by Shawn
Collins Communication is an essential component of a successful affiliate
program. But when I say communication, I'm talking about the dictionary definition,
not just mere interaction. Practically every affiliate program sends out a newsletter
to its affiliates. But, unfortunately, most of those newsletters really stink.
Physiology of Affiliate Communications In Communication
101 for Affiliate Managers, I mentioned the dearth of quality newsletters.
Soon after, I noticed a spike in enrollment in the ClubMom
affiliate program. Lo and behold, a lot of those new affiliates were fellow
affiliate managers. This was followed by many email requests for "how to create
an affiliate newsletter." Clearly, there's an interest in crafting a newsletter
that amounts to more than a boilerplate paragraph about the current site promotion.
So here you go, the definitive guide to creating an affiliate newsletter (a.k.a.
what I am doing that has gotten positive feedback from affiliates). When
creating your template or skeleton of an
affiliate newsletter, I encourage you to include the following parts: earnings
for the top 10 affiliates, code for automatic rotation links, affiliate of the
month, tips (affiliate, marketing, and search engine), and a comarketing plug.
How Much Can I Earn? I start out every issue of my newsletters
with a focus on earnings potential by listing the commission amounts for the top
10 earners in the past month. No names, no URLs, just amounts. I know a
lot of programs are very secretive about the earnings, but this is also one of
the biggest questions on the minds of affiliates. You've got to drive the performance
of your affiliates, and since you know they are all hungry for money, why not
dangle some inspirational goals in front of them? That is, unless your numbers
are very low. If that's the case, you'd better rethink your strategies and payout
because your program is not long for this world. They Want to Hold Your
Hand Most programs have 10 to 20 percent active affiliates. That's
a shame. Not the fact that there are so few active affiliates, but because 80
to 90 percent are not being worked for the results, however small, that may be
squeezed out of them. Put the code right in their newsletter, and therefore right
in their inbox, because these inactive people have probably never logged in to
their account. Hold their hands a little bit and provide affiliate code
for banners and buttons that you will rotate on your end. Many affiliates are
turned off by the prospect that they will have to update their links frequently.
Allay these fears by explaining that if they plug in this code one time, you will
always rotate the current promotion for them. Share the Secrets of Success
Do affiliates intuitively know how to make money from your program? Not
most of them. But there are a great many that could be producing for you if they
only knew how. That's where the Affiliate of the Month comes in. Each month, pick
an affiliate that is doing a good (not great) job with your program, and highlight
that affiliate in your newsletter. It's also nice to send the affiliate a little
care package or gift certificate. Not only is the Affiliate of the Month
a feel-good accolade that many sites would like to receive, but it also provides
you a chance to showcase a site that is doing things right, so your lesser affiliates
can emulate those "best practices." Notice that I said to pick a good (not great)
site - you've got to take into consideration that the competition may try to poach
your top dogs. The Power of Tips Affiliates love tips, and
these can make up a couple of sections in your newsletter. General affiliate tips,
marketing tips, and search engine tips. No need to break new ground here - just
impart useful information that you have learned along the way as an affiliate
yourself. (You are an affiliate by now, right?) If you would like to give
your affiliates the opportunity to promote your program in their text newsletters
and email signature, pass along a tip on how
to create redirect URLs. How can they achieve better search engine rankings?
Do some research, find out, and tell your affiliates. Want to teach your affiliates
how to add the code for one of those "Make
Us Your Home Page" links? Just add the information in your newsletter. I've
shared these tips with my affiliates who not only implemented them, but responded
with lots of kudos as well. United We Comarket, Divided We Fall Wrap
your newsletter up with a comarketing plug. There are bound to be lots of programs
out there that appeal to your affiliates but that do not compete with your company.
Take advantage of the synergies, and encourage your affiliates to check out other
programs. Barter a spot in your newsletter for the same slot in other program
newsletters. Speaking of comarketing, I recently added a newsletter content
collective section to the United
States Affiliate Manager Coalition site. This combines the concepts of affiliate
tips and comarketing, where program managers can grab content to use in their
newsletters, as long as they also include a line to credit the source for the
content. I urge you to visit http://www.usamc.org/newsletter.htm
and take or leave some content. Are you a communicator, or do you just
interact? There's a fine line between informative, useful email and annoying stuff
that fills up the inbox of your affiliates. If you still don't know the difference,
you'd better read this article again. | 
