The second issue of FeedFront, Affiliate Summit’s official magazine, is out. I have an article in this issue (page 53) where I discuss the differences between affiliate program management and affiliate leadership (the latter being the way successful affiliate program management works). Here’s an excerpt:
Affiliate manager’s classic roles are those of recruiting, planning, optimizing, organizing, directing and controlling. Affiliate managers ““ either outsourced or in-house ““ are perceived by merchants/advertisers as “œthinkers”, whereas affiliates/publishers are viewed as “œdoers”. The problem is that it often stops at that ““ the impersonal, efficiency-oriented, hardcore management. Such approach and style works in classic teams, but affiliates are as far from being a traditional workforce as any group of people could be. Very few merchants can afford to practice a rational management approach and still run successful affiliate marketing campaigns…
You may download a PDF version of the full magazine here, or sign-up for free at this page. Thank you for the opportunity, Shawn!
The end of the article got somewhat cut off. So I am posting it below:
What are the important personal qualities for an affiliate manager to develop to compliment his/her approach by good leadership? …Kotter recommended addressing it on five levels: (a) heart, (b) mindfulness, (c) communication, (d) courage and (e) character. Management is traditionally prone to the boss-employee emotional distance, while leadership is about emotional connectedness (heart); managers are believed to possess the expert mind, whereas leaders are characterized by an open mind (mindfulness); management is concerned more about talking, whilst leadership believes in improvement through listening (communication); management is about conformity, and leadership is all about nonconformity (courage); manager’s approach epitomizes insight into organization, whereas leaders practice insight into self (character).