Five marketing and sales skills every affiliate manager should nurture

"Negotiating real estate on affiliate portals means you need to have a good sense of commercial selling and how to value different traffic sources. At the end of the day, this is a business, and you need to be able to make the right media advertising decisions that will help the business succeed and meet your overall customer acquisition targets."

"The affiliate marketplace can chop and change at any given notice, based on supply and demand on traffic sources, so you need to be prepared to make the right changes to your program terms to be able to keep up. Another part of this acumen will be your sales skills. Not only do you have to be able to sell your products and program usp's commercially, but you should also look to sell your brand values too."

Affiliate program management is not widely promoted within mainstream digital agencies, and many professionals enter via customer service or sales. A career in affiliate marketing can appear less attractive than media or social because of lower visibility. Heading an affiliate program demands mastering complex responsibilities and multiple skills. Effective managers negotiate portal placements, value varied traffic sources, and make media advertising choices that meet customer acquisition targets. Managers must adapt program terms as marketplace supply and demand shift, apply sales skills to sell products, USPs, and brand values, and maintain deep digital knowledge and trend awareness.

Read at The Drum