In this article, we will discuss:
Why should you provide promotional materials
Providing your affiliates with promotional materials is a key factor in driving the success of your program. When you equip your affiliates/partners with the right asset, you empower them to effectively promote your brand and products. This, in turn, helps you increase traffic and sales.
Here are some of the key benefits:
Brand Consistency: Ensure your brand is represented accurately and consistently across different affiliate websites and social media channels.
Increased Affiliate Engagement: Ready-to-use assets make it easier for your affiliates to promote your products, leading to higher engagement and more promotions.
Higher Conversion Rates: Professionally designed banners and compelling ad copy can significantly improve click-through rates and conversions.
Time-Saving for Affiliates: Your affiliates can save time and effort by using the materials you provide, allowing them to focus on what they do best: driving traffic.
What is a Marketing Asset
In Tapfiliate, an Marketing Asset is the term we use for any piece of promotional material that you provide to your affiliates. These assets are essential tools your partners use to drive traffic and sales.
The basic default marketing asset is the affiliate's unique referral link, which is generated the moment they are approved.
But what if you have more materials you’d like your affiliates to share with their audiences?With Tapfiliate, you can easily upload additional marketing assets and place them at your affiliates' fingertips.
Example: You upload a beautiful 300x250 banner image for a holiday sale. In Tapfiliate, that banner image is classified as a Marketing Asset.
When you add a new asset (e.g., a banner URL), the system automatically ensures the affiliate receives all necessary tracking parameters. This allows your partners to confidently fetch, post, and share your marketing material for promotion.
What types of Marketing Assets are supported
It's crucial to give your affiliates a variety of tools because different partners use different channels. A blogger needs banner codes, while an influencer needs a unique coupon.
Providing diverse assets helps you:
Reach More Customers
Cover every possible channel, from blogs and email lists to social media posts and podcasts.
Boost Performance
Give your affiliates the exact material they need to be effective, which directly translates into more conversions for you.
We support creating and sharing the following asset types:
Asset Type | Description | Example of Use |
Text Link | A simple link (or block of text) that affiliates can share directly. | A unique tracking link placed within a blog post review. Example: Original URL: mysite.com/laptops
Affiliate Link: mysite.com/laptops?ref=hfjssdfl4 |
Image Banners | Standard image files for blogs or websites. For all file sizes, accepted formats, and technical details, check the full requirements here. | A 300x250 image banner promoting your latest discount. |
Image without link (NEW) | This image is purely static. No tracking is attached to the image itself.
To give your affiliates maximum freedom and flexibility to use high-quality brand visuals wherever they need them (e.g., social media posts, mood boards, etc.).
| The affiliate downloads the static image and posts it on their blog. They then manually attach their personal referral link (e.g., https://yourdomain.com/?ref=odq1nzuk) to the image, which ensures tracking works. |
YouTube & Vimeo Videos | Embed tracking links with your video content. | A product demo video that affiliates can embed on their sites, with tracking applied to the link under the video. |
Tweets | Pre-written posts designed for easy sharing on X/Twitter. Note: This is not a link to an existing X/Twitter post. | A quick, ready-to-use promotional message for a limited-time offer.
Example Content: "Our biggest sale is here! Get 30% off all software licenses today only! |
Facebook Posts | Pre-written posts designed for easy sharing on Facebook. Note: This asset is designed only for Facebook. It is not a link to an existing post. | A branded update with a tracking link for a product launch. The Content field is where you write the text of the post itself. |
For all file sizes, accepted formats, and technical details, check the full requirements here: Marketing Assets Overview: Types, Requirements & Best Practices.
Advanced Assets
Beyond the standard and easy-to-use materials (Text Links, Image Banners, Videos), we also support advanced asset types.
These assets are classified as Advanced because they offer deep functionality, automation, and more complex integration, often requiring developer assistance for correct setup. They are designed for large-scale campaigns and dynamic data delivery.
Asset Type | Description | Key Functionality & Usage |
Product Feeds | A structured XML file that supplies detailed product information (price, description, stock) to affiliates. (Mostly used by E-commerce stores) | Automation: Dynamically synchronizes your entire product catalog. This allows affiliates to build storefronts or widgets with real-time prices and availability, boosting conversion rates. |
(HTML5) Banners | Rich, animated banners offering high-quality visuals and complex functionality. | Engagement: Creates interactive, complex, and animated ads. This feature is ideal for large-scale campaigns where you need highly engaging visuals to increase click-through rates. |
Important: To ensure you or your developer meet all technical standards required for accurate tracking and display across all asset types, please check the detailed requirements in the following article: Marketing Assets Overview: Types, Requirements & Best Practices.
Private Creative Assets
The Private Assets feature is how you control exactly who sees your best promotional materials. You can share highly specific assets (like custom landing pages or unique sale banners) with one affiliate or a few affiliates.
This means you can personalize the content experience for your partners.
When to use private creatives
Using this feature is essential for driving top performance and ensuring your best partners are well-rewarded.
Reward Top Performers: Offer exclusive, high-converting assets (like early access to sale banners or unique product videos) as a direct incentive for your best earners.
Target Campaigns Precisely: You ensure that sensitive, niche, or limited-time campaign materials are only used by the specific partners-or partner groups-they were created for, giving you tight control.
Optimize Conversions: Assets that are hyper-targeted and relevant are proven to convert better than generic ones, leading directly to higher sales.
NOTE: The ability to share private assets is an exclusive feature for Scale and Enterprise plans.
Why Should I Use Private Assets? Affiliates receiving these hyper-targeted assets often see conversion rates boost significantly, leading them to earn $800 to $1,500 more per month than those using generic materials. If you want to access this performance-boosting feature, please visit your Billing page to manage your upgrade.
How to add marketing materials to a program
To upload a new marketing asset:
Navigate to the Assets tab in the main menu.
Click the "+ New asset" button located in the top-right corner of the page.
A window will open where you must choose the asset's Type and provide the required information (like the file or URL).
When you click on this button, a window will open. In this window, you'll be able to choose your asset type, and provide the information needed to create the asset.
Note: Each asset type has its own requirements. These will be listed alongside the type of asset you choose from the drop-down list.
If you are creating HTML5 banners or Product feeds, please consult our specialized guides of information on how you or a developer can set these up:
Important Upgrade Note: The Product (XML) Feeds feature is a powerful tool exclusively available to users on our Scale and Enterprise plans. If you want to use rich, dynamically updated product information to supercharge your affiliate promotions, please contact us at support@tapfiliate.com to discuss upgrading your plan-we're happy to assist!
What are the size and quality requirements for my image assets, and why are they so strict?
Tapfiliate enforces a firm maximum size limit for all uploaded image files (including Banners and Images without links): 150 KB.
We set this standard because file size directly impacts load speed. If your banner takes too long to load on an affiliate’s website, it dramatically hurts your affiliates' click-through rates and performance. This 150 KB limit aligns with industry best practices used by major advertising platforms like Google.
What to do if your file is too large: If your image exceeds the 150 KB limit, you must compress it before uploading. We strongly recommend using a file optimization tool like ImageOptim to reduce the file size while preserving image quality.
How to make changes to Marketing Assets: delete, update, copy
You can manage all your existing assets right from your Assets dashboard. Just hover over an asset, and a menu lets you delete the asset, update the landing page URL, add a new label, or copy the asset to any of your other programs.
When you upload an asset, we automatically attach the necessary tracking parameters to the link you provide.
How Changes Affect Tracking: The Simple Rule
It’s crucial to know that your tracking relies on one simple rule: The tracking follows the Affiliate's ID, not the specific creative.
Think of it this way: The Affiliate ID (ref=...) is like your Passport-it's your unique, permanent identity. The Asset ID (tap_a=...) is just the Business Card-it tells you what they clicked, but not who they are. The system always tracks the Passport.
Editing Marketing Assets: Does Tracking Still Work?
Action on the Asset | What is Changing? | Does Tracking STILL WORK? |
1. Update Landing Page | You change the destination URL (where the link goes). | YES. The Affiliate's Passport (ref=...) is still in the code; it just leads to a new page. |
2. Add a Label | You add an internal note for reporting (like "Black Friday Banner"). | YES. You're just updating the 'Business Card'; the Passport (ref=...) is untouched. |
3. Delete Asset | You remove the banner/code from the dashboard. | YES. If the affiliate already used the code, the Passport (ref=...) is on their website. The click is still attributed to them. Example: If your top affiliate posted the banner code 6 months ago, and you delete the banner today, the old code still tracks. |
4. Copy Asset | You duplicate the banner into another program. | YES. The system just generates a new link for the new program, correctly attaching the Affiliate's Passport (ref=...). |
Code Examples
Asset A Code: <a href="https://tapfiliate.com/?tap_a=**164358-904c11**&ref=**odq1nzuk**" ...>
1. The Affiliate ID (The Passport)
Parameter: ref=odq1nzuk
Role: This is the Affiliate's unique and permanent identifier. It is their "Passport." This ID is the only thing that ensures the commission is attributed to the correct person. It never changes, regardless of what you do to the asset.
2. The Asset ID (The Business Card)
Parameter: tap_a=164358-904c11
Role: This is the unique ID for this specific creative (the banner, the link). It's like a "Business Card" for the specific ad. It is used only for your internal reporting (so you know which specific banner worked best).
If you delete the asset, you are only destroying the "Business Card." The "Passport" (ref=odq1nzuk) remains in the link, and tracking continues to work perfectly.
Where Can My Affiliates Find Their Assets?
The dedicated space where your affiliates access all their necessary promotional materials is called the Assets Wall (in Affiliate Portal).
The Assets Wall: Your Partner Resource Hub
The Assets Wall in Tapfiliate is a central dashboard section for your affiliates. It serves as their Partner Resource Hub, providing all necessary promotional materials to help them start promoting immediately.
Any creative asset (banners, text links, videos, etc.) you upload to your program is automatically added here.
Affiliates find everything in one place: Partners see their unique referral link, all available marketing assets, and any dedicated coupon codes assigned specifically to them.
Actionable Content: From the Assets Wall, partners can instantly copy code, download files, share directly to social media, or embed banners on their websites.
Automatic Tracking Integration
The most effective part of the Assets Wall is the automatic tracking. After you upload an asset:
We automatically attach all necessary referral parameters to the landing page URL you provided.
This ensures that every click, share, and conversion driven by that asset is properly attributed to the correct affiliate, without them needing to manually edit the tracking link.
What channels can they share?
Currently, your affiliates can share content to:
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Pinterest
And through email
If your affiliates have a website, they'll also be able to fetch embed codes that they can use to publish their assets on their channels.
What channels can affiliates share assets to?
Affiliates have multiple ways to instantly share the marketing assets they find on the Assets Wall.
1. Direct Sharing (Social & Messaging)
Affiliates can instantly share content to their networks using the integrated share icons (as seen in the preview window).
Supported Channels: Channels typically include X (Twitter), Pinterest, WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Email.
How it Works: The affiliate clicks the corresponding icon (e.g., the X icon on the screenshot). A pre-filled window (with your pre-written post/tweet and their tracking link embedded) pops up. The affiliate simply hits "Post" or "Send."
2. Web Embeds (Websites & Blogs)
If your affiliates have a website or blog, they can easily embed the content directly.
How it Works: For banners and videos, affiliates can click on the Embed code field (as shown on the screenshot) to instantly retrieve the necessary HTML code. They simply copy and paste this code into their website's HTML editor. This code automatically includes their tracking link and displays the asset correctly on their page.
Channel Type | Sharing Method | Content Examples |
Social Networks (X, Pinterest) | Direct share buttons | Pre-written Tweets, Facebook posts, or Pins with tracking included. |
Messaging (WhatsApp, Email) | Dedicated sharing functionality | A link or pre-filled message draft with the tracking link for their audience. |
Websites/Blogs | Embed codes | HTML code for banners and videos that automatically displays the content. |
FAQ
❓Can my affiliates deep link to specific products?
Yes, your affiliates can deep link by following the steps in this dedicated deep linking guide.
❓Can I use affiliate links on Instagram/TikTok?
Not easily. Most social platforms (like Instagram and TikTok) don't let you put clickable links in post captions. They want users to stay in their app.
The best solution: Use coupon codes.
Forget links. Give your affiliates unique codes (e.g., SARAH15). When a customer uses a code, you can track the sale back to the affiliate. It's simple and bypasses all link restrictions.
Need help setting up coupon tracking? Check our technical documentation here: Tracking via coupon codes
❓Why is there a 150 KB limit for image banners?
Speed. Large images load slowly, which kills conversion rates. If your banner takes too long to appear, you lose the sale.
❓What if my image is larger than 150 KB?
You must compress it before uploading. Use a free tool like TinyPNG or ImageOptim to shrink the file size while keeping the quality.
❓How can I see which marketing materials are working most effectively?
You can find detailed performance insights in the Asset Report, located under the Reporting tab in your Tapfiliate dashboard. This report is your key tool for optimizing your strategy.
❓What kind of performance data will I find in the Asset Report?
The Asset Report provides comprehensive data for every single asset you've created, including:
Clicks: The total number of times the asset was clicked.
Conversions: The number of times that asset resulted in a successful conversion.
Conversion Rate (CVR): The percentage that tells you how effectively the asset converts clicks into sales.
Commission Amount: The total value of commissions generated by that specific asset.
❓Why is it important to track individual asset performance?
By analyzing this data, you can easily identify your highest-performing banners, links, or other materials. This allows you to focus your efforts on creating more effective marketing assets and optimize your overall program strategy.
Still need help?
If you have any questions or if something in this guide is unclear or If you want to unlock this feature and collect more details about your affiliates, please don't hesitate to contact us at support@tapfiliate.com-we're happy to assist!
Next Steps
You've set up your affiliate program and added welcome messages. The next crucial step is to ensure your affiliates know how to use your platform and start promoting!
Organize your partners: Learn How do I group my affiliates?