Following Weeks
As your program becomes more grounded, you should continue with all your previously initiated routines, as well as bringing new innovations and ideas to your program.
It is essential to maintain a constant flow of two-way communication with your affiliates. At a minimum, you will be sending a monthly newsletter. This should be complimented by targeted e-mails to work with the super affiliates as well as the under-performing affiliates.
To keep your program fresh and your affiliate productive, try to switch out your creatives every month. This does not mean you have to have brand new creatives from month to month, but maybe four months of fresh creatives that are rotated.
At this point, you’ve been paying affiliates and providing excellent support, so it’s a good time to begin collecting affiliate testimonials. If you are paying for the referral of new affiliates, the testimonials can make great banner copy. Testimonials also serve well to market your program on the affiliate program information page on your site.
There are a number of affiliate marketing conferences throughout the year, including AffiliateFORCE (www.affiliateforce.com), Affiliate Solutions (seminars.internet.com), and IIR Online Allies (www.iir-ny.com). Make it a priority to attend one or two of these events (at least) each year for excellent networking opportunities, education, and the latest information on the industry.
Whether or not you have been pleased with the performance of your program to date, it’s time to step it up a notch. Now that your program is up and running, it’s time to get together with other departments in your company to set up some compelling offers to tie into your affiliate program. Although you may be marketing a great product or service, it’s going to move even better if it’s tied to a sweepstakes, freebie, or coupon.
On that note, it’s also a good time to work on internal promotions for your affiliates. Another strong component of your affiliate community is the practice of rewarding the affiliates that perform well. Offer incentives to reach milestones, as well as promotions that are equally likely to reward any and all the affiliates, such as a weekly give-away of gift certificates, services, or other desirable commodities.
And to minimize repetitive questions, make it a practice to e-mail your FAQ to affiliates twice a year. This has long been a common practice on Usenet, and it is a very useful method for keeping your affiliates up to date and educated about your program.
Have the affiliate team test and track performance of their own and other programs on their personal sites
Participate in discussion boards
Monitor the competition
Identify and track prospective affiliates
Target e-mail to inactive affiliates
Compose tutorial
Network with other affiliate managers
Publish a monthly newsletter
Participate in your affiliate community
Switch out your banners and text links
Test techniques and analyze
Create content
Collect affiliate testimonials
Attend conferences
Develop affiliate promotions
Review log of questions asked by affiliates and add any new questions and answers to your FAQ
E-mail FAQ a minimum of twice yearly to affiliates