Affiliate management is one of those titles that no one really knows what it means, it’s a role that isn’t really defined in a way that a fund manager or accountant is defined, and in reality it’s a role that encompasses many different roles. I started my working life in affiliate marketing, you could argue that I’m one of the first generation of affiliate marketing professionals, in as much as professionals who have started their working careers in affiliate marketing. Given this I started right at the bottom of the ladder at a network, and in the grubbiest part of affiliate marketing, lead gen. I’m now pretty much at the top of the affiliate management ladder so i’ve managed to see how affiliate management has changed and witnessed many different approaches to affiliate management.
The old guard – the generation of affiliate managers before the ‘first gen’ (my generation) were able to capitalise on a newly emerging industry with few rules and only open to a select few, it was a small industry with only a few key affiliates, PPC brand bidding was rife and PPC agencies and teams weren’t common, this was how a lot of affiliates made a lot of money very quickly, and affiliate managers had their cut, it was ‘easy’ in as much as you knew who to work with and expectations and competition as well as knowledge was limited, so even a small improvement was significant. It was a case of who you knew more than anything else.
The arrival of the PPC agency- with many affiliates and agencies taking notice of Googles PPC proposition and merchants getting more experience of the online world and the numbers and implications, brand bidding started to become more limited this resulted in more competition, and a greater need to innovate, it became about content and big site, in particular price comparison, however as the price comparison grew, the affiliate marketing industry grew again and affiliate managers had to get yet more creative.
Discount discounts, everywhere – this falls well and truly in my generation of affiliate managers, in the generation we even have businesses and entrepreneurs who haven’t done anything else in their professional careers other than affiliate marketing. Discount codes have become even more significant with the the global recession really making consumers jitter and seek better value and bigger deals, it’s at this point that the industry really started to become more professional (we’re talking about 2008/09) the IAB affiliate marketing council was formed, affiliate managers were starting to get a stronger and deeper understanding of how affiliate marketing influenced the bigger marketing picture.
Different styles different strokes – these days affiliate management is done by freelancers, agencies, affiliates, and networks, everyone has a different idea everyone has a different approach and as with anything in the world of business, there is no right or wrong way of doing affiliate management. So with this, here are some different approached I’ve come across
The schmoozer – you see them at all the events wining and dining affiliate, he’s your best mate, so long as you run his campaign..but there is a bit of a catch, his campaigns really aren’t all that great.
The content writer- they’ll give you all the content you want, code it all up and generally give any affiliate what they want but when it comes to the client, you’ll struggle to find a report.
The back room loner- hardly seen at events, he’s the guy on your msn that you’ve done business with for years yet you’ve never seen him in person, he’s hard working and good with numbers, shame you’d sooner get water from a stone than any kind of bespoke strategy or innovation.
The trader – an all rounder that missed the turning into investment banking, good with numbers, good with peep, he’d see him mum just to get you to push his campaign, every things a deal and there’s no such thing as a free lunch
The analyst – it’s all about numbers with this one, want an exclusive code? You better prove it with numbers, need more reactive? Get the number, want a data feed? Yep, you guessed it, get the numbers.
The wanna be affiliate- they will always side with the affiliate, forget about what the client is trying to achieve, it the affiliates that count, they’ll get a client to allow brand bidding and release as many codes as possible just to keep affiliates happy
The innovator – affiliate marketing isn’t affiliate marketing to these folk, it simply a payment mechanic and it’s all about pushing the technology and mechanics to the n-th degree just to try something new.
The green ear – these are the marketers who ‘fell’ into affiliate marketing, they don’t get it and probably never will, then think cookies are for eating and de-duping is a kind of soap, good luck trying to explain to them a simple mechanic, they’ve made their mind up and will probably not change it even as the world crumbles around them
The old guard – the generation of affiliate managers before the ‘first gen’ (my generation) were able to capitalise on a newly emerging industry with few rules and only open to a select few, it was a small industry with only a few key affiliates, PPC brand bidding was rife and PPC agencies and teams weren’t common, this was how a lot of affiliates made a lot of money very quickly, and affiliate managers had their cut, it was ‘easy’ in as much as you knew who to work with and expectations and competition as well as knowledge was limited, so even a small improvement was significant. It was a case of who you knew more than anything else.
The arrival of the PPC agency- with many affiliates and agencies taking notice of Googles PPC proposition and merchants getting more experience of the online world and the numbers and implications, brand bidding started to become more limited this resulted in more competition, and a greater need to innovate, it became about content and big site, in particular price comparison, however as the price comparison grew, the affiliate marketing industry grew again and affiliate managers had to get yet more creative.
Discount discounts, everywhere – this falls well and truly in my generation of affiliate managers, in the generation we even have businesses and entrepreneurs who haven’t done anything else in their professional careers other than affiliate marketing. Discount codes have become even more significant with the the global recession really making consumers jitter and seek better value and bigger deals, it’s at this point that the industry really started to become more professional (we’re talking about 2008/09) the IAB affiliate marketing council was formed, affiliate managers were starting to get a stronger and deeper understanding of how affiliate marketing influenced the bigger marketing picture.
Different styles different strokes – these days affiliate management is done by freelancers, agencies, affiliates, and networks, everyone has a different idea everyone has a different approach and as with anything in the world of business, there is no right or wrong way of doing affiliate management. So with this, here are some different approached I’ve come across
The schmoozer – you see them at all the events wining and dining affiliate, he’s your best mate, so long as you run his campaign..but there is a bit of a catch, his campaigns really aren’t all that great.
The content writer- they’ll give you all the content you want, code it all up and generally give any affiliate what they want but when it comes to the client, you’ll struggle to find a report.
The back room loner- hardly seen at events, he’s the guy on your msn that you’ve done business with for years yet you’ve never seen him in person, he’s hard working and good with numbers, shame you’d sooner get water from a stone than any kind of bespoke strategy or innovation.
The trader – an all rounder that missed the turning into investment banking, good with numbers, good with peep, he’d see him mum just to get you to push his campaign, every things a deal and there’s no such thing as a free lunch
The analyst – it’s all about numbers with this one, want an exclusive code? You better prove it with numbers, need more reactive? Get the number, want a data feed? Yep, you guessed it, get the numbers.
The wanna be affiliate- they will always side with the affiliate, forget about what the client is trying to achieve, it the affiliates that count, they’ll get a client to allow brand bidding and release as many codes as possible just to keep affiliates happy
The innovator – affiliate marketing isn’t affiliate marketing to these folk, it simply a payment mechanic and it’s all about pushing the technology and mechanics to the n-th degree just to try something new.
The green ear – these are the marketers who ‘fell’ into affiliate marketing, they don’t get it and probably never will, then think cookies are for eating and de-duping is a kind of soap, good luck trying to explain to them a simple mechanic, they’ve made their mind up and will probably not change it even as the world crumbles around them
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