INSIGHT
applying it to your affiliates will help you
get noticed pretty quickly.
You might be the first brand to optimise
for chatbot marketing or to give better
rewards to affiliates than their competitors.
Add some spins and you’ll get your name
in front of your target audience easily
and cost-effectively.
The audience for press releases is
often much wider and even getting
backlinks through PR can help raise your
affiliate program profile. Attend lots of
events and network in person. The old
adage of people buy people is still prevalent
in the affiliate space. The more you can
engage and build trust, the faster you
will develop relationships that help grow
your programme.
Be selective
Focus on doing what you say and saying
what you do. Build relationships first
and campaigns or deals later. Sometimes
operators believe they need to be trying out
every vertical to survive but this isn’t always
the case. It’s about building reciprocal
relationships that deliver the right player
results, instead of just being visible on
every site. Build volume rather than fixating
on just being with one main affiliate brand.
Top affiliates charge premium rates for
their traffic. You can get the same results by
working with more affiliates that provide
affordable rates and still deliver good player
volumes. Don’t be afraid to say no to an
offer that doesn’t provide you with a cost-
effective margin in the early stages.
Be honest about what you want and
what you are willing to pay for rather than
waste an affiliate’s time by negotiating deals
that don’t make any financial sense. It’s
time-consuming for affiliates to update links
and website content. There are thousands
of affiliates out there that are potentially
a good fit for your site, so take time to be
selective about who you work with, what
they can deliver and how it fits in with your
own strategies for promotion. While it will
always be an end goal to be at the top of the
list on search engines such as Google, there
is no cause for concern if you aren’t there
within the first month.
Keep it simple
Your brand is probably just one in a long
list of brands that affiliates work with
daily so be succinct and clear in what
you’re offering. First impressions count.
Communicate to your affiliates in a way that
will make you memorable. Cut out jargon
from your email pitches, be clear about what
Pay on time and offer
transparent reporting
There’s nothing worse for an affiliate than
an operator that doesn’t pay their bills on
time. If you falter in payments then other
affiliates will know about it and you can
undo all your hard work. Small delays can
have a big impact on your affiliates.
“Be honest about what you want, what you are willing to
pay for rather than waste an affiliate’s time by negotiating
deals that don’t make any financial sense”
you offer and how you differentiate yourself
and train your affiliate staff to do the same.
After all, they are the front line for your
business and represent your brand. Humour
works well. When you are reading hundreds
of emails a day the one that makes you
laugh could stand out from the rest.
Affiliates want what’s best for their br and
and they’re looking to work with partners
that will support them. Show them how
you will benefit them and what they can
expect from working with you. Maintaining
a good reputation with your affiliates or
gossiping about your programme can stop
new deals from happening. Pay them on
time and respond quickly to queries.
Build a database of targets
Partner up with reputable marketing and
media suppliers, use your technology
provider to push your content to their
affiliate relationships, and do the research
yourself in Google. There are several
igaming directories, forums and media
partners that can help you reach a massive
affiliate audience from the get-go.
Engage and join the affiliate conversation
and market your brand. You can appear
as an expert speaker or write articles to
further your name. Affiliates want to get
to know you and understand that you’re
in the know too.
Showing you’re up to speed on the latest
regulatory changes and communicating
effectively is a sure-fire way to get in
your affiliates’ good books. If you can
show you’re a knowledgeable voice in the
industry, they’ll trust you.
Use reporting software to your
advantage as it will cut down on the time
needed to organise your affiliates. This
helps identify which affiliates are really
pushing your brands and which are falling
behind. Then, catch up with them, push
them further or offer them a different deal.
Analysing this traffic manually may not
be the best use of your time, so you will
want to use software that can automate
this for you. This depth of data analysis
will allow you to command negotiations
and get the best deals.
Running an affiliate program might
seem simple, but doing it well takes
skill. Knowing your affiliates and
spurring them on to success will be
great for your programme, so work hard
on these relationships. Get out there,
build your brand, then maintain your
shining reputation.
With almost two decades
of digital marketing and
affiliate experience gained
within retail, payments and blue
chip igaming brands,
LEE-ANN JOHNSTONE has
a wealth of expertise as an award-
winning digital marketing expert and
business mentor. She is the creator
of AffiliateFEST, founder of Best Odds
Marketing, a strategic digital consultancy
specialising in affiliate marketing, and
in 2017 she launched Affiliate Insider,
which offers affiliate bootcamps,
business retreats, affiliate manager
training and business development.
iGB Affiliate Issue 68 APR/MAY 2018
47