This week, the Affiliate Marketing Podcast welcomes Valery Fly, Senior Affiliate Manager at Alpha Affiliates. Lee-Ann and Valery discuss how Valery’s team manages their affiliate relationships and why they choose to have one affiliate account manager for each partner. They also explore the benefits of this approach for both the team and the affiliates. Valery shares three tips for affiliate managers: staying updated on industry news, being patient and building good relationships, and networking to build a strong professional community. Valery also reflects on the mistakes she has made and emphasises the importance of focusing on quality partnerships rather than quantity. Finally, they discuss their vision for the future of affiliate marketing…
Listen in here for all of the insights:
Building a career as an Affiliate Manager
Lee-Ann comments, “So you’re coming into the industry, you’re learning lots of different things. You’re learning to speak almost like a different language that affiliates speak. What about building a career as a successful affiliate manager? In particular, as a female leader. Because you are a senior manager in your company. What are the skill sets that you need to learn in order to step up after you’ve joined the industry? In order to teach others that are coming in after you?”
Valery replies, “It’s an interesting question because, especially six years ago, I believe that there were more men in the industry than women. Still now there are more men than women, but six years ago, there were very few women. Now, it’s growing more and more.”
Thinking about how you structure your program
Lee-Ann says, “When we spoke at SiGMA, we spoke about how your team structures your affiliate relationships. One of the things that was interesting to me was the fact that you like to manage affiliate partners end-to-end. So, from the day that they come into your affiliate program to the day that they become a supporting partner, they always remain with one affiliate account manager for that sustainability of relationship building. How did that happen and why did you guys choose to run your program that way?”
Valery explains, “It’s really interesting. I think that initially it started because a long time ago when the company was little we just didn’t have so many sources and so many people. To have several people for one manager I’d say more than six years ago when I started I was the only one manager so I fulfilled everything myself. But then we noticed that in fact, it’s very productive and comfortable for the partner. Usually we try to keep accounts with one manager.”
Tactical tips for Affiliate Managers
Lee-Ann asks, “What are some of the tips that you can give to affiliate managers that are coming up the ranks behind you? Having learned as quickly as what you have and having grown your career over the last six years, what are some of the things that you recommend they do in order to build their skillset and actually get into managerial roles? Because we don’t often talk about that. We don’t actually give guidance to affiliate account executives or juniors coming in to step up. So, what are maybe three tips that you can give from your experience working in the industry that will help somebody else to step up.”
Valery says, “I think the first one is just to be updated on all gambling news about the industry. Learn about the terms we were talking about before, like NGR, FTD, etc.
“The second is just to be patient. Be patient, be polite, and try to build a good relationship with any person who’s reaching you. Sometimes it can be exhausting, sometimes it can be tiring, but you try to be professional, you try to be calm. You know, it’s the same as some people who are working on the phone and you call them and get irritated or angry. So, you try to leave all your personal problems out of work and just always be polite.
“The third point I would recommend is to build some personal relationships. Attend a lot of different conferences, network, which is always very, very important that people know you. Not only partners, but also different magazines, different operators.”
Lee-Ann and Valery mention how important it is to learn the jargon in your respective industry sector. An example of one guide, of which there are many, can be found here. Take time to find the best tools and resources for you. Remember that this is about improving your own knowledge and efficiency and so the right resource for one person may be the wrong style for another person.
Listen to find out more about:
- Managing affiliate relationships end-to-end with one account manager can improve efficiency and provide a better user experience for affiliates.
- Affiliate managers should stay updated on industry news, be patient and build good relationships, and network to build a strong professional community.
- Focusing on quality partnerships and avoiding the temptation to take on too much can lead to better results.
- The future of affiliate marketing may involve more digital technologies to improve networking and create a more relaxed and enjoyable conference experience.
Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:
[06:16] The importance of learning terminology and gaining on-the-job training.
[08:22] Understanding the industry and how to position yourself in the industry.
[12:28] Self-preservation: How to time-manage – the tactics you need to remain fresh and give your clients the best version of you.
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