7 reasons to hire a freelance affiliate program manager rather than train an in-house affiliate manager

7 reasons to hire a freelance affiliate program manager rather than train an in-house affiliate manager
Posted by julian_mills Published in Articles on Affiliate Marketing by Julian Mills

If you are a merchant looking to launch an affiliate program or revitalise an existing program then the biggest consideration is who is going to manage the program. It is easy to underestimate the amount of time required to manage and develop a successful affiliate program. A common error merchants make is believing that it is simply a case of setting up the program and putting a link to it on the home page of the main website -then wait for affiliates will flock to promote your product -nothing could be further from the truth. To give your program the best chance of success requires an affiliate manager – either in-house or freelance to take ownership and develop the affiliate program.

Below are 7 reasons why it makes sense to hire an external freelance affiliate manager as opposed to training an in-house member of staff.

1 A freelance affiliate manager already has experience of setting up and managing programs. There is no training and learning required.

2 The work may not be a full time job and so not require a dedicated member of staff. A freelance affiliate manage can accommodate this in their schedule.

3 An in-house member of staff may have other duties which are priority -so the affiliate program does not receive the attention it requires.

4 Does your in-house staff member have all the required skills? Affiliate managers have to be an online ‘jack of all trades’. They have to be confident selling and promoting your affiliate program to prospective affiliates. A mentor – encourage affiliates to promote your offer and to increase sales. They have to be technically competent – working with HTML code, graphics, affiliate network applications, results analysis for example.

5 An affiliate manager needs to have industry contacts. An external freelance affiliate manager is networking within the affiliate marketing community day in day out.

6 Affiliate management is a self contained role that can be outsourced easily. Clients can keep in contact with a freelance affiliate manager with regular meetings and phone calls. A freelance affiliate manager is independent and does not require micro management.

7 A freelance affiliate managers’ results are easily measured and performance can be rewarded with a commission structure.

At the end of the day each merchant has a different set of requirements and it depends on the situation and for the merchant to decide which route to pursue.