After LAC, everyone is always bursting with energy and ready to build on the relationships they have made during the conference.
One of the most common questions affiliates get asked by operators during this time is “Do you Have Traffic”? That’s not always the best way to grab their attention – and neither is cold calling as a preferred outreach. We have put some steps together to help you reach out make contact and meet more affiliates without being creepy!
Share their Content on Social Media Channels
If you already have affiliates in mind that you didn’t manage to reach when you were at the conference – have a look at their social media channels and find a piece of content that resonates with you. You can not only share these on your own mediums but any other relevant professional groups that may link you. That way, they are already aware of you, and you have engaged with their brand. At this point, if you were to reach out to them via LinkedIn for example – it wouldn’t seem like a cold outreach.
Visit the Contact Us Section of their Website
Every affiliate portal will have a contact us page for you to visit. You can either reach out using the company information that is listed there – or there will be a form where you can send a message onsite. The best idea is to personalise this to the brand. If you show that you haven’t done any research, they are far less likely to want to engage with you and view it as spam. If you really want to make an impression and show you know your stuff, have a look at the most recent articles they have put up and see if you can find the author profile. At the very least this will give you more info about them.
Subscribe to their Email List
Almost every affiliate portal has the option to subscribe to a newsletter. If they send out valuable and useful content – this is another avenue where you can reach out with questions, feedback or share the content. Even if it’s not the right person it gets back to, you will still have a foot in the door.
Use Effective CRM Tools
There are some great CRM tools out there that can help you track of your mutual connections and people with common interests as well as email addresses all within one system. HubSpot is excellent for this – and allows you to find details of job titles, location etc, as well as the option to check out other tabs such as “Icebreakers” and “Get Introduced”. Using something like this could be a good way to find affiliates effectively.
Now you know how to start finding new affiliates without appearing too creepy. So give it a try and see how you get on. If you want more advice on how to grow your affiliate program follow our FACEBOOK page for Wednesday’s Affiliate Drive Time segment with Lee-Ann Johnstone.
