Affiliate marketing covers a wide range of verticals, including gambling, finance, dating, adult, and more. One popular vertical is nutra, which involves promoting health-related products. However, nutra has some challenges because the advertised drugs often turn out to be fake, potentially leading to legal trouble for affiliates and advertisers.
Another issue with nutra offers is their tendency to burn out quickly. When new offers are introduced, people get excited, but they lose interest rapidly. This means affiliates must invest more money to test and promote those offers.
Fortunately, there's another option: the pharma vertical. Unlike nutra, the products promoted in pharma (pharmacy) have real effects and benefits. People trust and continue buying these products because they know they work.
Pharma is worth considering because healthcare costs are high worldwide. For example, the average American spends about $644 per year on prescription drugs. This is why drug companies are willing to pay huge amounts to advertise their products.
Therefore, driving traffic to pharma offers is a viable way to make money in affiliate marketing today.
The pharmacy vertical includes the following types of products:
- Vitamins and dietary supplements
- Medicines and drugs
- Creams and cosmetics
- Weight loss products
- Stimulants
Pharma affiliate programs mostly feature over-the-counter medications. These drugs can be purchased online without a doctor's approval, so the advertising rules are less strict.
However, some pharma affiliate programs also promote prescription medications for various conditions like allergies, asthma, diabetes, and more. They even offer telemedicine services.
In this article, we'll discuss the main ways to promote pharmacy affiliate offers, share real-life case studies, and provide ratings of the best pharma affiliate programs.
Audience
Pharma offers primarily target people aged 35 and above. Younger individuals are only interested in specific products, like dietary supplements. However, older people require many pharma products due to aging and illnesses.
The main geos where pharma is popular are:
- USA
- Europe
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Hong Kong
- Singapore
- Canada
These geos have a significant and financially stable customer base, which translates to a wide range of offers, better approval rates, and higher payouts.
Ways to promote and make money from pharma offers
Offers in the pharma vertical are promoted similarly to offers in the nutra vertical. You can choose to cloak your ads on platforms like Facebook and Google or take a simpler approach by launching them through advertising networks.
The MyBid advertising network, for example, offers a wide selection of Tier 1 geos, such as the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, and Australia, which are ideal for promoting pharmaceutical offers. The ad network operates in a fully managed system, assigning each affiliate an account manager who provides advice and assists in launching and optimizing advertising campaigns.
Apart from ad networks, affiliates often advertise pharma products through various channels, including:
- Media, TV, and blogs
- Native advertising
- Reddit (for the US audience)
- Push notifications networks
- Medical representatives
Let's take a closer look at each of these channels.
Media, TV, and blogs
In many media outlets, you can pay for an advertising slot to publish your ad. Even the biggest pharmaceutical companies advertise on TV.
However, these channels are too expensive for regular affiliate marketing. So, what can an affiliate developer do with a limited budget of a few thousand dollars?
One option is to create and promote a blog or website about medical topics on various platforms. This is not the typical affiliate marketing where you buy traffic directly. Instead, you generate traffic naturally.
To attract visitors to your site, you'll need some knowledge of SEO (Search Engine Optimization). This will help you earn money from advertising in the long run.
Here's a plan for creating and developing a blog:
- Come up with a concept for your blog.
- Register a domain and get hosting.
- Use WordPress, which is free, easy to use, and doesn't require coding skills.
- Install an SEO module to optimize your site for search engines. There are many SEO plugins available for WordPress, like Yoast and All in One SEO.
- Develop sections and categories for your site and create a navigation menu.
- Gather relevant keywords for your content. You can either order articles from affiliate writers or hire freelancers to help.
- Keep track of your site's traffic and make improvements as needed.
- Sign up for a pharma affiliate program and choose offers that fit your blog.
- Insert drug advertisements into your articles to earn money through affiliate earnings.
Native advertising
If you think building and promoting a blog from scratch takes too long and has uncertain results, you can try native advertising instead.
Native advertising blends in with the regular content of a website, making it less likely to be blocked by search engine ad blockers.
This format engages users more effectively, leading to higher conversion rates and sales. That's why it's the main method of advertising in the pharma vertical.
You can test native advertising on a platform like MyBid. The managers will help you choose high-quality ads that bring in traffic and have a good return on investment.
Reddit
Reddit is a great source of high-quality traffic. It's mainly visited by adults with spending power from the USA and other developed countries.
To drive traffic from Reddit, follow these steps:
- Register for an account or buy one with good karma points (reputation).
- Get involved in discussions, like posts, and participate as a regular user.
- Advertise your product or service in a careful and non-spammy way.
- To speed things up, you can try to get more upvotes on your posts.
Push networks
Push notifications are a popular and effective way to get traffic for various types of products. To make money with push notifications in the pharma vertical, you can follow this plan:
- Choose a network that has a lot of traffic and offers push notification formats. MyBid is a good choice, whether you're a beginner or an experienced marketer.
- Talk to a network manager for advice on which offers and locations to target.
- Create your ads or have them made for you.
- Launch your campaign and optimize it with the help of the network manager.
Advertising pharma offers using push notifications has many advantages, such as low entry requirements, fast moderation, and access to affordable traffic. It's a great option for beginners in affiliate marketing.
Medical representatives
The last and most unusual promotion method, used mainly by large pharma companies, is to hire special intermediaries called medical representatives.
Medical representatives directly promote products to doctors and hospitals, offering them as alternatives to other options. Doctors often receive extra income from sales to patients.
This method is not suitable for traditional affiliate marketing in the pharma vertical because it's a long and challenging process to sell products through medical representatives.
Case studies
Let's explore some real-life examples to determine if promoting pharma offers is worthwhile and how much money you can make. We'll examine different case studies to see the results.
Case Study 1: Making $23,800 with a Diabetes Remedy on Facebook
Offer: Dialine
Expenses: $16,243
Income: $40,121
Profit: $23,878
ROI: 147%
In this case study, an affiliate program with various pharma offers for diabetes and other diseases was selected, specifically targeting Romania. Facebook was chosen as the traffic source. The affiliate used AdsPower anti-detect browser, European proxies, and two cloakers (IM KLO + Keitaro) for better performance.
A range of ad formats and strategies were tested. While video ads did not perform well, teaser-style ad creatives showed good results.
Also, the ad copy highlighting the product's ability to quickly lower blood sugar levels resonated with consumers.
Since there were no major violations of Facebook's advertising policies, the advertising strategy allowed the affiliate's accounts to remain active for a long period.
This was the best-performing landing page:
The affiliate also used a pre-lander that effectively engaged the traffic and resulted in a high conversion rate to the landing page.
The campaign performed best during the summer months, with an ROI of around 200% due to strong approval rates within the affiliate program.
Screenshot of statistics from the affiliate program:
During the six-month campaign, the affiliate marketer generated 1,591 approved leads, which translated to over $23,800 in revenue.
Case Study 2: Earning $483 in Profit from Banner Ads in Just 3 Days
Product: Dapoxetine
Expenses: $100
Income: $583
Profit: $483
ROI: 483%
This case study shows that even with a small budget of $100, affiliates can achieve success in the pharmaceutical niche, making it a good option for beginners.
For a campaign targeting the United States, the affiliate created a unique pre-lander featuring a story about a person who experienced quick ejaculation. This different approach likely contributed to the improved ROI, as it stood out from the commonly used pre-landers found in spy tools and affiliate programs.
Below you can see an example of the ad creatives used:
The affiliate paid close attention to filtering the traffic, set up the campaign with a cost-per-click (CPC) model at $0.045, and allocated a $100 test budget.
The campaign settings were as follows:
Within just 3 days, they received 25 leads, and 14 of them were approved, resulting in $583 in earnings from the affiliate program.
Case Study 3: $1,030 Profit from a Single Facebook Ads Campaign
Offer: Dapoxetine
Expenses: $1,390
Income: $2,410
Profit: $1,020
ROI: 73%
The affiliate shared the campaign from the previous case study with a friend, who then decided to promote it through Facebook Ads in Europe.
Using the same pre-landing page, the affiliate successfully captured traffic for only three days, with net earnings exceeding $1,000 (income from the affiliate program minus traffic costs).
The affiliate chose not to disclose the creatives but shared another encouraging screenshot from the affiliate program.
Case Study 4: Generating a 491% ROI on Viagra
Offer: Viagra
Expenses: $60
Income: $355
Profit: $295
ROI: 491%
In this case study, the affiliate decided to use banners to promote one of the most well-known drugs, Viagra.
Their decision to promote this product was based on these ideas:
- High consumer trust in advertising for Viagra compared to newer pharmaceutical offers.
- Higher approval rates for Viagra, without the negative impact of upselling often seen in other pharmaceutical offers.
- The tendency for call centers to delay lead calls affects approval rates for other offers.
- The stability of Viagra and other established drugs in the market.
- Furthermore, because these drugs genuinely help people with health and body issues, customers often return, leading to repeat purchases through the affiliate program.
For this campaign, a simple yet eye-catching red banner featuring a Viagra tablet and the text "SALE -80%" was selected.
Given the widespread recognition of Viagra, the affiliate directed traffic straight to the landing page without using a pre-lander.
The campaign was exceptionally successful: a spend of just $60 resulted in 12 leads and 8 approvals in the affiliate program, with total earnings of $355 and a net profit of $295.
Traffic continued to flow to the affiliate program even after the ad campaign was paused.
However, scaling became a challenge. Using a single ad account could not generate as many leads as the affiliate desired.
Pharma affiliate programs
Below is a list of the top affiliate networks that focus on pharma offers. These networks offer different benefits and conditions for affiliates.
TrueMed$
TrueMed$ is a pharma affiliate network that mainly targets customers in Tier 1 geos but delivers worldwide. They have a wide range of offers available, including popular ones from well-known brands like Eliquis and Viagra.
As an affiliate, you can earn 40-50% of the sales you generate, which is considered quite good in the pharmaceuticals vertical.
TrueMed$ provides ad and landing page templates that have high conversion rates.
You can receive your earnings daily through different payment systems like USDT (TRC-20 and ERC-20), Capitalist, PayPal, and others.
Based on reviews, the affiliate support team is helpful and can assist you with technical issues and selecting the best offers.
MarketHealth
MarketHealth is another well-known affiliate network that has been around for over 20 years. They have a wide range of offers from various brands and accept traffic from 100 countries.
Each website in the affiliate program is assigned a dedicated manager to assist you.
You can withdraw your earnings twice a month, on the 1st and 16th, through bank transfer, check by mail, or card. However, it's worth mentioning that other programs offer faster payment options, allowing you to receive your money faster.
Some affiliates have complained about MarketHealth's performance in recent times. According to reviews, their offers don't convert well, and there can be delays in payments.
DD Herbal
DD Herbal is an affiliate network that focuses on the pharma vertical. They offer a revenue-sharing (Revshare) payment model where you can earn 30% of each sale.
Most of the offers in their affiliate program are considered legitimate and easy to promote.
DD Herbal provides ready-made ad creatives and landing pages to help you get started with your ad campaigns.
Their support team is friendly and always ready to provide guidance on the best offers to promote in your campaigns.
Dr. Cash
Dr. Cash is another well-established affiliate network that has been active for over 8 years.
They specialize in promoting various pharma offers, including classic nutra offers and products like diabetes medications and diet supplements.
Dr. Cash has a wide selection of over 2,900 offers that can be promoted in more than 200 geos.
You can withdraw your earnings up to twice a day using electronic wallets, cards, and other methods.
Conclusion
In conclusion, let's summarize the analysis of this vertical. Is it currently suitable for affiliate marketing?
Pros:
- There is a constant demand for vertical goods
- Pharma means drugs that work
- There are many ways to promote pharma, allowing you to choose the one that suits you personally
Cons:
- The volume of the pharma niche is smaller than popular verticals like gambling and classic nutra
- Drugs that are abused can still harm a person
- Some pharma offers are banned, just like regular nutra
- Some pharma affiliate programs do not correspond to modern trends in affiliate marketing
To summarize, the pharma vertical is complex by affiliate marketing standards. Affiliates will have to do a lot of testing and be creative.
However, it is possible to drive traffic to this vertical. As in other verticals, in pharma, it is important to find a reliable affiliate program and a source of quality traffic. One highly recommended traffic source is the MyBid advertising network, which offers fast moderation, multiple advertising formats, and low cost per click. The CPC in the best geos for pharma (USA, Canada, etc.) is only $0.000169.
