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An affiliate manager can be the secret weapon that helps you maximize your customer acquisition rates, providing you with insider knowledge, expertise, and resources that will boost the performance of your affiliate marketing campaigns.

If you’ve read the Batman comics as a kid or are a fan of the films, you’re likely very familiar with the classic image of Batman perched on rooftop of a skyscraper, brooding over Gotham City. But even though he spends a lot of time by himself, quietly reciting his own inner monologues, Batman isn’t necessarily working alone all the time, and there’s a good reason why.

Deep in the Batcave is Alfred, his long-time butler, and confidant, briefing Batman on potential new threats to the city, providing him with intel for specific objectives, sourcing tech upgrades to boost his arsenal, and providing a wealth of insightful advice that enables Batman to focus on the big picture.

So, you might be asking: What does an affiliate manager have in common with Batman’s resourceful companion? More than what you may think: just like Alfred, an affiliate manager that works with your partner network – affiliates, influencers, and content creators – can drive that same level of insider knowledge, expertise, and resources for you to leverage, enabling you to boost the growth and scaling your company’s customer acquisition.

Leveraging the power and influence of affiliates has long been an effective source for driving results. In fact, recent survey data indicates that more US executives rank affiliate marketing in their top three revenue channels, highlighting its effectiveness for improved ROI, greater spend control, and revenue generation. And just as Alfred closely supports Batman’s mission for justice, your affiliate manager can closely support your brand’s mission to maximize your customer acquisition via affiliate partners.

A Source of Expertise

Those who are familiar with Alfred might not know his hidden backstory as a former special operations agent. This connection to the intelligence community has granted him access to covert sources of information that outsiders aren’t privy to. Like Alfred, your affiliate manager has insider industry knowledge, keeping their finger on the pulse of trends and gleaning knowledge about what works with affiliates, passing those insights along to you. And just like Alfred unveils new armor upgrades or arsenal for Batman to use for missions, your affiliate manager can likewise provide new strategic and tactical ideas for your own campaigns to help you achieve your targets.

Plugged into the Network

Alfred always seems to know what’s going on in Gotham and somehow manages to access international databases, enhancing Batman’s ability to target and track down persons of interest. Similarly, affiliate managers have access to a large network of affiliates that they can filter and curate, matching you up with partners that are best equipped to deliver optimal results. Their long-established relationships and credibility also save you time and money otherwise spent on managing multiple affiliate partner campaigns in-house.

Just as Alfred closely supports Batman’s mission for justice, your affiliate manager can closely support your brand’s mission. (© Warner Bros.)

Managing Operations So You Can Take Action

It’s great having the connections and insights to drive your targeting strategy, but one of the biggest struggles is allocating resources to follow through and execute your marketing campaigns. Brands that run their own affiliate campaign are often expected to support their affiliates, monitoring their content for accuracy and compliance, fielding their questions, creating new marketing content and assets, aggregating and analyzing results, and more.

In other words, somebody has to make sure the Batmobile is maintained, primed, and ready to go at a moment’s notice. And as a brand, your time is better spent at the dashboard than under the hood.

To alleviate you from the day-to-day burden of operations, you can rely on your affiliate manager to keep the wheels turning on your campaign, tracking your analytics and supporting your affiliate partners with both answers to questions and best practices to succeed on your behalf. This frees you up to focus on your next promotion and strategizing ways to meet your campaign objectives.

How to set yourself up for success

Here are ways we recommend to optimize your partnership with affiliate managers:

• Communicate your objectives clearly so that affiliates managers can best deliver to your expectations.
• Ask questions! When it comes to understanding what will entice affiliates and their audiences, your affiliate manager can be a great source of information, advice or even ideas for new promotions.
• Keep them up to date with any notable product releases, new developments, and company news. Aside from promoting your brand, affiliates are also keen on brands that are making waves or leading the way in their industry, and your affiliate manager can be the conduit that relays this information directly to them.

Are you new to affiliate or influencer marketing? Financial brands that work with us save up to 70% on their acquisition costs when partnering with our network of affiliates and influencers. Learn more about the benefits of affiliate marketing for financial brands.