PR has shifted from a primary source of customer acquisition to a crucial mid-funnel tool for building credibility. Its main value is providing social proof that validates a brand for consumers and supports other channels like paid media and affiliate marketing.

Before accepting an affiliate, require that they have personally used your product and can provide a transformation testimonial. This ensures their promotion is authentic and compelling. Affiliates motivated by genuine belief will always outperform those just seeking a commission.

Instead of only featuring top-tier testimonials, conduct daily interviews with current members at various stages of success. Showcasing people who have just reached 50 or 100 subscribers—not just those who made millions—makes success feel more achievable and allows a wider range of prospects to see themselves in your program.

A 'one-size-fits-all' commission fails to motivate top performers. Advanced affiliate programs use dynamic compensation, tailoring CPA rates by affiliate quality, customer type (new vs. returning), and specific SKUs to create the most compelling incentives.

To stand out and attract top affiliates, brands like Goalie create contests with tiered prizes, culminating in headline-grabbing awards like a Lamborghini. This gamified approach generates more excitement and participation from creators than simply offering a higher commission rate.

Top affiliates receive hundreds of offers daily. If a brand's offer fails to convert traffic on the first attempt, the affiliate will rarely give it a second chance. The onus is on the brand to have a perfectly optimized funnel before engaging with premier affiliates.

The brand runs paid ads on Meta specifically to recruit new affiliates. The ads are profitable on their own from direct product sales to people signing up. This creates a powerful growth loop: they acquire customers profitably while simultaneously building an army of affiliates who then generate even more sales.

A powerful first move for a new brand is leveraging community-driven affiliate platforms. By getting the product into the hands of engaged creators in relevant communities, a brand can build authentic word-of-mouth and generate multi-million dollar revenue before ever investing in traditional CRM or paid media channels.

AI models heavily weigh earned media from credible publications when determining brand authority. With 61% of AI brand mentions coming from editorial sources, PR is no longer just a brand-building exercise but a critical technical lever for GEO, directly influencing discoverability.