Legacy. Publisher Development and what really makes an affiliate program thrive

Do something you love and you’ll never work another day in your life.” Cliché? These were the words of my late grandfather to me. The words of a family man, not entirely wealthy, but provided for his family and left a legacy worth millions. You see, my grandfather loved to help people. He worked in the electrical power business building and repairing transformers and substations in Oklahoma. When a storm came and your power went out; he was the guy who suited up at 3am to climb a power line and get your dark house back to light. I had the honor of speaking at his funeral. My greatest memory was a man who confided in him about being without air conditioning in the midst of a very hot summer. That afternoon I assisted my grandfather in not only purchasing, but installing an AC unit in that family’s house.

How does this relate to affiliate marketing and what I am doing at JEBCommerce?

I’ve been involved in every aspect of affiliate marketing for the past 11 years. My first taste of the business was building sites (to be fair, pretty terrible looking sites) and cashing my first few publisher checks. I was immediately hooked! After a year of being an affiliate I was offered a job as an affiliate manager and the rest is history. I’ve been managing programs ever since.

For the past several years now I’ve operated as a one man shop. I was essentially a micro-version of an OPM; handling every aspect of affiliate marketing for 2-3 programs at a time. I really love getting to know different types of businesses, learning from their marketing people and discovering new sales channels for a product.

Early this year I was managing 1 single, large program that was in a very mature industry. It was a challenge and decided to start looking for new, potential programs that were in more of a growth stage that might be interested in my services. It was a pivotal time for me. For the first time in 5+ years I shut down my laptop (in the middle of an email) and said to myself aloud ‘what are the best at when it comes to affiliate marketing?’ Better yet, “what do ENJOY doing the most” in this business?

Immediately I thought of the comment I was asked 99% of the time from all program managers. “We want more content and niche affiliates in our program.” I thought about that over the rest of the day. What I enjoy the most really is diving into a program and finding new channels of affiliates who are brand champions and pure marketers. These are ‘my people.’ These are the publishers with the most interesting stories to tell. If a company sells backpacks these guys already know more than I do about what kind of backpack is the best for cold weather hiking! Chances are they even have articles written about the very topic on their site.

Step One complete – I know now what I want to do and what I am best at. Also, I know what service I can provide that brings the most satisfaction to the programs I’m working with. Everyone is happy! I just need to find an environment and a team that buys into this idea and feels the same.

So for the first time in years I started talking to OPM companies and seeing what they felt the top priorities for their clients were. The feedback ranged from ‘we already have affiliates who drive sales, and that’s good enough’ to ‘we know our clients need niche affiliates and we want to help them find those folks.’ As you can guess, the latter reply was from Jamie Birch, the CEO of JEBCommerce. Right away I knew this was place that I wanted to be.

Two months have now passed since I joined the team at JEB. I’m getting to do what I love and deliver new partnerships between our clients and the publishers who are passionate about their industry. Each day I dive deep into a programs marketing efforts, discovering what sort of audience they want and the affiliates who are leaders in that space. Many of these affiliates are influencers, sites that people go to for advice and make a purchase decision based on the reviews they provide.

At JEBCommerce I get to work with a team that allows me to focus on what I love; while the rest of the team focuses on what they love.  In the end we drive more value for our clients than a single manager (in house or freelance) because of this specialization and the overwhelming amount of work we do.

I’m enjoying what I do every day more than I have the previous 7+ years. Honestly, my department of Publisher Development brings value to a program more so than 90% of the efforts I have done in the past. Other program management companies don’t scratch the surface of affiliate recruitment like what we’re doing at JEB. I can say that with confidence because I have more than a decade of experience running affiliate programs. The tools and outreach coming out of this office are years ahead of what most programs enjoy. And I am enjoying every moment of it.

– Greg