From: alexhormozi
Affiliate marketing involves independent businesses promoting your product or service to their audience in exchange for compensation or other benefits [11:43]. These businesses have their own advertising methods and engage their leads, offering a powerful channel for growth [11:52]. For AC Styles, a personal styling business, affiliates currently account for approximately one-third of its annual revenue [12:53].
How AC Styles Utilizes Affiliates
AC Styles partners with matchmakers and private social clubs to generate leads [12:01]. The process typically involves the affiliate making an introduction, after which AC Styles offers a complimentary style assessment. This assessment serves as a “glorified sales call” to convert prospects into clients [12:22].
Current Affiliate Landscape
The business currently collaborates with six affiliates: four matchmakers and two private clubs [35:55]. These partnerships, secured through minimal effort, have proven highly effective, bringing in approximately $100,000 in annual revenue [38:25].
The High-Leverage Nature of Affiliates
Leveraging content and outreach to increase business profitability through affiliates is a highly efficient strategy for several reasons:
- Aligned Audiences: Affiliates often serve audiences that are already a perfect fit for your services [13:42]. For AC Styles, clients of matchmakers are actively seeking to improve their image, making them ideal prospects [42:43].
- Consistent Traffic Sources: Once established, affiliates become ongoing sources of new business [13:30].
- Low Cost, High Return: The cost of acquiring clients through affiliates is significantly lower than paid advertising, offering a superior LTV to CAC ratio [39:23]. Each email sent to potential affiliates can yield substantial returns, potentially thousands of dollars [38:31].
- Compounding Effect: Initial outreach efforts can lead to long-term partnerships, providing a continuous flow of referrals without ongoing acquisition costs [38:22].
Alex Hormozi on Affiliate Leverage
“It’s not often that you find… a single point of leverage in a business that’s as clear-cut as this one is for Ashley… these are the things that can change people’s lives… I light up because I’m so excited about it because I know what’s going to happen later once this lever gets really pulled.” [37:24]
Strategies for Scaling Affiliate Partnerships
To significantly increase business volume, the focus should be on scaling the affiliate program [39:13].
Expanding Outreach
Currently, AC Styles acquired its six partners by sending approximately 40 manual emails [37:09]. To achieve substantial growth, a tenfold increase in outreach, aiming for 400 emails, is recommended [38:44].
Identifying New Affiliate Categories
Beyond matchmakers and social clubs, other potential affiliate categories include:
- High-end personal trainers and physical therapists [40:16]
- Executive coaches [40:34]
- Divorce attorneys (as major life transitions often trigger the need for styling services) [40:47]
These partners can be found through Google searches, social media, and by using list brokers who can provide targeted contact information [40:50].
Maintaining Affiliate Relationships
Consistent engagement is crucial for long-term affiliate success. AC Styles hosts events with individual companies to keep them activated [42:33]. Bringing different affiliate partners together in a single event can also foster collaboration rather than competition [43:30].
Actionable Steps for AC Styles
- Refine Paid Ad Funnel: Implement a video sales letter and a compelling lead magnet with specific qualification questions (budget, authority, need, timing, and personalized style analysis) to attract high-intent clients [50:42]. This step alone could increase lead flow by 2-5x [55:03].
- Increase Ad Spend: Once the funnel is optimized and attribution tracking is in place [54:28], incrementally increase monthly ad spend from 600-$900 to capitalize on the strong LTV to CAC ratio [51:27].
- Intensify Affiliate Outreach: Systematically send 20 emails per day to potential affiliates across the four identified categories [52:06]. Supplement this with quarterly events to strengthen relationships [52:19].
Order of Operations
Prioritize quick wins first:
- Fix the ad funnel and add the lead magnet. This is a low-effort, high-impact change [52:40].
- Increase ad spend. This is literally clicking a button [52:50].
- Scale affiliate outreach. This requires more consistent effort but offers immense scaling potential [53:00].
These combined efforts are projected to increase AC Styles’ annual revenue from 3.6 million, representing a 12x growth [55:22].