What do affiliate program management and football have in common?

You wouldn’t send your athletes out onto the field without any footballs, padding, or equipment would you? Of course you wouldn’t! Yet this is precisely what happens every time that a company leaps into affiliate marketing without considering its affiliates. They’re more than numbers; they’re your players, and individuals to boot. Affiliates have lives outside of your program, replete with hobbies, fears, loves, and interests. And just like players, if you send them out onto the field without a game plan or equipment, they’re going to get crushed by the competition. 

So put your coaching cap on and let’s review the 4 plays you can use to manage your affiliate marketing program to victory: 

     1.       Provide a game plan: Make life as simple as possible for your affiliates and when they’re out there on the field running around promoting your service and driving sales, they’ll need a quick-reference guide so that they don’t have to keep looking up the elevator pitch or the product details.

     2.       Produce the media for them: What would football be like if players had to sew their own footballs? Unless they were exceptionally talented at sewing they probably wouldn’t have a lot of time left for training, and wouldn’t be very good. Your affiliates likewise don’t have the expertise (or time, frankly) to make their own footballs! By developing Media like banner ads, graphics, FAQ’s, and taglines, you save your affiliate team time and allow them to focus on what you want them doing: selling. 

     3.       Ongoing contests and engagement: Getting started is only the first play of the game! Your team needs to stay motivated and focused. If you’re now thinking of your affiliates as players and people, you’re realizing that they have families to take care of, DMV appointments to get to, and dinner to make. By running contests, checking in, updating materials, and sending helpful emails, you help them stay focused and on-track in a  world where they also have their own busy lives!

     4.       Recruit super-affiliates: When the data comes back on your outsourced affiliate program management and you crunch the numbers, it’s going to be very clear who your top players are. Reward them and bring them closer into the fold! If they’re producing 10x the results of half of the people on the list, they deserve a better deal and to be treated as an MVP so that they continue to perform even better. These are the affiliates who are going to take you to the Super Bowl!

Now, just watch out for the cooler full of gatorade, because you’ve just about won! Keeping your team in play quarter after quarter takes game-plans, check-ins, strategy sessions, and the right media to make your affiliate management program a stellar success!

Looking for help getting started? 

Versa Marketing is among the top rated affiliate management companies because they’re exceptional at supporting the affiliate players that lead their customers to victory. 

Danger! Affiliate marketing and rocket science have more in common than you think

Affiliate marketing is like putting a man on the moon

How do you think a NASA mission to the moon might function without a mission control? You would have contractors around the world building their separate rocket stages without communicating and if one happens to work in the metric system and the other uses imperial inches and feet, you've got yourself some serious trouble brewing. And then you’d have Congress, who is funding things, pretty excited for the space mission but juggling hundreds of other projects (the economy, anyone?) and far too busy to double check things. And of course you would have the brave astronauts who, once launched, might have an emergency question but then nobody at home monitoring the cobweb encrusted radio. Can't you almost hear the screws rattling off as this cobbled-together rocket roars off into space? What odds would you give it for returning?

Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well this is exactly what we see time and time again when companies start their own affiliate marketing programs without hiring an affiliate marketing agency or “mission control,” if you will. 

Houston, we have a digital marketing problem

Affiliate marketing consultants come with the expertise of having launched rockets before. They have all of the relationships with all of the contractors (affiliates), they keep everyone on one standard of measurement (success metrics), and they know exactly what results the American public (their client) wants. And maybe most importantly, they’re there to take responsibility when the astronautes (your programs) call home and need advice (or need instructions on how to 3D print a wrench. True story).When everything comes together just like you want it to, that rocket returns home with a positive ROI. 

So as you're rolling put the schematics and designing your own affiliate marketing,outsourced affiliate program management and program management, you are most likely asking yourself, “can I really afford to involve an affiliate marketing agency?" But as someone about to perform the marketing equivalent of putting a man on the moon what you really need to ask yourself is can you really afford not to?

Ready to launch?

Versa Marketing is full of rocket scientists (of the digital marketing type) and they'd be happy to chat with you about where your rocket needs to go. Call us at 1-800-940-8780 or request a free proposal today! 

7 Tips for a Running a Successful Affiliate Program

Running an affiliate marketing company can be one of the most best ways to boost your sales, if you know how to do it right. Here are 7 helpful tips the best affiliate marketing companies apply to their programs. 

1.  Align the program strategy with your internal goals and objectives

Affiliate marketing can be valuable, but don’t let it change the way you do business. You should first consider if an affiliate program is a viable revenue opportunity, and also consider how it can help you reach your growth objectives.  Develop a program that aligns with the business goals you already have laid out.

2.  Select the right affiliate network to launch with

There are many affiliate networks to choose from, so make sure you vet each and pick the one that aligns most with your own goals and efforts. Some are generalized while others specialize by industry, and all of them will have their own distinct advantages and some have drawbacks.

3.  Develop the right affiliate commission structure

You can create custom terms for your individual affiliates, but you also need a default rate for all your standard affiliates. This will include a cut for your affiliate and the affiliate network. Will you have a flat commision structure or will it vary by product category? Is it worthwhile to pay for leads or offer sales incentives? Your affiliate manager can help answer these questions.

4.  Put in place the right program policies restrictions

To some extent, your affiliates are representative of you, so it’s important to have clear restrictions, such as banning offensive websites. Develop other guidelines for working with your company, such as limitations on paid search and coupon usage.

5.  Develop high performing media

Different content types speak to different audiences, so it's important to develop a wide variety of high performing media to reach the most potential leads. Banner ads are the most common option, but you should also develop text links, email creative copy, and product data feeds to gain the most reach.

6.  Develop an affiliate recruiting strategy

Depending on your industry, there are certain types of affiliates who will bring more value to your business. You should work to target these specific affiliate types, and develop outreach messaging to draw in the most valuable recruits.

7.  Align the necessary resources, expertise and experience to properly launch and grow your affiliate program

Many businesses have begun affiliate marketing, though few have the knowledge and expertise to gain exponential returns on their own. Working with experienced outsourced affiliate program management is the perfect way to ensure you make all the right choices for success from the beginning.

Versa Marketing Incis an expert affiliate marketing consultant with years of experience launching and managing existing affiliate programs.

 We leverage our experience affiliate relationships to develop the most effective performance based marketing strategy for your business