What Does An Affiliate Manager Do & How They Help With Affiliate Marketing

I’ve been asked a lot in the past by affiliate partners, what do I and other affiliate managers do. Infact, I’ve even spoken about it a couple of times on a couple of podcasts. I give up trying to explain my job to family and friends as well…

Its understandable, many people believe affiliate managers simply reply to emails from affiliates as and when.

There is however so much more to it than that. In this article im going to go through what an affiliate manager is responsible for and why its such an important role for an in-house affiliate program or affiliate network.

I’ve been an affiliate manager now since 2008, starting off as a junior affiliate manager and working my way up to head of affiliates and network director.

I wanted to share what my typical daily tasks where and what is needed to help you learn more about the affiliate marketing manager job.

Quick Takeaways

What is an Affiliate Manager?

An affiliate manager is someone who connects the brand with the affiliate.

At times they’re the unsung heroes of an affiliate program.

They’re the person that’s responsible for building, maintaining and optimising affilate programs. Driving traffic and sales to a business.

The best way to think of an affiliate manager is to think of them as the bridge that connects the brand and the affiliates.

A misconception is that an affiliate manager simply provides affiliate links or creatives, there’s so much more to it.

The role of an affiliate manager is to not only recruit new affiliates, but help them to succeed.

They need to build relationships with affiliates, monitor their efforts and to help not only grow their sales but ensure that this boosts the businesses bottom line.

For a healthy affiliate marketing ecosystem, a skilled affiliate manager is crucial.

An affiliate manager is often the wearer of many hats.

Skills and Qualifications of an Affiliate Manager

Before we go into the skills needed, lets have a look at the qualifications.

Some programs will require a bachelor’s degree in marketing, personally I dont think its needed.

In fact I dont have any degrees in marketing.

I would put more focus on getting actual marketing experience. In fact I often recommend affiliate managers to try and be affiliates first, this will help give them an understanding from both sides.

When it comes to skills needed, there are a few that are needed;

Communication Skills – Its important that affiliate managers do have communication skills, this needs to be in both written and verbal. (Which is why I have to take extra care because my spelling is terrible!).

They need this to share strategies, guidelines and feedback.

Although more importantly they need to be able to build real relationships with their affiliates and thats only possible with communication.
Data Driven/Analytical – A part of affiliate managers role is to consistantly analyse affiiate performance, this allows you to make data-driven decisions when working with individiual affiliates.
Negotiation Skills – An affiliate manager will often find themselves in the middle between the company and the affiliates.

They therefore need to effectively be able to negitate commission structures and contracts, as they try and find a win-win solution.

Daily Tasks of an Affiliate Manager

There are a number of tasks that an affiliate manager would do on a daily or weekly basis, which hasn’t really changed since I started doing it in 2008.

(Although there are a lot more tools available to make things easier, and more complicated at the same time)

Affiliate Recruitment

One of the most important tasks for an affiliate manager is recruitment, a program that doesnt have active affiliate recruitment is not going to grow.

Your top affiliates are going to change through the years and if you do not have growth in the affiliates that join, you’ll eventually find sales decreasing or being to reliant on a selection of affiliates.

Now that doesnt mean affiliate managers should just recruit anyone.

Its important to only recruit targeted affiliates that are going to help grow the brand. Its not quantity but quality.

Affiliate Onboarding

A task that is often overlooked is the onboarding of affiliates.

Recruiting them is just step one, they then need to be onboarded into the platform effectively.

This means guiding them through the platform, providing them with guidelines, resources and of course continued support.

This also includes regular check-ins to make sure they’ve got everything they need to help with their promotions.

Relationship Building

This then leads onto relationship building, which is crucial.

An affiliate manager should build and maintain strong relationships with their affiliates.

Affiliates should feel valued and motivated, as this is going to help improve the success of the affiliate program.

An affiliate managers job is to make sure they communicate with their affiliates on a regular basis. They can address any queries, offer guidance and build a rapport.

This will help them build a long-term and mutally beneficial partnership.

Its worth noting, if you’re running an affiliate program its very important that you give the affiliate manager everything needed to help build and grow those relationships.

Campaign Planning and Execution

Affiliate managers will often run different campaigns throughout the year, these will require planning and executing.

It is down to the manager to develop and coordinate them with affiliates to get the most out of the campaign.

Typically the affiliate manager would need to do the following for a successful campaign;

Set clear goals and KPIs
Identify the target audience
Create promotional material
Agree on launch dates
Release to affiliates
Monitor performance

An example campaign might be a special promotion for Valentines day or Black Friday promos.

Keeping an Eye On Affiliate Performance

Obviously its very important to recruit new affiliates but at the same time affiliate managers need to monitor the performance of exisiting affiliates.

There are a number of ways that this can be done;

Through their own data IE Spreadsheets/CRM
Reports on an affiliate tracking platform
Analytics tools such as Google Analytics

I would typically look at all three, this helps give a much clearer picture.

Its important to be able to see any sudden drop off in sales, as well as any improvements as well.

This data is incredible valuable, I would use it to communicate to those that are top sellers to see what we can do to increase the sales even more.

Next see those that are making some sales to see what can be done to increase conversions.

Finally reach out to those affiliates that are generating clicks but making no sales, to see what can be done to improve their promotions.

Compliance and Fraud

The affiliate manager is also in charge of making sure their affiliates are compliant and following the guidelines of the company.

This involves checking promotional methods and ensuring the traffic is following the terms and conditions.

For example some companies do not allow brand bidding or coupon promotion.

Affiliate managers also need to keep an eye out for potential fraud risks, helping to protect the companies reputation.

Negotiating Contracts and Commissions

Many affiliate programs have a standard commission, however to appeal higher performing affiliates managers do need to do a bit of negotiating.

They have to try and get a deal that is attractive to the affiliate but at the same time will still be profitable to the company.

A good tactic I like to use is tiered commission. Rewarding those with higher commission with higher commissions.

Benefits of Working with an Affiliate Marketing Manager

For Affiliates

The main benefit of working with an affiliate manager is to try and help people become even more successful affiliates.

As mentioned they’re there to give affiliates what creatives and support they might need to help increase traffic and conversions.

For Businesses

The biggest benefit for businesses to work with an affiliate manager would be to help implement and grow the affiliate campaign, this increasing brand awareness and revenue. Implementing an affiliate marketing channel is a low risk way of increasing sales.

As an example, I’ve launched a brand new product to market and within 6 months it was generating over $500,000 a month in affiliate sales.

Martyn's Wrap Up

Hopefully this article has helped explain what affiliate managers do all day.

As I am sure you’ll agree, it is a lot more complex than many people do think.

A successful affiliate manager serves as the middleman for the brand and the affiliate promoting that brand.

They dont just answer emails but also recruit new affiliate partners. A good affiliate manager will also help affiliates with their marketing strategies.

This will include providing creatives and helping them to increase traffic and conversions.

Having been an affiliate manager for most of my professisonal career, I cannot imagine doing anything else.

I love helping people to become an affiliate, recruiting affiliates and building relationships.