Hi, and welcome to the Affiliate Insider Podcast with me, Lianne Jonathan. This is a podcast for digital and affiliate marketers in the iGaming industry. Listen up as I explore the latest digital and affiliate marketing trends and give you the insider's group on what's occurring in affiliate marketing. Join out to add weeks for affiliate strategies, host expert interviews with leading affiliates and tech entrepreneurs and discuss the latest affiliate and digital marketing trends. If you want to stay at the cutting edge of affiliate marketing, you're in the right place. Join me for this week's episode and let's get started. Hey guys, and welcome to the Affiliate Insider Podcast. With me today, I have two very esteemed gentlemen, Mr. Jotam Peretz, the head of affiliates from Tenvet, and Mr. Gali Hartof, head of VIP. Welcome to the podcast today, guys.
SPEAKER_01Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Thanks very much for being here with me. So we're going to talk a little bit about VIP culture and customer culture and how that relates into affiliate marketing as well, which is something that I'm really excited to talk to you both about and very happy to have you here. Customer culture seems to be a buzzword that people have been throwing around lately in online marketing. And I wanted you guys to come on board and just define a little bit about what customer culture means to you and why it's so important to have this in your affiliate business or as part of your affiliate program as well.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so it focused on understanding what our affiliate needs and how 10bet affiliates should provide it, provide for this. This means making sure that our brand tone of voice and unique selling points are all the core of what we are doing actually. Affiliates, we treat them as a partner, or they are working together with us. And at the end of the day, we have the same goals, same goals, same objectives. We see them as a part of our success. And we are doing the best to put our affiliates at the front and provide them with the best service, the best tools, an idea that will help them to maximize their performance. It's very important for us also to satisfy them, okay, and to give them some extra, some added value they don't get from other operators.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think that's a great um description of customer culture and how that applies into the affiliate side of the business, which I think sometimes people are forgetting to do. And we tend to think of affiliates not as partners but as suppliers. And I think if we look at our partnerships and the customer culture that goes with that, we'd probably be able to get a lot more out of the partnerships that we do create as affiliate managers. Now, Galiano, you're head of VIP. Can you talk to me a little bit about how VIP programs really embrace customer culture and how you build your customer relationships and tenures? As I think a lot of affiliate programs listening to this podcast today might be able to benefit from hearing on some of the things that you guys do on the VIP side.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So if we look at VIP culture or the VIP culture that we have at 10Bet, our entire approach focuses on a number of important areas, uh, primarily sustainability, consistency, responsibility, uh, affordable relationships while remaining transparent, and flexibility while remaining to our core, which is to be boutique. We do not apply a tiered rewards program because it's very impersonal. It leaves very little room for customization. So this type of program also limits, from a VIP point of view, the account manager's ability to create something unique and individual for the experience of their VIP customer. So a different focus that Tembet used compared to many others is the focus on customized VIP, applying a personalized approach beyond templated contacts or mass marketing while trying to remain current. So it's not to say that these tiered structures are wrong. They're very common, they're still widely used today, but Tembet simply chose to apply a boutique approach to our VIP clients and in turn to our affiliates as well. So the key word that you often hear in my VIP program is ethical transparency. We never mislead customers, promise something that we cannot deliver on, or build up unrealistic expectations through misleading our audience. The reason for this is quite simple. Um it's because of trust. It's easy to buy loyalty and overcompensate the smallest of gestures with high rewards, but it's not sustainable, and more often than not, it reaches an inevitable uh point where you have to reel back your rewards, and within VIP, you lose your VIP, which hurts both the affiliate and the company bottom line. So having managed thousands of VIPs all over the world, seeing different approaches to VIP programs styles, the primary focus for customers always remains the same. They are looking for more than just free money and gifts. They are looking for a place that shows them respect, acknowledges them as people before their worth, and treats them responsibly while providing an enjoyable experience. So, this, in my opinion, is where tiered reward structures generally fall short. However, this authentic and transparent approach is not too different from how we treat our affiliate program managers and in turn how they treat their affiliate relationships. So, for an affiliate, everything depends on the success of the referred client and the willingness for us to be flexible. So, suppose you apply the same strategy as a customized VIP program and structure. In this case, you open up an adjustable channel that affiliate program managers can mold around their individual affiliates, and you find what works best for both parties to maximize the success of the referred clients. So internally, we should also then look at the relationship that exists between a collaborative strategy that supports VIP customers who are brought in by our affiliates. Any maximized functional collaboration would then support a robust VIP program. And this collaboration is why then sustainable VIP programs like 10bit tends to enhance loyalty, which in turn would mean the affiliate will see higher performance value. And the ultimate goal then is returning customers, committing more to the program that works best for them.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So it's really a win-win situation for all. And in terms of building value with your partners and clients, what are some of the key things that you've learned that can be ported into affiliate programs and have a positive effect on active account management?
SPEAKER_00Solian, I will go uh through two of the most important elements in my opinion. Uh, the first key element is the attitude. I know it sounds uh uh obvious, but treat your affiliates like partners, don't treat them as a content and money generating machine. Instead, consider them as your valued partner as an and then extension of your brand and treat them with the most respect. I mean, this is the first key element, and uh people is is tend to forget that. The second main thing is communication, um, and more than that, encouraging an open dialogue. Okay, feedback should uh uh go two ways, and open communication uh will always be vital. Up in mind that the affiliates may also have important feedback that can help uh improve your program uh offering a brand, and they they might have a great suggestions. And the worst mistake uh you can make is bring affiliates on board and then leave them to their own devices to try and figure out uh how is the best way to market your brand and service. Instead of this, helping them help them to understand your brand and customer value and help them to get the right assets and information to push these messages in the platform. Um a small uh anecdote. Uh lately we came up with uh our affiliate toolkit. Uh, this kit is providing vitally important details about our brand and products, and this is helping our affiliates to promote 10 bit more effectively and in terms uh and in turn ensure the affiliate to refer more customers to us. It's helping them and the information is explained clearly. And I think that this is a very, very important thing. Uh and these are the two main uh tips or uh key element I I would like to mention.
SPEAKER_03I feel like we're speaking the same language, and it's almost like the angels have opened up and gone, ho! Because honestly, onboarding and like affiliate lifecycle, what I call affiliate lifecycle, which is similar to customer lifecycle, are two of the most important things that affiliate managers sometimes that you know they just forget to do because they're so busy in the humdrum of you know onboarding outreach, you know, checking campaigns and everything else. But getting that right at the start of your program is you know, it just does wonders to help you to grow because you're leading affiliates down a path, you're guiding them in terms of how to actually build their promotions and campaigns to suit your products and services, and you're really giving them that education up front rather than allowing them to test and try things until they find the magic mix. So it's really, really great that I'm hearing this from you guys and that we can share this on this podcast with other younger affiliate managers that are coming into the industry. My last question or my first question for you guys in terms of looking ahead is what do you think 2021 will look like for affiliate and online marketing? And I'm sure both of you have got very different um takes on how that's gonna look. So maybe we'll start with Gali and then we'll end off with you and your time.
SPEAKER_00Yes, no problem.
SPEAKER_01Sure. I mean, we we kind of split it from our different perspectives. You know, from VIP, the whole dynamic, or at least the forecast dynamic for next year has shifted. Um, we've had to take into account and adjust our strategy with COVID-19, uh, probably not going away anytime soon. So, from a VIP perspective for 2021, I suppose our focus needs to be shifting towards responsible gaming and affordable experiences as we engage VIP clients rather than brand visibility or traditional hospitality as a means of retention. And with that, we need to solidify the existing as well as new relationships, um, but move them away from the previous uh visible engagements that we had and move towards the next normal by introducing a new way of retaining players uh to promote loyalty and longevity through a reformed and transparent communication model. At the same time, because we are not dedicating uh time resource to hospitality and land-based engagements, we can utilize that time uh internally to strengthen the collaborations and develop a more personalized and customized strategy between departments and bring other departments closer together. So, as we mentioned previously, we speak with one voice.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00From my end, I believe that we will see more collaboration between affiliates, uh, more MA B companies will acquire small and medium-sized companies, and more creative ideas. But I think that the concept will stay pretty much the same. Eventually, the iGaming uh is a digital industry, and in my opinion, the lack of physical conference and face-to-face meeting won't affect the industry dramatically. The industry will adapt fast, I think, uh, but the importance of excellence service will be much more critical. Uh and in terms of the hot topic for 2029, I think that it will be uh mainly regulation, responsible gambling and uh Iovation. We might see some vertical like eSport and virtual uh increasing. Um yeah.
SPEAKER_03I think that's true. I think we're gonna see a lot of diversification because I think what affiliates have learned from this pandemic is that Audio X can't be in one basket. And I think as affiliate business owners, they're gonna start looking at alternative sources of income, they're gonna start looking at how they can transition and transcend um being vertical specific, which is how some affiliates have been for a long time. You know, they've either been a sports affiliate or a casino affiliate. So I know with the conversations that I'm having with affiliates at the moment, they're really looking at you know product development and all of this innovation that they can you know add value to the customer journey. And it and again, it boils back to what we spoke about at the beginning, which is listening to your customer, listening to your affiliate, and then building your uh business plans and campaigns and products around that. So thank you very much for joining me on this uh podcast. It's been absolutely amazing speaking to you guys and hearing how you're using customer value and customer culture in your business and in your vineyard program. And if I've been delighted to speak to people, thank you very much for joining us today.