Qualities of a Great Affiliate Manager
More than anything, affiliate marketing Is about keeping long-term partners!
For more than 20 years, Jeff and I have been building relationships with the top affiliates, meeting a lot of them when they were just starting out. We keep things real as we are both very down to earth, no nonsense, business minds, and have experienced all the ups and downs in the iGaming industry since the beginning. We are also both parents so we have developed a lot of patience over the years.
A while ago, I had a discussion at a popular iGaming forum called GPWA who opened their doors to me in 2002 to interact with some of my affiliates. I asked, “What qualities do affiliates look for in an affiliate manager?” We made a list and I wonder how or if anything has changed with everything the industry, world and economy has gone through.
Here is the list:
- Trustworthy – above all else, there needs to be trust.
- Pay on Time – Affiliates are running a business. They are counting on payments to keep things running smoothly.
- Easy to contact – Affiliates are busy and when the time comes to work on your brands, you need to be available to them.
- Don’t be too pushy or demanding – Be patient. Things take time to develop.
- No endless e-mails and questions – Get things settled quickly. Don’t waste time with too much back and forth.
- Be to the point and transparent – In other words – be honest. Even if something negative happens, put it on the table. It will get sorted.
- Be realistic and fair – Affiliates are people and they are open to compromise and fairness, especially in iGaming.
Since these are qualities partners look for in any industry, we expect they hold up pretty well and are just as important today.
What do you think?
The Affiliate Agency Official Launch PR
With an eye on emerging iGaming markets, The Affiliate Agency (TAA) has launched to help merchants with affiliate program management and day-to-day management of their affiliate programs. The two veteran owners of TAA each have over 20 years experience with affiliate program management and relationship building. The Affiliate Agency is ready to leverage this experience and connections to help launch new and grow existing affiliate programs in all industries, with a focus on iGaming.
The Affiliate Agency is a full service affiliate marketing agency that is committed to flexibility when working with clients. Along with affiliate management staffing, TAA helps with affiliate recruitment, program setup, affiliate engagement, and manager training. The Agency also has a team ready to provide design of creatives, copywriting services and more. Each offering by TAA is available a la carte. The Agency is also affiliate software agnostic and will work with any tracking platform required, and can recommend the best system for each client from a list of trusted providers.
“The most difficult part of running a successful affiliate program is hiring seasoned affiliate managers who have connections to high value affiliates,” said General Manager Connie Burstin. “With The Affiliate Agency we plan to streamline and provide this process out of the box for brands, allowing them to hit the ground running and earning revenue with their affiliate programs from day one.”
The Affiliate Agency is based in the United States and Canada and has staff in Costa Rica, positioning itself to service iGaming operators targeting the Americas but also worldwide.
For more information about the Affiliate Agency, contact [email protected] or visit TheAffiliateAgency.co
Welcome to The Affiliate Agency
First of all, we hope everyone has stayed safe during this challenging, life-altering year. We are hopeful that things are taking a turn for the best and life will return to some sort of normalcy as soon as possible.
Tomorrow, June 15, 2021, Connie Burstin and I are launching The Affiliate Agency – a full service affiliate marketing agency focused on day-to-day management of affiliate programs for clients.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since I was recruited into the iGaming industry as a Casino Marketing Director. I think I speak for Connie as well, when I say the people I’ve met along the way have become lifelong friends. This is most true with affiliates.
Connie and I have always valued strong relationships, but we’ve learned over the years that not all brands and affiliates work well together. It always seemed that the affiliates who weren’t able to convert the brands I was working on, became my best friends and we’ve stayed in touch even though some have left the industry. I think it’s because after trying to work together and realizing it wasn’t a perfect fit, we were able to put business aside and get closer as people instead of just colleagues. Crazy how that works out.
I digress.
My point is that the industry is very close to my heart, especially affiliates. So, I am really proud to announce that after working for many years as an iGaming marketing director, affiliate manager and affiliate program consultant, I have teamed up with Connie Burstin, another veteran affiliate marketer, to start an affiliate agency called…. The Affiliate Agency!
Clever, huh?
We are offering the same great experience, connection with affiliates and program management that we have provided to our individual clients, but hopefully at scale. We have recruited other team members, including affiliate managers, designers, developers and copywriters to provide a turn-key solution for launching and managing an affiliate program for iGaming companies and brands.
If you’re looking to launch or improve an existing iGaming affiliate program, we hope you will consider working with The Affiliate Agency. We can help you get the most out our your program, faster and cheaper than doing it in-house. If you are set on running things in-house, contact for training or consulting. We are flexible with how we work with clients, and can provide individual affiliate marketing services as needed.
Please visit us at https://theaffiliateagency.co to learn more about how we can help!
Thanks and we hope to talk with you soon.
Jeff and Connie
Affiliate Marketing Is Building Relationships
Ever since I started interacting with affiliates, I made the decision to keep that interaction in my own style. Growing up in a business environment, I learned from my parents that customer service is such a high priority for maintaining long-term business relationships.
They told me that if you give them good service and treatment, nothing matters if there are changes in your business. They will always follow you. Your customers will look for you anywhere because of the treatment you give them. So, with that concept in mind the service that an affiliate should get from a program should always be VIP. I learned to never judge them by the amount of business they bring. I give each of them the support they need to grow their business from day one. Remember – small businesses today can be large businesses tomorrow.
The most important thing for me is to have open communication and always make room for discussions and compromise. Give them the tools they need for their audience. Prepare promotions where all affiliates can participate. The connection you make today will surely follow to continued success with partners for the long-term.
Over the years, there are affiliates that I have personally met. Some of them were casino players looking for business opportunities. Some were my program rep at large affiliate businesses. Others were just young business minds that just needed the guidance and support to make affiliate marketing an established business for their families. But no matter who they are or what background they enter the industry from, I am always ready to support them and help them build their business through open and honest communication. This has paid off for me personally and professionally and is evident by the friends and colleagues I have been working with for over 20 years.
I’m so grateful to read testimonials like from Greg who I have known since the early 2000s and with whom I am still working with even today.
“I have had the pleasure of both meeting Connie Burstin and getting to work with her since the early days of Online Casinos. In that time period, I have become a committed follower of Connie for a number of reasons which I will expand on below.
I have mainly worked with Connie in the Online Gambling sphere where competition is cut-throat. Connie is an intelligent Digital Marketeer. Whatever project she works on is inevitably supercharged due to her digital skills. I have always managed to convert & obtain excellent ROI with limited effort on my part due to her eye for detail in this niche.
What I like most about her is the manner in which she treats her marketing partners. Initially when I was not sending much traffic, Connie found the time to make suggestions to improve my business and to take it up a level.
I would recommend Connie Bustin for any Digital Marketing role simply due to the advice and help she has provided me with over the years in growing my web-based gambling business. There is without a doubt in my mind a wealth of experience and transferable skills lying in wait for a Media Company”.
Connie