[sfcom]

This is such a small select group of people, AMs. Just wondering, especially when it comes to an AM, how do you gain experience without prior experience? Can college education be substituted? Or do you need to see current affiliate network stats in the case when an aff is making the jump? There seems to be a high turnover rate...affs to AMs and then back to affs. Seems to me like some just don't like the management end of it.


-sfcom

[MichaelColey]

I would think that any of the following would help:

1) Experience as an affiliate
2) Experience in marketing
3) Experience in management (especially sales management)
4) Education in any of the above

For those who still insist on actual affiliate marketing management experience, I'm sure you could intern or get an entry-level position at many larger companies (where they have more than one person working with affiliates). That experience should qualify you for other affiliate management jobs.

[Stephanie Harris]

I agree with Michael, especially on the interning. When affiliate marketing was still pretty new, I thought I wanted a publishing career but had done some web work for a PR company while in school. When I applied for an internship at Scholastic, they saw this computer experience and automatically flipped me over to the internet division where - lo and behold - a brand new affiliate marketing department was developing. Needless to say that gave me invaluable experience in a field that was really just getting attention and it really helped out of college having that affiliate marketing experience on my resume. There are still just a handful of people who have any experience in affiliate marketing, and that gives you a big advantage when you're looking for jobs out of college.

Plus, I think affiliate marketing is one of those areas that is very adaptable to intern work. There are many tasks that can be done by an intern that not only can be done competently and with not too much previous knowledge, but also help build knowledge. Approvals, newsletter writing, researching affiliate problems and getting back to an affiliate's emails, etc. This would not only give an intern a sense of accomplishment but give them a real insight into the industry and very useful skills.

[AdJumpCM]

I guess I'll chime in, but I had plenty of experience as an affiliate marketer before I applied to be an AM. One thing that I've noticed is that it's much different to operate as an AM than as an affiliate, but there are definite similarities between the two.

[sfcom]

Thank you everyone for your insight so far. I plan on doing this in a year or two. I have the educational background (business admin.-management), but I am lacking any internship experience with affiliate marketing. I have been doing the affiliate thing for a few years part-time and am a four-bar in CJ. I just have an interest in the AM side of things and when my youngest boy gets into kindergarten, I want to be ready for "the jump".

[Rolet]

I have always been in Marketing, started as a traditional marketer and moved into the Internet world at home in my spare time. I was an affiliate for about two years before joining an agency 7 - 8 years ago as an affiliate manager for their affiliate network, within three months I was promoted to Partnership Developer and LOVED it. Since then I have moved twice and have stayed in the Online Marketing industry.

I think to be a good AM you must have a combination of experience, some of it college learned. Traditional Marketing tactics can be helpful to know, but a thorough understanding of all the online marketing techniques is critical. I feel ever AM should understand and know SEO, PPC, Online Media Buying, Social Media Marketing and always stay apprised to emerging online marketing techniques. How can we best help our affiliates be successful without having knowledge of the field they are trying to win in? Some of this knowledge is gathered through traditional educational sources, i.e. College, and others from extensive research, reading, web-i-nars, hands on experience, forums like this and so many other countless sources. Affiliate Management, well actually Affiliate Program Management is not a 9 - 5, it requires a lot of devotion and desire to learn on a continuous basis.

This is my two cents....

[Chuck Hamrick]

If you have been a successful affiliate then you have learned the basics of how an affiliate uses the links, banners, datafeeds, etc. You also understand the language of conversion, EPC, AOV, etc. As well as coupons.

What most AM's lack are the basic technical knowledge of how affiliate networks work. You also need some basic Excel skills for reporting. Effective writing skills not only for emails to affiliates but also newsletters, forums, blogs. Learn how to write a call to action.

Probably the most needed skills is salesmanship, negotiation and networking. Affiliates are akin to commission only sales reps. You speak to them and treat them as partners and never as employees. They don't work for you but with you. Of course there are cheaters but if you approach the channel with suspicion then you will alienate your affiliates. You also need to be patient and thick skinned with management as this is not a slam dunk. But, rather a long term project.

[swong]

I made the jump to being an am when my company needed someone to take over their affiliate program and they handed the job to me. I'm in their media dept before (traditional TV advertising) so I have experience in negotiating rates, networking, reporting, marketing. For college, I was a music business major, so I learned some of these thing in school and am familiar with all the terminologies. And they know I have some background with online marketing, so they thought I can handle it. But truth is I had no idea what affiliate marketing was when I took on the responsibility, and have learned a lot on my own by doing, reading and researching, this forum, blogs, magazines, asking a lot of questions, etc. As Rolet says, it is not a 9-5 job and it takes a lot of dedication. This market is always evolving so it's always a learning process.

[Stephanie Harris]

At the end of the day its all about relationships and people, so even if you have all the technical and practical skills down, if you're not a "people person" it will be very difficult to step into the shoes of an AM. Likewise, if you're naturally someone that enjoys getting to know people and developing relationships, and can learn the technical aspects, there will be no stopping you as an AM. It's a big part of the jump I think.

[7-days]

In my case it was just a natural progression from affiliate to affiliate manager. As I expanded my sites I began to work closer with specific merchants to the point where I was doing consulting for them and later for merchants I was not even associated with. The opportunity presented itself to manage programs and it's been a great experience.

Of course, I should mention this all took several years. Experience is one of the best resources for any AM and that can't be learned in any book. Although, Andy Rodriguez course is about as close to one can come to getting real life experience I hear.

[sfcom]

What a wonderful resource everyone here is. Your stories are inspiring and the sneak peek at your backgrounds is quite valuable. Thanks again.

-sfcom