Images from Affiliate Manager Boot Camp: Recruiting, Educating, and Retaining Affiliates

These are the images from the book, "Affiliate Manager Boot Camp: Recruiting, Educating, and Retaining Affiliates". Details on the book at http://www.AffiliateManagerBootCamp.com

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Affiliate Manager Boot Camp: Recruiting, Educating, and Retaining Affiliates

Affiliate Manager Boot Camp for Amazon Kindle

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Affiliate Manager Boot Camp: Recruiting, Educating, and Retaining Affiliates on the nook.

an advertisement for clubmom with the caption's name and date on it

There was a bit of an evolution here, besides, as the back of this postcard included my AIM at the time (note – this was before the ninja thing was all played out) and my home phone number to reach me outside of office hours.

a happy new year's resolution for the club mom wishes you happy holidays

In Part 2 on recruiting affiliates, I mentioned using direct mail as a method to recruit affiliates, but it also can be used as a retention method. Here is a postcard I sent to existing affiliates in late December 2003.

the payless shoesource afttiate program is on display in this screenshot

And then there was the sales guide, which was my vision of a new employee guide for each affiliate program. My thought was that affiliates are partners and they should be given the tools they need to have the best chance at succeeding with the affiliate program.

an image of a website page for a child's playgroupe center, with the caption snapfish offline center

One day I petitioned my boss to let me create a site with the look and feel of the main company site, except that mine would consist of a handful of pages focused on the affiliate program. The domain would be the company name and the word “affiliates.” They went for it, and I created the site with a page for the affiliate program application, newsletter archive, affiliate agreement, a blog for updates and news, a contact form, FAQ, and a sales guide for the affiliates.

an advertisement for the instrument pro website

Musical Instruments

Musical

It worked, again. So I started using direct mail for all of my other clients. Here is a card I sent for Instrument Pro, a company that sells musical instruments.

a sign that says chip'n dough affiliate program next to a tin with cookies in it

In 2003, I started managing additional affiliate programs on the side for the next few years. My first client was a cookie company called Chip ‘N Dough, and I followed the postcard formula I used at ClubMom featuring value propositions of the affiliate program.

a close up of a business card with an email address

Value Proposition

The Back

This piece of mail was different from the previous one, as it had value propositions for the affiliate program on the front, and then I just put my contact information and how to apply on the back.

a sign with the words club mom affiate program on it

Real Time

Graphic Designer

Pie Chart

After I was able to get access to a graphic designer, I mailed out a much more impactful postcard with the front focused solely on the affiliate program.

Rear of the first ClubMom affiliate program. I was able to sell the affiliate program with the left side of the back of the postcard.

It might seem like taking a step backward to use direct mail to recruit new affiliates, but that mindset will keep you from one of the most impactful methods I’ve used to bring on quality affiliates and stay in touch with them. I started using postcards back in 2000 to recruit affiliates for the ClubMom.com affiliate program. The vendor I used back then would take a screen capture of a site and make that the front of the postcard.

While it can be a bit much to keep track of so many different social networks, HootSuite is a great tool for monitoring social media for mentions of your company and industry and for participating in the conversations. I have a second monitor set up just to keep an eye on the various social networks and stay on top of what’s being said.

a computer screen shot of the software program's main page, which includes information about its features

A benefit of being in a network is that many of them offer enhanced placements to get more exposure for your affiliate program. We run the Affiliate Summit affiliate program on ShareASale, and they offer a number of options to feature our affiliate program.

the dell home affiliate program is being viewed on its webpage, which includes an email address

Affiliates that want to promote your company often will look for your company name and the words “affiliate program” in search engines. Be sure to make this search as easy as possible for them by having the page on your company site titled “Company Name Affiliate Program.” Dell does a good job with this and they repeat those keywords a number of times to optimize their page for the search engines.