The Affiliate Manager Strategist - Issue 1
Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:20 am by admin
Strategy of the Week - The Essential Affiliate Newsletter
Welcome to the first issue of The Affiliate Manager Weekly Strategist from Affiliate Classroom. Each week, we’ll discuss an affiliate management strategy and ask you for your input.
We decided to start the publication off by talking about newsletters - how appropriate!
In our AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training and Certification course, we go as far as to call the affiliate newsletter “essential”.
However, we know that many affiliate managers aren’t using this strategy. So, today we want to discuss some common road blocks that keep even the best affiliate managers from writing and sending out an affiliate newsletter.
Road Block #1 - I don’t know what to say!
This seems to be a common theme. Affiliate managers want to communicate with affiliates, but they don’t know what to say.
So, start off easy - talk about the things you know. Give affiliates more information about your products. Tell them about new links or promotions that you’re running.
Road Block #2 - I don’t have enough to say!
Even the shortest updates can be useful and motivational for your affiliates. Plus, shorter messages are more likely to be read than long messages, and most readers won’t be bothered if you send short messages more frequently.
Road Block #3 - I don’t have enough time!
Of course you don’t - and, honestly, you really never will! Affiliate Managers are known for their overflowing plates. But, hey - that’s why you love this job, right!
Give yourself one hour every week for newsletters. You may actually find that setting aside an hour to sit down and cover all of the little things that you have going on - you spend less time communicating the same thing over and over to multiple affiliates.
Road Block #4 - I don’t think that my affiliates want one!
Ahhhh - this statement sound like nails on a chalk board to us. After nearly 4 years of one on one work with affiliates through the Affiliate Classroom, the biggest complaint that we still get from affiliates is “my managers don’t keep me informed. I need to know what is going on.”
Your newsletter won’t replace the personal contact you make with top affiliates - but it’s good to have it there as a steady, reliable source of information even for your most active affiliates.
Questions of the week:
Do you send out a periodic affiliate newsletter?
If not - what road blocks are keeping you from getting it done?
If you are sending one - what advice do you have for other affiliate managers?
Join the discussion and post your answers in the comments section. Remember to add the URL for more information about your affiliate program!
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I’m not sure that the assumption here is necessarily a safe one — that newsletters are essential. Are they? Why? I don’t see it as a one-size-fits-all communications-enhancer. In fact newsletters can end up being a time-suck and negative ROI producer “depending.” On what? A myriad of things such as affiliates’ desire to communicate more effectively (if an affiliate belongs to dozens of programs, that means dozens of newsletters — some good, some bad and some being sent too often). They may “tune out” newsletters given how some aren’t produced well enough (they’ll throw baby out with bathwater). On the flip-side RSS is permission-based and blogging offers affiliates more control over what they’re receiving and how they’re consuming it. There are other reasons why newsletters may be ROI damagers this is just one.
Always the contrarian!