Here is an in-depth and very good article for affiliate managers, from Laurie Myers, senior director of Strategic Business Development at
Travelport. She explains that similar to the the four stages of marketing - Awareness, interest, desire and action - when you are developing your affiliate partners the relationship builds through 4 stages too. Suspect, Target, Seller and Partner. Once affiliates in her program reach the "partner" phase they get additional dedicated marketing support from the company. Laurie says:
"With each marketing campaign, you surface suspects and identify targets as you deliver your message to the marketplace, communicating the superior nature of your product inevitably creates awareness and subsequent need... Once we have acquired the affiliate, we have a tiered account structure, which is governed by account management teams focusing on specific industries and geographies. Each tier represents another band of revenue production and a different set of benefits for the partner.
Once an affiliate is in one of the two top tiers we consider them `partners' and dedicate resource to the development of bespoke promotional calendars, functional developments and marketing activities are aligned with partner needs."
Read the rest over at
eyefortravel.com - Travel Distribution News, Events and Analysis