I was chatting with some affiliate managers recently, and they asked if there were any sort of mentor programs to help out new affiliate managers.
I was stumped. It seemed like a natural enough idea, but there isn’t really anything organized to help the newbies. Sure, they can lurk and participate in forums with other affiliate managers, but offline interactions aren’t really being leveraged.
This brought me back to the days when I first moved up to NYC. I joined up with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City. It was a very fulfilling experience – small amount of time commitment and some great rewards. In ROI terms, it was a great success.
So why not bring this sort of effort to the affiliate marketers in need?
Off the top of my head, the only group of affiliate managers to regularly meet is the Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition.
Way back when, I organized regular meetings for NYC affiliate managers, and this acted as an open environment for affiliate marketers to network and learn in person. But the New York Affiliate Manager Coalition, later the United States Affiliate Manager Coalition, went silent at some point.
So who’s with me? Is there interest from affiliates and affiliate managers to link up and learn from some of the more experienced folks in the industry?