Erin Cigich
Living the Life of an
Affiliate Strategist By Erin Cigich
One of the inevitable questions that always arise when we sit down with one of our affiliates for a dinner meeting at a show or on a deep sea fishing trip in Sarasota is “What’s a normal day like for you?” While no day is typical, they are all exciting. If you are heading in to the office, chances are you’re throwing on your flip flops, shorts and a t-shirt and arriving around 9 AM. You’ve already checked your stats from home and said good morning to a few affiliates at that point, too. Once there, after grabbing your first free energy drink of the day, you meet with the marketing research team in order to take a deeper look at statistics. Are there any new offers that are winners? Any with potential but need a stronger test? Are there any new creative elements or promotional codes? The research team makes sure you are always ahead of market demands. Between statistics, emails, AIMs and calls, the morning typically flies by. Your stomach starts grumbling and that is when you realize it is already 2:30 and time to grab lunch. You either eat with some of the other affiliate managers, an ad rep whose
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campaigns you want to learn more about, or at the weekly marketing team meeting (hopefully lunch is catered in from Pei Weis today!). You grab your second energy drink of the day and then, it is time to make some calls. Good affiliate managers are not offer pushers, they are data analysts. Most afternoons are filled with strategic calls with top affiliates. After catching up on how their family and favorite sports teams are doing, you’ll hop into discussing their marketing methods, business model, cash flow and goals. This will allow you to develop a plan of action for the next days, weeks, months and years. The rest of your calls will be touching base with prospective affiliates in order to determine if they are a good fit for the network. Before you leave the office for the day (somewhere around 7 or 8pm), you’ll review any new campaign information. After dinner at home, odds are you are logging back on to connect with affiliates and do a little market research to make sure you are staying on top of industry trends.
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Once you finally head to bed, you double check your cell phone to make sure your ringer is on in case there are any developments that require your immediate attention. If that sounds hectic, it doesn’t even compare to what your schedule is like while attending a conference in New York, Las Vegas, Denver, San Francisco or even London; or entertaining an affiliate who has come to tour the office and go out on the town. Like most roles in this industry, being an affiliate strategist is fast paced and stressful at times, but knowing you are helping people grow their businesses is extremely rewarding.
Erin is the Director of Affiliate Publishing and leads Clickbooth.com’s team of affiliate strategists.