How to Find Affiliates to Promote Your Products (5 Steps)

Affiliates are one of the fastest ways to scale your sales without spending on ads.

And you don’t need hundreds of promoters. You just need a few strong partners who actually move the needle.

But how do you find them?

In this guide, you’ll learn:

What makes a great affiliate (and who to avoid)
How to find affiliates that actually bring in sales

Let’s break it down step by step.

What Makes a Good Affiliate?

The best affiliates don’t just drive clicks—they drive sales.

When researching an affiliate, ask yourself:

Do they share your brand’s values? When an affiliate genuinely believes in your product, their promotion feels authentic and converts better.
Do they resonate with your target audience? The best affiliates already have the exact audience you're trying to reach.
Do their followers actually listen and take action? High engagement is a strong signal that their audience is paying attention and ready to buy.

Let’s look at an example:

When NordVPN launched its affiliate program, they partnered with YouTubers like Marques Brownlee (MKBHD).

Marques is a trusted tech reviewer with millions of loyal followers. His audience aligns perfectly with NordVPN’s ideal customers: tech-savvy users who care about privacy.

His content is thoughtful, his audience is engaged, and he only promotes tools he actually uses.

Contrast that with low-quality coupon affiliates who flood forums with discount codes but never explain the product or build trust.

These affiliates might bring short-term clicks, but the conversion rate—and customer quality—is often much lower.

So how do you find high-quality affiliates like Marques Brownlee to work with, without being a massive brand or looking for celebrity-level influencers?

Let’s take a look.

How to Find Affiliate Marketers in 5 Steps

There are a lot of ways to get new affiliates. I am going to share some of the best we’ve found while working with thousands of brands at Trackdesk.

But first, let’s start with:

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Affiliate Profile

Before you start searching, get crystal clear on who you’re looking for.

What kind of content creators, influencers, or partners are the best fit for your brand? Think beyond traffic numbers. Consider their values, audience, and style of promotion.

Ask yourself:

What products do I want them to promote?
What kind of content performs best for those products—reviews, tutorials, comparisons? Lifestyle videos? Something else?
What kind of audience is most likely to convert?

Let’s look at some examples:

If you sell CRM software (product) for solopreneurs (audience), your ideal affiliate might be a YouTuber like Gillian Perkins, who shares online business tips (kind of content) with freelancers and coaches.

If you sell fitness products for men interested in science, someone like Jeff Nippard, who does product reviews and science-based content, would be a much better fit than a generic lifestyle influencer.

The goal here is to come up with the kind of person who would be ideal to promote your product. I would even go so far as to write it out in a Google Doc:

I am looking for someone to promote my [product] to [my ideal audience]. This person shares my values of [kindness, authenticity/honesty, integrity, research-backed, enthusiasm, etc.].

They ideally will use and love my product and would be more than happy to share my product with their audience even if they weren’t getting paid for it. The pay is a bonus.

Take it a step further by asking your best customers who they follow on social media.

You may even discover affiliates in this process, but the goal is to get an idea of the kind of people your ideal customers follow, so you know what to look for.

Step 2: Tap Into Your Existing Network

Before cold outreach, look at the people who already know, like, and trust you.

Your first affiliates could be your customers, email subscribers, superfans, partners, or even team members. These people already use and believe in your product.

Here’s how to find them:

Search your inboxes for past praise or product feedback
Check your CRM or email list for customers with high engagement
Look at your social media mentions, comments, and DMs for potential promoters

Got someone in mind? Reach out personally. It doesn’t have to be fancy.

Here’s a simple template you can tweak:

Hey [Name],

I’ve always appreciated your support, and I noticed you’ve been [posting about X / active in Y community].

I’m looking to build a small affiliate program for people who truly love [product name] and think their audience might benefit from it too.

Would you be open to chatting more about it?

This is a warm invitation, not a cold pitch.

And because they already know your product, they’ll likely promote it with more authenticity (and better results).

Step 3: Look for Affiliates Using AI

Once you’ve tapped your network, it’s time to scale up your search.

The fastest way to find aligned affiliates—look for people who are already promoting similar products.

I recommend starting with an AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude.

Use a prompt like:

I'm looking for affiliates, content creators, or influencers who are actively promoting [Competitor Brand Name] or similar products in the [Your Industry/Niche] space.

Please give me a list of websites, blogs, YouTube channels, or social media accounts that mention, review, or link to [Competitor Brand Name].

The goal is to identify potential affiliates I could reach out to for my brand, [Your Brand Name].

You’ll get back a list of powerful competitor affiliates like the ones below.

(Note that this was with a paid ChatGPT subscription; the free version may not give as high-quality results.)

Review these affiliates and add any that might be a good fit to your list for outreach.

Step 4: Check Affiliate Directories

Affiliate directories are like marketplaces for potential partners.

Sites like ShareASale, ClickBank, Impact, PartnerStack, and CJ Affiliate list thousands of affiliates by niche, traffic source, and content type.

Here’s how to use them effectively:

Filter by your industry or product category
Look for affiliates who create reviews, tutorials, or resource roundups
Check their average earnings per click (EPC) and traffic sources when available

Not every directory will have great options, but it only takes one or two strong partners to make the search worth it.

Step 5: Search Online Communities & Social Media

Some of the best affiliates can only be found in Facebook groups, Reddit threads, and niche podcasts—already talking directly to your ideal audience.

Start by searching Facebook and LinkedIn groups for keywords like:

“[Your niche] content creators”
“Affiliate marketing for [industry]”
“[Product type] recommendations”

If you dig into some of these groups, you’ll find real creators trying to grow who are actively looking for products to promote and brands to partner with.

You can also check subreddits like:

r/affiliatemarketing
r/YouTube
r/[Your Industry] (e.g. r/fitness, r/entrepreneur, r/marketing)

The key to succeed with forums and communities is to provide value first and interact with the group members. If you just go in and post about your product with no context, you’ll often get ignored or banned.

Lastly, search on YouTube and TikTok:

“Best tools for [audience]”
“[Your competitor] review”
“Top [product type] for [use case]”

You’ll quickly begin to notice creators of all sizes making videos on these topics who may be a good fit as a potential affiliate.

Pro Tip: Look in the video description—if they have affiliate links already, they’re familiar with the model and likely open to partnerships.

Want a Hands-Off Way to Find High-Quality Affiliates?

These five steps aren’t rocket science. And they work. But if you're short on time or want better results with less effort, there’s an easier way.

The Trackdesk Partnership Managers Marketplace connects you with experienced affiliate managers who do the heavy lifting for you.

They’ll help you find affiliates you wouldn't even uncover on your own—creators who already have influence in your niche and know how to drive conversions.

If you're serious about scaling your program and want a done-for-you way to find affiliates who actually move the needle, give the marketplace a try.