Promoting someone else's products or services. The main goal is to make a sale or subscription.
Earns from commissions every time consumers buy through their affiliate links.
Specializes in content creation and audience building.
Promoting your own or someone else's business for increased brand awareness and positive reputation.
Earns on a retainer, project-based, or with commissions.
Covers content creation, SEO, social media, paid ads, and lead generation.
The fundamental difference between affiliate marketing and digital marketing is that affiliate marketing is a type of digital marketing. An affiliate marketer earns specifically from promoting products or services for a brand. They use digital channels like blogs, social media and videos. Digital marketing is a bigger umbrella, including specific skills marketers can offer. SEO, social media marketing and management, content creation, PPC advertising, and email marketing are some of them. Digital marketers earn depending on the skills and specialization they offer.
According to a G2 industry report, digital marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing. On top of that, it also generates 3x more leads. No wonder there is an increasing demand for digital marketing. According to Wordstream, it’s increasing 9% per year. Meanwhile, affiliate marketing is the 2nd biggest source of e-commerce orders. Forrester reported it’s 2nd to organic search. But, 6 out of 10 affiliates make less than $10k per year. As per Bix Grow, top-earning affiliate marketers have been in the industry for 5 years. Affiliate marketing takes a lot of hard work and time.
Martin Osborn or Finch Sells is the founder of Finch Media Ltd. He started affiliate marketing in 2009 and shifted to building digital assets in 2021. Martin said affiliates are “expendable traffic experts.” Affiliates don’t have their own audience or product and drive sales to somebody else’s business.
In my decades of earning online, I’ve tried and succeeded in different online businesses. I’ve created a 6-figure affiliate marketing business. But, like Martin Osborn, I ultimately learned ranking digital assets is a more sustainable income source. This article covers the 9 differences between affiliate marketing and digital marketing. I’ll also go over their similarities, the pros, cons and 3 tips for beginners.
Affiliate Marketing vs Digital Marketing: Comparison Table Overview
| | |
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| Any advertising-related activity using digital channels to reach an audience. Digital marketing’s purpose is to build brand awareness or for product promotion. | Form of digital marketing where third-party marketers promote branded products for a commission. |
| You can market your own product or take on clients to handle all or part of the marketing activities for their business. | No direct ownership of the product. You promote products on behalf of another brand to earn a commission. |
| Very broad, comprising many strategies and marketing channels like content marketing and local lead gen. | Specific form of marketing that involves coordination between merchants and affiliates. |
| Encompasses various skills. Digital marketers usually specialize in one or a few skills and offer a service to clients. | Can benefit from knowing a broad range of digital marketing-related skills, but content creation and relationship building are especially important. |
| Comprehensive activity with many moving parts that seek to meet various objectives. It includes data analysis, website development and email marketing. | Three main components include the affiliate marketers, the brand with the product, and the end customer. |
| A digital marketing business can scale by offering more services to a business. | Affiliate marketing can scale by producing more content and promoting more products. |
| Data vulnerability. When cybercriminals steal data, it causes damage in reputation and financial loss. | Affiliate fraud. Deceptive activity like domain spoofing and traffic diverting. Affiliate fraud affects the merchants, affiliate programs and affiliate marketers. |
9 Differences Between Affiliate Marketing and Digital Marketing
- Who does the work. Third-party marketers handle affiliate marketing. They decide and create the content and strategy to attract consumers. In digital marketing, digital marketers propose strategies for brands based on their needs. It could be specific to branding, brand awareness, traffic, or sales. The brands or product owners have the final say on the strategies to be implemented.
- Elements involved. The only three elements involved in affiliate marketing are the brand, the affiliate, and the customer. Digital marketing encompasses a comprehensive range of elements. It includes market research, strategy formulation, content creation, and analytics. Digital marketers usually use tools like Google Analytics, SurveyMonkey and Adobe Creative Suite.
- Skills required. Affiliate marketing success demands mastery in specific digital marketing skills. These are content marketing, SEO and social media marketing. Affiliates usually use tools like WordPress, Ahrefs and Hootsuite. Meanwhile, digital marketing requires wide array of marketing abilities and digital skills. As a result, digital marketers specialize in few of these skills like SEO or social media.
- Purpose. The purpose of affiliate marketing is to promote products to receive a commission. Digital marketing's purpose is varied. It can be increasing brand awareness, building positive reputation, or nurturing customer loyalty.
- Product needed. Affiliate marketers don’t need to develop a product or service to sell. A digital marketer either has their own product or works for a company that already has one.
- Scope. Affiliate marketing is a branch of digital marketing. Meanwhile, digital marketing represents a vast field encompassing various strategies. It may include inbound marketing, performance marketing, and omnichannel marketing.
- Tasks involved. Affiliate marketing involves choosing a niche, finding an affiliate product within that niche, and promoting it. Affiliates promote through whichever marketing channel provides the best opportunity, usually by blog. Digital marketing involves differing tasks, depending on the digital marketer's role and specialty.
- Audience dependency. Affiliate marketing relies heavily on building a targeted audience. Affiliates use SEO optimization, influencer partnerships, and ad retargeting via Google Display Network. Digital marketers have more flexibility. They earn revenue through direct client services, content creation, or lead generation.
- How the marketer is referred to. Affiliate marketers are called affiliates, reflecting their role in promoting products for commissions. Digital marketers go by titles based on their specialty. A copywriter, SEO consultant, social media manager, or content strategist are all digital marketers.
How Is Affiliate Marketing Similar to Digital Marketing?
- Crucial role of content creation. Content creation is critical to digital marketing and affiliate marketing. Digital marketing involves creating content for a website, ad campaigns, or social media. Affiliate marketers create content, typically reviewing or promoting specific products or services. According to Lisa Murton Beets of Content Marketing Institute, 94% of B2B marketers use short articles and 84% use videos. Also, 9 in 10 B2B marketers use social media platforms to distribute content.
- Targeting and outreach. Like digital marketers, affiliate marketers also use targeted approaches to attract potential customers. Affiliate marketers also use SEO strategies, niche content marketing, or PPC campaigns.
- Use of performance metrics and analytics. Click-through rates, conversion rates and ROI measure digital and affiliate marketing success. Both rely on analytics tools to track performance and optimize strategies.
Affiliate marketing is similar to digital marketing in terms of using online channels for product or service promotion. An affiliate marketer is also a digital marketer because they promote a brand using digital channels or platforms. Affiliates also leverage social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or YouTube. Hence, a digital marketer can do affiliate marketing and earn commissions as well. In fact, Forbes reported 83% of marketers use affiliate marketing for brand awareness.
What is Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy where a brand outsources to third-party marketers. These marketers are called affiliates. They promote the brand’s offer for a commission. Affiliate marketing is a big segment of digital marketing. According to TrueList, over 80% of brands use an affiliate marketing program. An affiliate marketer uses an affiliate link, which is a custom website link. Affiliate links tracks and credits marketing-related activities like sales for the affiliate marketer. There are 3 types of affiliate marketing which are:
- Involved affiliate marketing - When the marketer promotes a product they actually use or have used before.
- Related affiliate marketing - Promoting a product or service within the niche or category the affiliate has expertise in.
- Unattached affiliate marketing - Affiliate has no connection to product or service being promoted.
Affiliates can work directly with merchants, or join affiliate networks. Affiliate networks are platforms connecting affiliates and merchants. The most popular affiliate networks are:
- Amazon Associates - Amazon Associates is the largest affiliate network. Affiliates can find a wide range of products and services to promote here. Amazon Associates has a 24-hour cookie window and 30-day refund policy. Affiliates in Amazon Associate can get 1% to 10% commission rates depending on the category.
- ShareASale - ShareASale is an affiliate network founded in 2000. It has a 90-day cancellation policy with a $35 cancellation fee. ShareASale’s commission rates depend on the merchants, but are usually between 5% to 20%.
- CJ Affiliate - Formerly Commission Junction, it is the oldest affiliate marketing network. CJ Affiliate offers a 30-day cookie window. CJ requires customers to send dispute claims for refund. Affiliates can get commission rates between 5% to 50% depending on the merchants.
- Awin - Awin is the parent company of ShareASale and targets Europe and global markets. Awin has a 30-day cookie window length. It offers a 30-day refund with commission rates around 5%. Commission rates depend on merchants, but there is an option to customize.
- ClickBank - ClickBank focuses on digital products with a 60-day cookie window. Customers have equal 60 days to ask for a refund. Commission rate is around 50% but can get as high as 80%.
- eBay Partner Network - eBay Partner Network used to have a 7-day cookie window, but shifted into 24 hours like Amazon Associates. This affiliate network offers 1% to 4% commission rate depending on product category.
- JVZoo - JVZoo focuses on tech and marketing products. It has a 30-day cookie window and refund policy. But, once the refund was processed, the commission was also canceled. JVZoo commission rates depend on the merchant but range between 50% to 100%.
What is Digital Marketing?
Digital marketing is marketing using the internet or mobile devices to reach potential customers. The growing use of digital platforms for information, entertainment, and commerce drives the continuous expansion of the digital marketing market. The majority of people spend at least 5 hours on their phones daily, per Statista’s data. Market.us also expect a 13.6% growth rate for digital marketing until 2033. The different types of digital marketing are:
- Email marketing - Using email to update an audience about brand happenings and promotional deals. According to Hostinger, the average email click-through rate is 1.89%.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) - A strategy to organically attract an audience to a website using content with keywords that rank well in search engines like Google, YouTube or Bing. BrightEdge Research found successful SEO drives more traffic than social media.
- Pay-per-Click (PPC) - Using paid advertising channels like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to drive traffic. Marketers are charged with every click of potential customers on their advertisements.
- Search engine marketing (SEM) - Driving traffic from search engines with both organic and paid advertising methods. According to Statista, SEM is expected to grow at 8% per year.
- Social media - Leveraging a social media platform like Instagram, Pinterest, or Facebook to build an audience to promote to. Data Reportal revealed 7 of out 10 customers use social media to research brands.
- Content marketing - Creating captivating content like blog posts, infographics, or videos to drive interest to the product or brand and build relationships. As per Content Marketing Institute (CMI), 73% of businesses use content marketing.
- Lead generation - Using digital channels to find potential customers for a specific business niche. Then you sell the leads you generate to an applicable business.
- Network marketing - Building a network of salespeople to generate leads and close sales. You earn from both the sale of products and recruiting salespeople.
- Influencer marketing - Collaborating with online influencers who have established audiences to market brand products. Oberlo’s study found 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations more than brands.
- Affiliate marketing - Performance-based marketing where third-party marketers promote businesses for a commission. They use special website links to track and award performance.
Affiliate Marketing and Digital Marketing: 3 Tips for Beginners
- Know your preferences: Try different digital marketing services to see what you enjoy and excel in. For example, MrBeast might have influenced you into affiliate marketing. According to a LinkedIn study, 38% of MrBeast's net worth is from affiliate marketing. However, you may find you prefer data analysis from running ads than scriptwriting. In that case, digital marketing and niching down to PPC is a better option for you.
- Build your skills: Affiliate marketing and digital marketing require almost similar skills. You'll need to know a bit of everything from SEO to paid ads and content creation to succeed. This will take time, and you can invest in yourself through taking courses or mentorship. Matt Diggity is a known affiliate marketer who created the course, Affiliate Lab. He's also an SEO expert and these SEO skills give him an edge in ranking his affiliate content.
- Improve your expertise: Affiliate marketing and digital marketing can improve expertise by niching down. Affiliate marketing can do this via picking a niche market. Less competition, easier building of a community and increased authority are its benefits. Digital marketing can niche down through offering particular skills. SEO services, email marketing, and lead generation are some examples. This positions digital marketers as experts, so they can charge higher rates.
Is Digital Marketing Better Than Affiliate Marketing in 2025?
Digital marketing is better than affiliate marketing in 2025 since you can increase income with services. With affiliate marketing, increasing your income means creating more content to boost visibility. Another way is to increase your ad spend to find more people who might click your affiliate links. Both ways require more time, effort and investment. Digital marketing can make more money than affiliate marketing through additional service offers. A digital marketing agency offering PPC services can add content creation to charge higher.
Why Local Lead Generation is a Better Digital Marketing Business Model Than Affiliate Marketing
Local lead generation is a better digital marketing business model than affiliate marketing because it gives you more control over your business. Both local lead generation and affiliate marketing involve niche selection and understanding SEO. But their major difference is the ownership of the assets. In local lead generation, you own the digital assets. Affiliate marketers do not own the business they are promoting.
Affiliate marketers earn by promoting their affiliate links using various digital channels. However, if the affiliate partner stops the business, affiliate marketers don't have a choice. Meanwhile, local lead generation is a type of digital marketing that finds potential customers for a niche business. Once you generate the leads by ranking a website, you can sell it to an applicable local business or have it rented. You get to decide who to work with and how much to price your business.
Affiliate marketing is also more competitive and prone to oversaturation because you're competing globally. The business model's low barrier to entry creates more competition every day. In local lead generation, the competition is reduced when you select a city or state to operate. Affiliate marketing and local lead generation both have low start-up costs. But, local lead generation requires less maintenance work. In fact, once your website ranks and you're renting it out, the income becomes passive. So, if you're looking for a digital marketing business with more control, local lead gen is the best choice.
The 1 reason I prefer digital marketing over affiliate marketing is for the backend marketing aspect. I get to sell a product, and get the customer's info to market to them over and over again. Other than that, I'm a huge affiliate marketing fan.