
For 99% of people, affiliate marketing ads just aren’t the best use of time or money right now. You’re better off focusing on organic content and connection-driven strategies that build long-term trust.
A much better use of your ad budget is getting people onto your email list (using promoted pins or Facebook lead ads.)
Whilst yes, ads are a little more costly in 2025, when you know that the money is being spent to grow your email list, you know it’s being spent well.
Once someones on your email list (and has been nurtured through your warm up sequence) you have endless opportunities to reach them with affiliate offers or your own offers.
Usually paying to grow your email list pays off in the long run. But direct affiliate ads are a lot less reliable.
Thin content or completely AI generated content
If your content isn’t in any more depth than the AI generated snippet on Google, people are going to navigate away pretty quickly.
In a world where AI is slowly taking over, people are craving authenticity, connection, real results, experiences and opinions.
So you can’t get away with a 500 word blog post and expect to see the same results you got a few years ago. Equally, articles written purely via AI with no personal input probably won’t get ranked well and won’t be appealing for people to read.
(You can use AI to speed up your workflows, it certainly has its place. I use it and I love AI tools like this one, but you shouldn’t let AI completely write your article from start to finish without giving it context, personal insights, reflections, human stories & experiences etc.)
Make sure your content is in-depth, personal and genuinely helpful. Let’s do better than AI can do.
What is working in affiliate marketing in 2025?
1. Playful, creative campaigns
The biggest shift I’ve seen? People are tired of generic promotions. The market’s crowded – so the best way to stand out is to get playful.
Here are a few ideas that are working really well for me right now:
Bonus flash sales – Offer exclusive, limited-time bonuses when people buy through your link. Bigger, different, or themed bonuses work great here. You could even create a whole event around offering fun bonuses for different products! I do an annual ‘Bonus Bonanza’ which has become a really fun event my audience look forward to!
Bingo cards – Turn your campaign into a game. Ask your audience to complete tasks (like reading a blog post or watching a video) for a chance to win. Every time they interact with your content, the algorithm gets a boost and more people are seeing your affiliate focussed content!
Party bag strategy – Give away bundles of surprise goodies to anyone who buys via your link during a busy promotional period such as Black Friday.
Quizzes – Help people find the right offer with a quiz that links to your affiliate product. This gives people a really personalised and fun experience.
Email challenges – Run a 3 or 5-day challenge that leads people toward a product you recommend. Low pressure, high value. It’s a win-win for everyone.
These strategies aren’t just more fun – they also drive more engagement and conversions.
2. Email marketing (still the best ROI)
Email is still the most reliable and sustainable channel for affiliate marketing. It’s not affected by algorithms or changing social trends. It’s direct, personal, and yours.
What’s working now:
Affiliate newsletters – Share regular roundups, case studies, tips and tools you love.
Trigger-based email funnels – Set up automations that send the right emails at the right time when someone is showing they are already interested in a product because they clicked on your links in your newsletters.
Flash sale funnels – Promote bonuses or time-sensitive offers with a dedicated 2-3 day email series.
Evergreen funnels – funnels don’t have to be used exclusively for your own products and offers – they can be used just as effectively for affiliate offers! You can create funnels which are focussed on a specific affiliate offer or use them in a longer funnel in between promoting your own offers!
Lean into email. Nurture your audience. The results are so worth it.
Read next: How to monetise an email list.
Want to take email marketing one step further? Check out Email Marketing Superstars.
These strategies above are also included (along with the email templates) inside Affiliate Marketing Superstars.
3. AI and blog traffic
Yes, AI is changing search.
Snippets are doing more work than ever and many online business owners and bloggers especially have noticed decreases in their website traffic as a result. But there are ways to adapt and continue getting plenty of visitors to your website.
To protect your traffic and keep people clicking, focus on content that AI can’t summarise in a few lines:
In-depth reviews – Share your personal experience. People want opinions, not just summaries.
How-to guides – Go deeper than surface-level tutorials. Show context and real-life application.
Comparison posts – These still work but more so when used as part of a wider content cluster now. They support your other content and boost your reviews up the SERPs.
Case studies – People want more human responses and so share your personal stories, experiences and transformations.
Inside my course Affiliate Marketing Superstars, I teach the cluster strategy – where you build out multiple pieces of content that all support your main review post. This gives Google more context, builds your authority, and drives more traffic to the content that actually converts.
I also use an AI tool called Frase that helps me optimise every blog post to outperform what’s already ranking. It gives you a content score and tells you exactly what to improve as you type. Total game-changer.
Finally, it may be a little harder to get people to your website in 2025 which is why it’s SO important to turn new visitors into email subscribers! Make sure every blog post has an irresistible lead magnet and that it is displayed prominently on each article.
I love exit intent pop ups for really capturing peoples attention – and I see crazy high conversion rates for these using the tool Convertbox.
4. Optimising for voice search
Voice search is gaining traction – and it’s worth paying attention to in 2025.
To make your content voice-search-friendly:
Answer questions clearly and conversationally
Use natural, spoken-style language (think: how you’d explain it to a friend)
Include FAQs with short, clear answers
Example:
“To get started with Kit, sign up for a free trial, then use their visual automation builder to create your first email sequence. If you’re promoting affiliate offers, start with a simple 3-part funnel. Here’s how…”
Simple, clear, and great for both humans and search engines.
5. Social media funnels using ManyChat
Social media still plays a role – but not just in the way we used to use it. Instead of posting and hoping people will make their way to our ‘link in bio,’ use tools like ManyChat to create DM funnels that actually convert – without your audience navigating away from their feed.
Many Chat uses trigger words to automate sending DM’s. So for example if you mention your affiliate bonuses in a post you can ask people to comment ‘bonuses’ and you’ll send them the details.
For example:
Run a lead magnet campaign where someone comments or DMs a word (like “guide”), and your bot sends them the link. You can follow up with emails that promote your affiliate offer.
Set up a sequence that delivers a freebie, builds rapport, and shares your affiliate link naturally
Send them details of your affiliate bonus and how to claim.
It’s personal, scalable, and highly effective.
Plus it helps you to partially automate your social media efforts.
6. Flash sales still work (because people love bonuses)
Some strategies just don’t go out of style. Flash sales are one of them.
Make sure you’re on newsletters for your affiliate programs and keep in touch with program managers so that you hear about upcoming flash sales and can send a newsletter promoting it or include a pop up on related blog posts!
I also love running bonus flash sales – where I offer bigger-than-usual bonuses, or something unexpected. Sometimes I make it a whole bonus event with a mini countdown and surprise reveals.
It works because it’s exciting. And it gives people a reason to take action now.
Favourite tools for affiliate marketing in 2025
Here’s what’s in my current affiliate marketing toolkit:
ConvertBox – Amazing for building pop-ups, opt-ins and countdowns that drive affiliate clicks
ManyChat – For building DM-based funnels on Instagram, Facebook or even WhatsApp
Frase – Helps you write content that outranks competitors by optimising your structure, keywords and FAQs
Thirsty Affiliates – a tool I’ve used for over 5 years to organise and streamline my affiliate marketing strategy.
Amalinks Pro – Amazon no longer gives you access to image links so the best ways to share Amazon images is via Amalinks Pro.
Softr – I used this for Black Friday week to create a round up page showing all current deals. Because it updates from a Airtable database, I was able to set it so that it only showed deals that were active and removed them once the deal ended! It saved me a LOT of time.
Final thoughts on affiliate marketing in 2025
Affiliate marketing in 2025 is still one of the best business models out there – if you approach it strategically. It’s not enough to just add random links to content you’ve already created and hope for the best.
Forget ads (except for list growth.) Get creative. Build trust. Try playful campaigns. Create amazing content. Focus on purchase intent. Nurture your email list. Think long-term.
Because when you combine strategy and fun, that’s when affiliate marketing becomes something sustainable and joyful.
Want help with all of this? Come check out Affiliate Marketing Superstars – where I teach the exact systems, funnels and creative strategies that work right now.
