For an affinity marketing campaign, the fundamental thing is to involve a specific group. The groups in question are called affinity groups. These consist of users who share common ground or a specific theme, such as interest in a specific hobby or product. If you want to reach more users, it is worth considering other potential candidates from outside the group. However, a prerequisite for this should be a certain level of agreement with the conventions and views of the affinity group.
But how does affinity marketing work? Standard affinity marketing practice is to find one or more opinion leaders within the set group. Communication should start with this person, who, ideally, already has a respected position within the group and enjoys a high degree of credibility. Affinity marketing works using social mechanisms. This is because group members are highly likely to be loyal to their leader. This person now acts as a link between the group members and those running the advertising campaign.
Affinity marketing uses these personal relationships within social groups to alleviate obstacles in the advertising perception and to draw attention to the product advertised. At the same time, advertisers hope to achieve a greater degree of credibility for their advertising by incorporating as many thematically relevant groups as possible.
Affinity is a sense of affiliation or common ground among group members involved with affinity marketing. Characteristics of this affinity are social identification and conformity with applicable rules and standards within the group. However, the term affinity marketing should be distinguished from target group marketing and niche marketing – these names primarily refer to the size of a group or possibly to its characteristics. Affinity marketing also involves a very special promotion technique.
In order to illustrate how affinity marketing works, it is best to use a practical example. The following scenario would be typical: as a starting point, take the marketing of a new product, for example, a new car. This vehicle is made for a special, predefined group of people – like a family van for young families. If you want to increase the popularity of the car, you can use the mechanisms of affinity marketing, e.g., have the group’s opinion leader test drive the car.
If it is a prominent person’s testimonial being sought, they receive the new car free of charge. In return, they write a review of their experiences with the car and share it with the other members of the group (i.e., young families). Ideally, the “celebrity” reports on the new product through official and/or private channels. The group members trust their opinion leaders and their recommendations, and as a result, the product receives increased demand. This is the goal of affinity marketing.