I am back in my hotel room exhausted from the mental workout of the first day of Affiliate Management Days. The information and networking from the day are invaluable. I would highly recommend this event to anyone who wants to take their affiliate management to the next level. However, I know making it to San Francisco is a challenge for many so I wanted to provide you as much information as possible.
So here is my executive summary of the days along with growing task list as a result of the sessions and great talks.
My key take away today is one that is almost a cliché in the industry but driven home with details throughout the event. Affiliate management is about relationships. Yes, I know you have heard that many times but think about it in terms of the real relationships in your life. So here is my breakdown of the events based on relationships.
Be Respectful: In the keynote welcome address, we got the affiliate perspective. This perspective continued throughout many of the sessions. The driving message for me was affiliates want you to be respectful. Be respectful of their time, their traffic, their resources and their users. If you make a change on your site or program that impacts them, call them. If they drive a customer to your site, take care of that customer. Show respect by being personable and remembering that to get respect you need to give it.
Don’t be creepy. Ok I stole this from Gary Kibel’s session which applied to our behavioral marketing but I feel it applies to affiliate management in general. Super affiliates told me, they don’t like to be stalked. Affiliates of course hate leaks on their landing pages…I mean that is really creepy and actually slimy if you think about it. Be transparent in your communication from your first impression with an affiliate and throughout your relationship. Because really creepy and slimy folks get dumped. And we are looking for a long term relationship here.
Be a good friend. I don’t know about you but all my best friends are great listeners. Listen to your affiliates. They want to talk to you to you for you both to be successful. Also be sure to give back. Takers don’t last long in my personal life and even less so in business. Provide your affiliates with the tools they need to be successful: content, updates, testimonials, videos, creative, killer keyword lists and top selling products.
Spend the most time with your best friends. In the affiliate world, these are your top performers. Make sure they have everything they need. They are special…reward them accordingly. Focus on the affiliates who give you incremental sales and put your efforts into those relationships. They are worth all the effort and more.
So now I will bravely share my To Do list from today…gulp…a big taste of accountability on my part.
- Update this blog to be more of an information center for new and existing affiliates
- Focus more on recruitment including looking into Linkdex
- Get help with recruitment…wow there is a lot of opportunity
- Create more content tools for my affiliates
- Be extra sure to check all my links when I launch my new Cleatskins store and let my top performers know before hand
- Update my clients’ landing pages based on the critic provided in one of my sessions.
Stay tuned for Day 2’s summary. I will also create a quick tip list.
I hope this post allowed you to brainstorm a new To Do List as well. Let me know what yours are so we can feel a little overwhelmed together.
I have been a blogging queen today. Check out my detailed blog posts of three other sessions on Smallbiztrends and Affiliate Management Days
How to Recruit Better Value Affiliates #AMDays