Too often, affiliate marketers ignore one of the most powerful resources available to them: The affiliate managers in charge of the casino brands they promote.
Obviously, we’ve all dealt with the affiliate managers for the programs we promote. But how often is that communication reactive, and how often is it proactive? And what’s the difference?
Reactive communication
This is the most typical type of communication between affiliates and affiliate managers. Unfortunately, it involves waiting until there’s a problem — or the suspicion of a problem — before anyone initiates communication.
Proactive communication
This is a less frequently used — but more effective — form of affiliate communication.
As with any aspect of business, it’s better to be proactive than reactive. That means you’ll be more successful if you prevent problems (proactive) than if you solve problems after the fact (reactive).
And that means opening up the lines of communication at an early stage. Most major casino affiliate brands will do this for you — usually, you’ll get a dedicated affiliate manager who’ll reach out to you when you sign up.
When they do, don’t ignore them. Easier said than done: If you’re busy (and who among us isn’t?), it’s very easy to gloss over all those welcome emails and simply file them away.
But taking the time to respond to them, and open up the lines of communication, means you’ll be better prepared in the future, when you may have to contact them for different reasons, such as for problems that may arise. (And even the best affiliate programs are subject to the occasional technical snafu.)
Questions
These are the central questions you should ask when signing up with a new affiliate program partner:
- How do I choose my commission model?
- When are payments issued?
- What kinds of payment methods are accepted?
- Are there any special incentives?
- How does the tracking / control panel work?
Again, most of these are basic questions that should be answered without you having to ask them. But, in case they’re not, you need to get this info right away.
And consider particularly that last bullet, the control panel. Even if it’s simple, and you’re a whiz, you’ll still be smart to get some minimal guidance to figure it out. And your affiliate manager is, of course, the ideal person for that job. Think of it as an opportunity to contact your affiliate manager and say hello, to open up the communication lines for the future.
It’s up to you
Hey, we understand it’s really the affiliate managers’ job to be proactive. And with most leading affiliate programs, that’s definitely the case. When you sign up for the program, you should receive an email from the affiliate manager. It’s probably a template, but it sort of has to be — it makes sense to start off with basic info, and to send that info to affiliates via a template.
But from there, it’s up to you. Get invested in your affiliate program’s details. Ask your affiliate manager for statistics, and for any information that may not have been presented to you when you first signed up.
Be prepared
Look, you have to be prepared for difficulties. In a perfect world, all affiliate managers would be on top of all issues before they happen.
But it isn’t realistic to expect that in every case. The bottom line is that it’s your money at stake, and the more proactive you are with communicating with affiliate managers, the more likely you’ll be to see every penny you earn.
Certainly, it’s more effective to be proactive than reactive. If you’re concerned about something that’s happened — and especially if you’re angry about something — you’re not in the best position to open up a line of civil communications. Make sure you do that before any problems arise, and you’ll be much better positioned to deal with potential issues that arise later on.
So go on, give it a try. Contact the affiliate managers representing your key affiliate program partners today, and start being proactive — before it’s too late.