B2B Affiliate Marketing: Expert Insights from Oli Bridge, the CMO of Bonjoro

Welcome to the Marketing Growth Podcast. I’m your host, Shane Barker, and on this episode, Oli Bridge from Bonjoro joins us for another intriguing conversation. For those joining the podcast for the first time, here’s a quick recap of our previous discussions: Oli shared Bonjoro’s growth story and detailed how they retain their customers and turn them into super fans. Today, we’re taking a slight detour and diving into B2B affiliate marketing. Let’s get started.

So another thing I want to talk about is B2B affiliate marketing. Let’s start with this: What is your experience with B2B affiliate marketing? Give us a little background.

What’s funny is that clients often ask, “Which influencers should I target?” I always tell them to start with their own network. You already have superfans and advocates—people who love your brand and have even emailed you to say so. Instead of pitching strangers, look at your Facebook community, Instagram followers, newsletter subscribers—anyone who’s already shown enthusiasm. You don’t need to sell them; they already believe in you.

On the affiliate side, you could chase the big earners—those “master affiliates” making millions overseas. But they care more about commission than your product. They’ll switch to whoever pays them more. Your real power comes from people who already use and love what you offer. Their genuine word‑of‑mouth recommendations are far more effective than any paid promotion. In short, leverage your existing audience first—whether for influencer partnerships or affiliate programs.

That’s always a good thing. I love that, too. When you send somebody a Bonjoro, they actually say, “Wait a second, what’s this all about?” There’s something very organic about it. I think it started with what I believe was a “hot mail” that was sent out originally—if you wanted a free account, it said, “Sign up here.” People saw that and thought, “This is really awesome. What is this?” And that caught my attention too. When we talked about it, I was blown away—it was insane. That kind of next-level stuff really got my mind racing. And since then, you guys have consistently done great things.

Now, what do you think are some of the common challenges for marketers when it comes to Facebook—or rather, affiliate marketing on Facebook? What are some of the pain points?

It’s always an ongoing challenge because there’s always something new and shiny offering a higher commission. But I think the key is developing relationships. Even if their commission is a bit higher elsewhere, show them the different ways your product can be used. Affiliate marketing isn’t easy—sometimes your audience loves certain things, and sometimes they don’t. Ultimately, you need to educate them on the opportunities available.

So what do you think are some of the major benefits of doing affiliate marketing? It can be a lot of work, but what are the upsides?

Yeah, though it can be complicated. You have to decide whether to do a “share a sale” model, what networks to use, whether commissions are recurring, what percentages, and so on—so many moving pieces. But once you establish a good program and see results, you can show other affiliate marketers, “Hey, this is what we built. Here are the banners we’ve used.” Some really good things can happen. What do you think are some of the best tools for B2B affiliate marketing?

And that’s the thing: I think many people miss that it’s the quality of the affiliates that matters, not just the quantity. If you can make your affiliates feel special and help them understand exactly how your product works—and how they can integrate it into their content—that’s where the true value lies. With Bonjoro, for example, there are so many ways people can use it. When an affiliate truly grasps the educational aspect and how to integrate it in their articles, that’s where the magic happens. We even have a video funnel playbook that shows how our clients are succeeding. I know there are plenty of strategies out there that I haven’t even thought of yet, and with our current system funnels, there are ways to make our outreach even more personal. I love that we can constantly improve on that.

Yeah, I agree with you there. There are a few companies in the influencer space that did it very well. They worked with thought leaders and influencers, building awesome landing pages featuring those influencers. For example, an influencer would talk about a makeup product, and when people visit the landing page and see the influencer there, it’s like, “Oh, that’s exactly what I want.” It really helps boost conversions.

Several makeup companies have done that personalized approach—it takes some work, but once you have the template and invest the time, the personalization really makes a difference. People see something like, “Jennifer recommended this. Here I am on Jennifer’s landing page. I know this is what I want to buy because she just showed me the demo on her Instagram.”

Hey Ollie, let me pause the conversation for a minute to talk to our listeners about the services my team and I offer. If you need help with any of your digital marketing campaigns—whether it’s SEO, influencer marketing, content marketing, or PR—you can hire us. We offer customized solutions so you can skyrocket your growth and boost your ROI. For more details, please check out my site at shanebarker.com. Now, back to the conversation with Ollie.

This has been awesome—I knew we were going to have a good time with this. Now we come to what I call the fun section; honestly, I think the whole thing has been fun. Even if you don’t think so, that’s okay, but I like to have some fun here. So, if you could travel to one place in the world for free, where would you go and what would you do there? And let me add that wherever you go will be 100% COVID free—you’ll be fully safe, which is pretty much nowhere in the world right now. But in this little special world we’re building, you’ll get a COVID-free trip. You can even bring your family, your current wife, or even your past wife if you don’t have one. So where would that be, man?

What does Tom do out there?

Go, Tom—awesome! We need to get out to Rwanda. That would be incredible. I’ve never been there myself—though I think my brother’s been to Rwanda—and I’ve heard nothing but good things about it. Of course, like any country, there are things you have to watch out for and all that fun stuff, but overall, the reviews are really positive.

Now, here comes the next big fun question in our fun section: If you could choose a superpower, what would it be? What would be your superpower?

I actually want to be invisible, kind of like how you were when your wife came back—we used to call it “stocking” once again—but it’s okay.

I want to fly. No one’s here to judge—if you want to fly, you get to fly.

Last question: If you could have dinner with three people, dead or alive, who would they be and why? I love asking this question because the answers are always so unpredictable—you think you have someone pinned down, and they say something totally unexpected, leaving you with no idea.

That’s perfect—you’d have Grandma, your mom, and then someone who’s smarter than almost everyone, who educates and entertains you. That’s why I love asking these questions: they mix personal choices—like family—with public figures such as Bob Marley, Elvis, or even Obama. I love the variety, because it shows who wants to sit at your table.

So, if anyone needs to get in contact with you or wants to find more information about Bonjoro, where do we go?

I’m going to be downloading that playbook literally right after the podcast—before everyone else does—because we don’t want your site to go down from all the traffic, right? I mean, there are hundreds of millions (or maybe a little less) of people who listen to me weekly—probably just my aunt, mom, and cousin, but still—they’re going to download it. We’re excited about it. And if you’re listening and you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe.

Once again, Oli, thanks for taking the time. I know we’ve been going back and forth, and I’m excited we got you on today. I’m looking forward to chatting with you more after I get that playbook—I can probably think of 40 different ways to use Bonjoro, so we should definitely set up another time to talk soon.

Absolutely, man, cool. We’ll be talking here soon.

Thank you for tuning in to the Marketing Growth Podcast. I hope you learned a lot that you can apply to your marketing campaigns. On the next episode, I’ll host another thought leader, so stay tuned.