Affiliate program management – as a career choice is still not as widely promoted among mainstream digital agencies. Many people still fall into affiliate marketing through customer service or sales. From the start, a career in affiliate marketing may not look as attractive as other digital mediums such as media or social media, which have gained more visibility in recent years. If you’re the head of an affiliate program, it can be a complex task to master when you’re diving into this industry for the first time.
Affiliate Insider shares top tips for streamlining affiliate management.
Here are five skills you need to improve if you want to succeed in this industry.
The affiliate marketplace can shift and change at any time based on supply and demand on traffic sources, so you must be prepared to make the appropriate changes to your program terms to keep up. Another part of this insight is your sales skills. Not only must you be able to sell your products and programs commercially, but you must also try to sell your brand values. Affiliates must want to communicate with you, and you must have the skills necessary to close the deal and get that affiliate to convert as a loyal partner in your program.
2) Develop your digital knowledge and expertise; Affiliate management is a calling, not a job
Affiliate program managers live in a digital world, and it’s a space they need to have expert knowledge of. You need to know how to best price and leverage every digital traffic source your partners bring to the table. You should also look ahead to future digital trends to discover new traffic sources as affiliates find them and expand your program reach by incorporating these new sources into your affiliate mix.
You also need to have the technical knowledge to support new types of digital traffic sources within your program. For example, app traffic and tracking work differently than web traffic and often there is data that affiliates may want to access but that is not readily available in your network or in your own tracking platform.
3) Build bonds with strangers; Communication is key
You need to ensure that you have an excellent customer culture built into your affiliate program. There are more programs than affiliate programs, so how do you get traffic drivers to work in your program versus the competition? Relationships still matter in this industry and as a program manager you must be adept at selling not only your program and its offerings, but also yourself as a brand ambassador and someone that affiliates can trust and build a business relationship with.
All program managers must have good relationship building and an entrepreneurial mindset to more closely identify and connect with their affiliates. These skills are essential for building and maintaining important relationships to help affiliates and keep your program and offering at the forefront. Make sure you are actively working on your networks and relationships at all times to maintain these crucial relationships.
4) Understand the basics of marketing; Marketing is constantly changing
Every affiliate manager must have a keen understanding of which current effective strategies apply to their programs, especially in the areas of digital marketing and advertising. These are important ways you can attract new affiliates to your program, and they can, in turn, attract their own customers to your bottom line. Understanding the basics of marketing and how to apply them to market your program at scale can help you scale your offering much faster than a one-on-one affiliate engagement.
However, advertising trends change quite often. What may be effective one month may be outdated the next. See how COVID has affected affiliate traffic, how Google trends and algorithm changes could impact your program, and individual affiliate performance. You need to be aware of how these impact your program marketing and growth.
You must be fully prepared to make changes to the program if necessary to always stay abreast of trends and of course market regulations and best practice guidelines. You also need to be good at analyzing your analytics to determine if a path works for you. Just because it’s big in the digital marketing world right now doesn’t always mean that your customers will respond to it in the way you imagine.
5) Understand advertising compliance and regulations; You are responsible for how affiliates promote your brand
Finally, you should ensure that you fully understand all codes and advertising standards that apply to your work. This isn’t just about sales and marketing. Often affiliate managers have a role to play in actively ensuring affiliates remain compliant and effectively market your brand across multiple channels. There are many different regulations, all of which can affect your business, and there is no excuse not to follow them.
This becomes even more important when you make the leap into multi-country trading. Each jurisdiction will have its own regulations. There may even be different rules for two areas in the same country. No matter what, you need to make sure you have a listening ear so you can always keep your program as compliant as possible.
Affiliate management offers a rewarding and fast-paced digital career opportunity that can lead to wider senior marketing roles. You can develop programs in-house that you can run yourself, or you can build on an existing network.
Either way, the above five skills can help you progress and build a successful program that affiliates will love and you will be proud of!
Lee-Ann Johnstone, CEO of Affiliate Insider.
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