I make it a point of pride to only buy through affiliates and small businesses every chance I get. When I buy on amazon I search through the list specifically looking for affiliate marketers so I know that a sole entrepreneur is getting a slice of the Amazon cake. If I can’t find an affiliate seller then I look for the small business symbol next to a seller. Then I take a quick look at the description, to see if it is a family-run business – even better. Below I state my 9 reasons to buy from affiliates and small businesses.
Sole Entrepreneurs and Small businesses are the engines of most economies. By the sweat of their brows, many entrepreneurs invest their energy, resources, and time into creating products and services that solve unique challenges for others or just make things more readily available or bring products to the attention of people who might not otherwise be aware of them.
Compared to large multinational corporations, small businesses are great contributors to society, being more agile; they can often provide faster, more effective solutions. However, they tend to be less endowed with resources due to smaller budgets.
For these reasons, it can be argued that there is a moral imperative to provide as much support to small businesses to help them continue their mission and further strengthen the economy.
I wholeheartedly agree with CANO on the moral imperative of dealing with small business, including upcoming affiliate marketers, instead of large corporations when shopping online. Aside from helping brave entrepreneurs thrive, you’ll see that doing business with them brings you or your organization several benefits.
So, let’s consider why you should choose affiliate marketers or small businesses for your next purchase.
1. It helps small businesses/affiliate marketers stay in business.
When you deal with small businesses/affiliate marketers, you are using a little of your economic power to support entrepreneurs to earn a living on their terms instead of contributing to the overstuffed coffers of companies that turn over multi-millions a year. It is already inevitable to use products or services from multinational companies. However, it would be helpful to let some of your money benefit and lift small businesses.
Buying online through affiliates rather than large companies is one way to ensure that small businesses benefit from your financial power. Spending your money to make sure your money goes to genuine affiliate marketers is critical since some corporations use affiliate portals.
2. It helps Society.
Freedom to do one’s own business and to be one’s boss helps society to a large extent. It ensures that entrepreneurs get enough time to spend with their families and extra income streams to take back control of their time, arguably man’s most precious and finite resource. Why not support this cause and buy through affiliate marketers than from large corporations?
3. It boosts the local economy
Affiliate marketers are themselves entrepreneurs who help other entrepreneurs thrive. By purchasing through affiliate marketers, you support their affiliate business and other small businesses. The exciting thing is that small businesses also source raw materials from other small businesses, creating a chain effect of benefits once you buy through an affiliate. Affiliate marketers make small brands visible, bringing their products to broader, new, audiences. Micro, small, and medium-sized companies account for two-thirds of all job creation worldwide. By supporting small businesses, you are supporting local economies.
4. They often produce ethically
Many small businesses source and manufacture products locally because of limited resources or because they produce in smaller quantities when compared to the amounts produced by large corporations. Moreover, small businesses are run by the owners, who keep an eye on quality and authenticity, not boards or stakeholders focused on profit.
Large enterprises have complex supply chains due to mass production and hence have less control over the process. On the other hand, smaller businesses have more control over their production process and stress more about the source of the product and the people who make it.
Sometimes this might lead to you paying a little more for items produced by smaller businesses but paying a little more for ethical production is worth it and comes with peace of mind.
5. They care about your experience.
Unlike large corporations, which mainly deal with many orders and do not focus on offering unique services to individual clients, affiliate marketers and small businesses can tailor services to their clients. After patronizing their products or services, they get to know you, assess your needs, and offer you the best service possible. As a result, they can serve specialized markets that may not be profitable for large multinationals to pursue.
Going for a smaller business or affiliate marketer will meet your needs if you yearn for products or services that are not common and will make you stand out. Because many small companies cater to their target customers, they can innovate to ensure that you get your best-fit products or services. In addition, they tend to be innately aware of changes in their clients’ tastes. On the other hand, multinationals are less agile and may take more time to generate innovative and unique products and services.
This disadvantage on the side of large multinationals originates from complex bureaucratic systems or investors who want their investments to be safe. These systems limit innovation, which is the advantage of small businesses.
6. They have services that help you innovate
Many affiliate marketers or small businesses master services that large corporations are ineffective at or ignore. By partnering with such small companies, they can offer services that will help you or your organization innovate and disrupt your industry.
7. They have the right expertise
Affiliate marketers often choose a niche market and master it. Thus, by looking at their areas of expertise, you know who the go-to expert for product offerings. Unfortunately, many large multinational companies will struggle to tell you their area of specialization.
8. They help you save time
Big corporations have several clients and orders they must meet and may have bureaucratic systems that could delay your order. Small businesses and affiliate marketers are less bureaucratic and flexible and have less red tape to hinder their process. In addition, small companies can take corrective action if there are issues with a product or service. Bureaucratic systems in large corporations stifle such quick resolutions.
9. Affiliate Marketers offer effective communication
Affiliate marketers have a listening ear. Like other small businesses, they actively seek customer feedback to facilitate two-way communication. They ensure that feedback reflects future services they provide. They make you active advocates or stakeholders of their business and would go the extra mile to meet your needs.
So, by supporting affiliates, you are not only contributing to the growth of small businesses, but you are helping your local economy. Look for causes that you care about and support those with your money. There’s also the intrinsic benefit of knowing that you helped improve the lives of others by doing something meaningful through thinking about the way you spend your money and who with. With the limited power we seem to have other so much these days, that says a lot.