The differences between an affiliate marketer and manager

Affiliate Marketer and Manager traits
16th Aug, 2021
Simon Colmenares Author Profile Photo Simon Colmenares

Although the terms affiliate marketer and affiliate manager are really similar, because both are related to the growth strategies of a brand, company, product, website, or even online games; with this guide we can remove doubts about what each of them is about so that you do not have more problems when you need to be one or the other or perform some of their specific activities.

In order to increase the qualities of each one, the companies or firms that need their figures, for example, must know very carefully what each one does. This is why we will first talk a little about what each one does.

Affiliate marketer

An affiliate marketer represents those independent partners who send the necessary referrals to a company, business or website for some kind of established commission.

Their main activity is to allow companies to expand their reach by referring affiliates to their products or services.

If we want to detail step by step the whole process that takes place, we will have:

  • Any type of affiliate person joins a marketing program or activity of any company or website.
  • Once affiliated, begins the stage of marketing by sharing all the links of that company or website through social networks, blogs and countless existing digital spaces.
  • Thanks to those shared links, potential customers can enter the company's digital spaces and make any kind of purchase, donation or registration in its facilities.
  • For each sale, lead or affiliate acquisition, the company will pay a commission to the affiliate marketer.

There are three types of affiliate marketers: high, medium and low value, depending on what you want to achieve in a job.

First, these high-value affiliates or partners are the most significant because they drive a large traffic of their own independent of the partner company or offer. They are represented by some bloggers, influential personalities in all social networks and people with great resources and properties.

Secondly, there are the mid-level ones that give a hand to some affiliates or users in the final decision-making. Among their main activities are those concerning the generation of reviews that fight against other negative and fake reviews to prove that the product offered is of better quality, price or importance.

Finally, those with a low value do not work with their own or personal traffic, but work with the traffic they can capture to establish the necessary customer service cookies. All this is done through adware, browser extensions, some applications designed for that purpose, some coupon sites and other tools to monetize such traffic and thus achieve new exposures.

In short, for the affiliate marketing strategy to bear the best fruits, other interactions are needed:

  • The synergy between its parts (company, seller and the creator of the product to be sold).
  • You will also need more and more affiliates to increase the marketing of your products and services offered to a greater number of people.
  • Each recruited affiliate is a spokesperson who will spread the word of the company to reach all corners and make the product offered look more appealing to other less interested audiences.
  • The more consumers there are, the more revenue will come into the company to maintain the level of profitability necessary to generate and promote bigger and better affiliate marketing programs.

When a company maintains a good and orderly affiliate marketing model, new customers and content can be reached more quickly to re-activate the market and generate revenue. Of course, all of this is significantly connected to the affiliate recruitment system and the follow-up that must be done. This is where affiliate management comes into play.

The affiliate marketer's work with partners

It is important to clarify that affiliate marketers are not like ordinary sales personnel. They have independent characteristics and the treatment they should be given is very different because they cannot be controlled.

The commissions they get are exclusive, with personalized promotions and with a high priority. This special treatment is due to the fact that thanks to them it is possible to reach in a faster and more pleasant way those potential clients and sectors with which using other methods the costs to reach them would be very high.

They have a great influence and trust that help to enlarge and enrich customer traffic and conversion rates.

Their importance generates greater interest and importance when dealing with smaller or relatively new brands or companies in the market.

It is important to emphasize that everything will depend on the level of these partners. Those at the highest levels are in charge of closing sales, fighting other clients' criticisms and working with personalized commissions. Those at lower levels are more in charge of referral networks, traffic interceptions and serve as the funnel with which they will or will not let in programs or products that do not fit their needs.

Affiliate Manager

Affiliate managing software

When we refer to affiliate management, we are talking about the program that serves as an intermediary between affiliates and the brands they promote within a company, company, website or blog, to mention a few contexts. This management can be done either internally or through an intermediary.

The figure of the affiliate manager oversees and coordinates the process of recruiting affiliates, as well as linking and strengthening these groups.

Among the solutions and activities they perform, the following can be mentioned:

  • Create affiliate campaigns and look for new ideas to make it sustainable over time.
  • Evaluates whether an affiliate program is successful or not and analyzes what needs to be improved to make the program more and more representative.
  • These managers also inspect the affiliate campaigns so that the return on investment is higher.
  • Prepare the respective reports on the results and maintenance of affiliate marketing.
  • Keeping track of affiliate commission payments.
  • Generate the best and most attractive affiliate strategies that encourage future affiliates and sales of your products.

Thanks to all these aspects and tasks, affiliate managers constantly grow and improve brands, affiliate management, affiliate marketing channels and optimize every little effort made in the affiliate process.

Speaking of getting paid by affiliate programs, check out this article on programs that pay very fast.

Other skills of a good affiliate manager

It is becoming increasingly difficult to locate an affiliate manager fit for all the work that is needed. But that doesn't mean that anyone with the relevant dedication can't become a high quality one. There are many agencies where countless managers with the best skills on the market work.

Each one of them has, or should have, a series of special characteristics so that any performance is carried out in the best possible way. Among those skills and abilities that an excellent affiliate manager must have, we present this list:

  • Good knowledge of the basic principles of timestamps and their attributions.
  • Good reading and understanding of HTML and CSS.
  • Ability to sell and develop business with the general public.
  • Problem solver for any type of problem that arises and do it creatively and quickly. Complex situations are the order of the day and can relate to different customers, partners, departments and traffic.
  • Willingness to generate good business.
  • Thorough knowledge of basic SEO principles, e.g. backlinks.
  • Experience with email software.
  • Patience, good temperament and boldness to work with customer services.

Are both affiliate managers and marketers necessary?

Both positions are fundamentally necessary for a company or business to have a successful campaign. It's not as simple as many people think that by hiring just anyone to add affiliate links to a website, the job will be done, and the commissions will rain down heavily.

Rather, as we have already discussed, the job is much more complex and difficult.

That is why you really need skilled people who know how to manage and market the product to be sold in order to generate the best commissions, revenue and affiliates.

Both will manage, organize, analyze, and work in the best way to maximize the quality and quantity of results through affiliate programs.

As their main task they will comply with the established affiliate program conditions, run the relevant campaigns, generate revenue, search for customers and affiliates and make the business much more profitable for everyone.

It is their task, and that of any company that hires them, to dedicate themselves to the expansion of high-level potential customers, and with this to obtain and form the best network of content and products that satisfy any need, producing good commissions and high recommendations within the affiliate market.

From now on, and with this guide, feel able to be or look for the best professionals with a thirst for the best marketing and affiliate management advances in the market.

16th Aug, 2021
Simon Colmenares