Advanced Approaches to Affiliate Recruiting, Training & Management Heather Paulson , President, Paulson Management Group Geno Prussakov , CEO & President, AM Navigator LLC

Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov CEO & President AM Navigator Twitter.com/eprussakov

Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov

CEO & President

AM Navigator

Twitter.com/eprussakov

Definition Affiliate manager –

Affiliate manager –

Definition Affiliate manager – one called to manage the unmanageable ones

Affiliate manager – one called to manage the unmanageable ones

Challenges Affiliates are by definition unmanageable * love of independence * no performance contracts * freedom to join and/or drop merchants * intolerance of top-down management

Affiliates are by definition unmanageable

* love of independence * no performance contracts * freedom to join and/or drop merchants * intolerance of top-down management

Challenges Affiliates are by definition unmanageable Affiliates differ in (i) types and (ii) level of development/ maturity

Affiliates are by definition unmanageable

Affiliates differ in (i) types and (ii) level of development/ maturity

Challenges Affiliates are by definition unmanageable Affiliates differ in (i) types and (ii) level of development/ maturity De-theorized affiliate management

Affiliates are by definition unmanageable

Affiliates differ in (i) types and (ii) level of development/ maturity

De-theorized affiliate management

Redefinition Affiliate Management

Affiliate Management

Redefinition Affiliate Management Affiliate Leadership + Affiliate Program Management

Affiliate Management

Contingency Approach Contingent “ dependent on” “ conditioned by something else” There is “no one universal solution… but the correct solution will depend on the unique needs of the situation” /Montana, P.J., Charnov, B.H. (2002) Management./

Contingent

“ dependent on”

“ conditioned by something else”

There is “no one universal solution… but the correct solution will depend on the unique needs of the situation” /Montana, P.J., Charnov, B.H. (2002) Management./

Contingency Approach Affiliate Program Manager Style Traits Behavior Type Needs Maturity Training Task Restrictions Environment Affiliates Situation

Affiliate Program Manager

Contingency Approach More than 350 Fortune 500 ® companies report using it. Guidelines based on characteristics of individual followers – specifically, on their readiness or maturity level .

More than 350 Fortune 500 ® companies report using it.

Guidelines based on characteristics of individual followers – specifically, on their readiness or maturity level .

Contingency Approach “ Maturity has two different facets” Job maturity – “job-related ability, skills, and knowledge” Psychological maturity – “self-confidence and self-respect” /Landy, F.J., Conte, J.M. (2007) Work in the 21 st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology./

“ Maturity has two different facets”

Job maturity – “job-related ability, skills, and knowledge”

Psychological maturity – “self-confidence and self-respect”

/Landy, F.J., Conte, J.M. (2007) Work in the 21 st Century: An Introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology./

Contingency Approach

Contingency Approach

Example (low maturity) “Unable and insecure” = newbie (have the time, but lack education/training and psychological maturity) It is appropriate/necessary to: a) educate them b) provide them with specific instructions c) encourage

“Unable and insecure” = newbie (have the time, but lack education/training and psychological maturity)

It is appropriate/necessary to:

a) educate them b) provide them with specific instructions c) encourage

Contingency Approach

Contingency Approach

Example (medium maturity)

Contingency Approach

Example (high maturity)

Conclusion To achieve optimal performance, affiliate program managers are to adapt their leadership style to accommodate the affiliate’s level of maturity . Such leadership approach should be projected into all ways of communicating with affiliates.

To achieve optimal performance, affiliate program managers are to adapt their leadership style to accommodate the affiliate’s level of maturity .

Such leadership approach should be projected into all ways of communicating with affiliates.

Heather Paulson President PaulsonManagementGroup.com Twitter.com/heatherpaulsons

Heather Paulson President

PaulsonManagementGroup.com

Twitter.com/heatherpaulsons

Finding the Right Affiliates to Recruit The affiliates best suited for your program as well as your program offers are more easily pressed to be engaged then those that are not. Finding the right affiliates is “key” to engagement! So how do you find affiliates that WANT to be active with your affiliate program? First decide what type of affiliates you are after! Affiliate Types Coupon Affiliates (SEO) - Paid Search Affiliates Niche Affiliates Blog Affiliates Email Affiliates Video Affiliates Data feed Affiliates Webmaster Affiliates Social media Affiliates

The affiliates best suited for your program as well as your program offers are more easily pressed to be engaged then those that are not. Finding the right affiliates is “key” to engagement! So how do you find affiliates that WANT to be active with your affiliate program? First decide what type of affiliates you are after!

Affiliate Types

Coupon Affiliates

(SEO) - Paid Search Affiliates

Niche Affiliates

Blog Affiliates

Email Affiliates

Video Affiliates

Data feed Affiliates

Webmaster Affiliates

Social media Affiliates

Finding the Right Affiliates to Recruit Find the affiliates that are going to run with your affiliate promotional media and your terms of agreement as well as your offer need to be identified BEFORE you waste your time trying to activate affiliates who will not be able to run your program due to media or TOA constraints. YOU need recruitment tools that will help you locate the RIGHT affiliates. Finding the “right” affiliates is key to success Syntryx.com has 1.6 MILLION affiliates available now DomainTools.com Hand Research – Google, Blog Lists, Social Media EmailAnalyst.com

Find the affiliates that are going to run with your affiliate promotional media and your terms of agreement as well as your offer need to be identified BEFORE you waste your time trying to activate affiliates who will not be able to run your program due to media or TOA constraints. YOU need recruitment tools that will help you locate the RIGHT affiliates.

Finding the “right” affiliates is key to success

Syntryx.com has 1.6 MILLION affiliates available now

DomainTools.com

Hand Research – Google, Blog Lists, Social Media

EmailAnalyst.com

Do you want more Super Affiliates? Affiliates Can be Identified Through Code Through Click Domains Through Links Through SEO placement Through WHOIS Through Domain Names

Affiliates Can be Identified

Through Code

Through Click Domains

Through Links

Through SEO placement

Through WHOIS

Through Domain Names

Recruiting in Commission Junction Do you want more Super Affiliates?

Recruiting in Commission Junction CJ makes it easy to recruit affiliates! Search for affiliates based on PID “Push” your offer to super affiliates Email them and let them know what you are offering them

Recruitment and Activation Process Call the affiliates Email the affiliate and introduce yourself and your program Advertise in Paid Search Advertise Affiliate Forums and Boards Create an Affiliate Blog or Forum for your Program and optimize for natural search Call the affiliates again with a “bump”

Call the affiliates

Email the affiliate and introduce yourself and your program

Advertise in Paid Search

Advertise Affiliate Forums and Boards

Create an Affiliate Blog or Forum for your Program and optimize for natural search

Call the affiliates again with a “bump”

Now what do I do with all of them?

Where should your resources be dedicated?

Identify the Affiliate Marketing Clusters.

ARM – Affiliate Relationship Management ARM (Affiliate Relationship Management) is the process of identifying, categorizing (clustering into groups), and communicating with affiliates in different performance levels across multiple channels within the e marketing arena. ARM can be expanded to include partner programs within the offline marketing channels. ARM processes can be created based on the program's criteria, or on the affiliate or partner program's revenue goals. ARM – Process identified and the acronym coined in 2004 by Heather Paulson

Advanced Affiliate Relationship Issues Search Engine Monitoring – Major issue brand and trademark poaching Remedy – Get email alerts with iSpionage.com Social Media Monitoring – Major issue Power Cloaker’s such as LinkBrander.com shortening affiliate URL’s that are being used in twitter and social media, affiliates phish a click to set cookie. Remedy - Trackur.com, Filtrbox.com, Radian6, Twitter brand monitoring email Monitoring – brand management and enforcement of offers Remedy – email Analyst

Advanced Affiliate Relationship Issues Example of brand arbitrage in Social media using affiliate link power cloaker

Advanced Affiliate Relationship Issues

Advanced Affiliate Relationship Issues

Q & A Heather Paulson President PaulsonManagementGroup.com 1-800-384-7760 Geno Prussakov CEO & President AMNavigator.com 1-888-588-8866