Hi and welcome to the Affiliate Insider Podcast with me, Leanne Johnston. This is a podcast for digital and affiliate marketers. Listen up as I explore the latest digital and affiliate marketing trends and give you the insider scoop on what's occurring in affiliate marketing. Join us as we explore affiliate strategies, host expert interviews with leading affiliates and tech entrepreneurs, and discuss the latest affiliates 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.
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SPEAKER_05Welcome back to Affiliate Insiders Affiliate Marketing Podcast with Neele Ann Johnston. And I am absolutely thrilled today to be talking about affiliate marketing in Africa. And with me, I've got two very, very special guests that I've invited to talk about this very complex content. I'm going to start with my very favorite person on the planet, Sarafina Walder Gabriel. Hi, Sarafina.
SPEAKER_02Hi, Leanne. How are you doing? Feeling is very mutual. You are one of my favorite people in this world too. Thank you for inviting me. Thank you for coming back.
SPEAKER_05And new to our podcast is Head of Africa from the YOLO Group, Mr. Albert Clement. Hello and welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, Albert?
SPEAKER_01Hello, Leanne. Thanks a lot. I'm doing great.
SPEAKER_05Awesome. Now, today we're going to be talking a little bit about affiliate marketing in Africa. Now, it's a huge continent, and as part of our season this year, we're talking about affiliate marketing in different parts of the world. But before we begin, I'd like you both just to tell our guests and our audience a little bit about your expertise and a little bit about what you do, just to set the scene before we start talking about affiliate marketing in general. So I'll start with Albert. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and your expertise and experience in the African market?
SPEAKER_01Sure, Leanne. Yeah, sure. I'm Albert Clement and I'm uh I'm heading the business development efforts for the YOLO group in the African continent. YOLO Group, for those who don't know, is formerly known as the Coin Gaming Group, is the group that actually operates some of the most successful crypto-focused gaming operations in the world with flagship brands like Sportsback Durayo and Bitquisino Durayo, as well as we are very much active in the FinTech sector. So, yeah, regarding myself, I've specialized in emerging and frontier markets pretty much for the last 15 years. That is where I spend most of my time. I've been involved in these jurisdictions, as I said, for quite a bit of time, 12 to 15 years, mainly establishing presence for my partners in these complex jurisdictions and developing business for them and expanding their technologies. And definitely affiliate marketing has been something that I've been involved since the very, very beginning, especially to develop my marketing strategies. Even though affiliate marketing in emerging and frontier markets is quite a bit different from affiliate marketing in developed markets, it has been always, you know, a key strategy for us. And yeah, that's a little bit of my background.
SPEAKER_05Awesome. And I'm gonna dig a little bit deeper into all of that in a moment. But next up, I'd like Miss Sarah Fina to tell us a little bit about her experience and back history, which is love and lustrous in affiliate marketing as well. Over to you, Fina.
SPEAKER_02Sure. So affiliate marketing is in my DNA, if I can say that. I've been at Income Access for close to 18 years, which is basically a company that specializes in affiliate marketing solutions, both from a technology perspective and helping our clients grow their affiliate channels. And yeah, we've been running affiliate marketing for various markets globally for close to 20 years in total. And Africa has definitely been one of the rising stars, as we call it, since the last, I would say, probably five years or so. When, you know, with the emergence of mobile being such a big catalyst to the growth of affiliate marketing. And then you, you know, lots of brands coming and partnering with knowledgeable providers and you know, people with more experience so they can get them off the ground in the right way. Yeah, it's still very, very much in the infancy and it's definitely peaked to grow as time goes on. And I think a lot of the barriers that we had in the continent, such as as I said, you know, internet access or penetration and also payments, is gradually starting to uh temper away. And you know, there's solutions coming around. So that's all very exciting for digital marketers like all of us here. Awesome.
SPEAKER_05So we've got a wealth of experience on this podcast today, which is absolutely awesome, which is why I'm so excited because Africa is obviously in my DNA, it's where I originate from, and I understand the complexities of that marketplace. So we're gonna delve a little bit deeper as we start this podcast. And I want to talk a little bit about really giving our audience a good understanding of where the layer of the land is right now for affiliate marketing in this emerging marketplace. And I know, Serafina, you started talking a little bit about that in terms of the infrastructure. But Albert, can you tell us some of your experience and learnings of affiliate marketing in Africa right now, especially with the brand that you're promoting?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Yeah. So as Sarafina was mentioning, right, it's uh affiliate marketing in Africa, it's still in a very nascent stage, I would say, right? And it has huge potential on affiliate marketing. It actually, affiliate marketing in Africa, it kind of reminds me a lot of what affiliate marketing used to be in India 10, 15 years back, which was a market that I was highly involved as well, back in those days, where uh, you know, still affiliate marketing was extremely segmented, it was hyper-localized, and none of the big players had actually taken a really keen interest in it, right? Now, if you look at India, it's one of the key growth markets for media and affiliate networks in the world, right? So I it reminds me a lot, Africa is still in that stage where affiliate marketing is conceived more on a, you know, it's extremely segmented on a one-on-one basis, where you know you sign up users on one-on-one on physical meetings. You know, it's kind of a long-tailed kind of strategy that affiliate marketers are using at this point. So uh the affiliate marketer in Africa on the ground is one that doesn't even have to necessarily have an online presence, right? Or maybe it's just on Facebook page or WhatsApp group. So I think the big affiliate networks and groups have not yet dedicated enough efforts and resources in the region. And maybe this comes from the fact that maybe previous experiences probably did not, you know, they did they did not see much value coming in and they see it more of a high volume, low margin game, which is somehow true. But if you're competing for general search words, then not necessarily is a strategy with the path of least resistance to some extent, right? So things are changing as Sarafina was saying. And uh, I think that as more advertisers come in and show a strong interest in the region, definitely, you know, this is going to become from a frontier market, it's going to become a proper emerging market, and then the advertisement dollar is going to come.
SPEAKER_05I think that's so true because obviously the regulatory framework that's happening in Africa at the moment is happening at different paces in different regions. And I know you've got a lot of experience in uh some of the core regions in Africa, like Nigeria, Kenya, but even like Ivory Coast and Congo and in the south as well. So, you know, you're talking about brands coming into that region now, but what are some of the key things that brands need to consider if they do want to get to that region? Is it a kind of last-leading region in terms of high volume, low value, or are you starting to see that shift change where customers are becoming more tuned with betting online, purchasing online, with the infrastructure that Serafina mentioned earlier?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. As you said, right, it's extremely complex. Africa is extremely complex. There are 54 countries in Africa, each of them sovereign with borders, regulations, many cases culturally totally different. So, what I would suggest is that most importantly, when you enter into Africa, you have to have a laser-focused strategy, right? And stick with it, know who your customer is and give him or her what he or she is looking for, right? And you can definitely not approach Africa as a whole since it's too diverse. Then again, the most used strategy, which seems to be working for few with huge financial muscle, is going country by country, kind of getting specific licenses and operating there with all the mobile money operators integrated into their platform with their separate websites, you know, for each jurisdiction and so forth. I mean, it's it's it's working for some, right? But this is, as I said, right, this is a high volume, low margin game, which needs massive marketing spends and bonuses flying all over the time. So while I definitely appreciate this value, I mean this strategy, I'm personally not a big proponent of it, right? Especially for the brands that I represent. I believe the future will be different. I guess our approach is to cater to people Pan-Africa with specific interests, right, rather than specific geographical areas, right? I believe uh location is becoming much less important in today's day and age. Technology is pretty much enabling us to access everything we need from our mobile phone and to find our true communities in the cloud, right? So that's what we're actually doing. Rather than trying to focus on geographical areas, trying to focus on the community, right? What do people want to engage with and focus on that? That's why we're having this very laser-focused strategy on crypto.
SPEAKER_05Serafina, now you've obviously also, you know, Africa's in your DNA as well. But talk to us a little bit about some of the clients that you guys have managed in Africa and some the learnings that you've had.
SPEAKER_02So, with us, most of the forefront or the innovators have come from sports betting because, as you know, you know, us Africans are just mad about football. And so that's just been the easiest path to entry. So we've got big brands like the Bet Nigers of this world, and then obviously Naira Bet. So I would have to say Nigeria and Kenya were by far the early adopters, you know, the first ones to get into it and make a good goal of it. And then as you said, other markets have gradually started opening up, obviously Tanzania, Uganda, and East Africa, along with Kenya. And then you've got Ghana, and then obviously you've got then the French speaking. So pretty much like what Albert said, I think part of the attractiveness about affiliate marketing or or just sports betting even in Africa is one, there's little barriers to entry when it comes to things like language and content. Because the content is still the content in Europe, for example, such as the Premier League, La Liga. You know, everyone's crazy about that. So that makes it a little bit easier. And then the second thing is obviously if you're English speaking, then the English-speaking African countries, it's really about understanding the market. You can't have a one size fits all for Africa very much for the reasons that Albert said. You know, they're all very different countries, different customs, different behaviors, you know, different preferences. It's like saying Europe, right? We can't lump Europe into one and have one strategy for Europe. So you take it country by country and you need to understand what motivates people in those countries. So some of the promotions you'll see are more about lifestyle, you know, it's about winning things that are practical. And then other things are just people just want to have a community and have a go at, you know, placing a bet with friends. So very similar to what you you see in developing countries, I think the approach with Africa has to be very laser focused, as Albert said. You have to know what product you're going with, which market you're going, and then understand that marketplace deeply.
SPEAKER_05And that brings us on to our next question because I wanted to kind of explore the kind of offline to online marketing mix that happens in Africa. You know, where Albert mentioned, you know, it's still very much on the ground. It's still very much, you know, even shops, corner shops and things like that to build the trust, the brand trust and affinity that needs to happen in this region for customers to start engaging with new brands that are entering the market. What should you really have in place to build that brand affinity and trust across, you know, the various African markets? So, what should brands be thinking about in terms of you know launching their programs? Do they necessarily need country managers on the ground in those regions to actually explore local opportunities? Or is it still possible to launch an affiliate program to the African marketplace, you know, without having localized like real in-person localization on the ground? Maybe if I can ask Albert for you to comment on that first.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's the balance that you have to find. I would say, right, Leanne, that's a great question, right? When is it necessary to have constant, you know, on-the-round infrastructure? And I think that it all depends on trying to find the interest of that specific uh region, right? And I think that is where I think ambassadors and influencers are key to build that community and engage with them. And they are to some extent, you know, the ambassadors and um these influencers are sort of the main affiliates of sorts for the brand when you enter that market. So you can engage with the audience that you're looking for, and you're just, you know, engaging with them on a personal level, right? And exactly what Serafina said, right, from our end, right? We are trying to have a very laser-focused strategy on the crypto community who wants to place the bet. They want frictionless transactions, they want good depth of markets in soccer, as Serafina said, right? All the major leagues, you know, La Liga, Premier League, they're crazy about soccer. So they want good depth of markets, they want frictionless transactions, uh, and they want, you know, a good run for their money to some extent. They are not even looking for a bonus necessarily for a welcome bonus. They're not even looking for a very aggressive cashback, you know. They just want to have a good run for their money whenever you are, they are taking a punt with you, right? So that is our strategy. And we need ambassadors for sure, and we need people on the ground to help us understand what people need for sure. So that would be my suggestion. Look for ambassadors who can resonate with the target audience, and then of course work with people on the ground that can help you understand better the needs of your clients.
SPEAKER_05And it doesn't, you know, when you talk about local ambassador in Africa, it doesn't have to be, you know, a Hollywood movie star or something like that. It could be kind of grassroots, you know, communities. And I know you're doing some interesting stuff in the music scene. If I can mention that, you know, music is a big part of African culture and local music is very highly supported. So, you know, if you're a brand, you know, looking to kind of build brand affinity, looking outside of just your own industry is something that's very, very vitally important with the marketing strategy. Serafina, what about you? Like, what have you experienced with some of the clients that you've worked with in Africa? What are some of the key marketing strategies that you've seen have really worked?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think Albert nailed quite a lot of it. There is a large combination of online and offline. So I know when I was last in Nairobi four years ago, there were billboards everywhere for one of our clients. And they had a brand ambassador who was a superstar in the local football team. So one of the in the Kenyan League. You also see athletes, you know, like Kenya is obviously very big with athletics. So you see them use quite a few of the more successful long-distance runners. But I what surprised me was how many billboards ads were there. There was just so many of them. So I think there's a combination of that. And at the same time, Facebook, the social media networks are rife with um advertising as well. So you tend to see a little bit of both. And the affiliates in this space are actually people who've got communities. You know, us Africans, we're very social animals. So we love to go together and be together and then do things even socially, but you know, join each other's WhatsApp groups and create all our communities, both online and offline. So you tend to find that, you know, somebody will come up with the idea and say, hey guys, is this game happening? How about everybody fancy putting a little bet? And they do a lot of pool betting as well. And again, in Kenya, because you've got MPESA, which is such a big, vast network, and getting mobile money is just at everybody's fingertips, whether you're going to buy milk or you're going to put petrol in your car or you're going to place a bet on a site. So it's just second nature. You don't even think about it anymore. And I think that in itself just makes that opportunity so much bigger. And I mean, I'm speaking specifically of Kenya, but this is not limited to Kenya. This is just an example to say how the behavior and the marketing intertwines with both online and offline in in one specific area.
SPEAKER_05Absolutely. And in terms of because we spoke a little bit earlier about the fact that, you know, Africa was kind of like how India was, you know, 10, 15 years ago, that you, I think you made that comment. How do you feel affiliates are actually operating there? Because when we talk about affiliate here in Europe, we're talking about somebody with a website. But actually, what you've just, what both of you have just said is it's actually very basic skill. It's about going and finding people with communities and then educating those people with communities about how they can actually promote and support your brand. And it could be as simple as offering, you know, promotions for pool bets in, you know, WhatsApp groups or something like that. What, you know, what are some of the things that you've experienced in some of the local markets that you operate in?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that exactly what Sarafina was saying, right? In Africa, people are social animals, right? And you need to engage with them on a meaningful level, right? And that comes usually when you're trying to relate with them on something that is important for them and that they care about, right? In our case, right, we'll have very good news, actually, very, very uh breaking news, actually. It's going to come very soon, right? We're going to announce very, very meaningful partnerships in the music and entertainment business, right? Some of the top Afro-beat artists and uh both in the West and also in the East as well for with you know hip-hop artists, because we have found out that actually music resonates cross-borders within Africa, right? It's something that resonates much better than sports to some extent, right? Yes, we are sports books, yes, we have the best offering in sports, but we want to talk to people on a meaningful level as well, right? If so in Africa, music resonates cross-borders, even more than sports, right? If you sign up an ambassador, which is the top soccer player in that country, it will definitely resonate very much in that country. But will it resonate, I don't know, uh, in uh, if you're signing somebody in Kenya, is it gonna resonate on Uganda? Is it gonna uh resonate on Tanzania, which are neighboring? Not necessarily, but we have found out that music is something that unites people, especially not necessarily Pan-Africa, but on a regional level, you know, east, south, west, and and then of course anything on the north of Sub-Saharan also as well, right? We're we're still looking at that region, right? But I think sub-Saharan Africa, it's music, it's such a powerful, powerful connector, you know. So I would say that yes, find that community. I would suggest find that connection with your users, and then those ambassadors can become actually the the actual affiliates, right? To some extent is educating these ambassadors to become your master affiliate. You know, to some extent, that's kind of the strategy we're we're taking on.
SPEAKER_05And I think you've you've hit the nail on the head there, like what we discount here in Europe because we've so, you know, we've gone through the cycle of a referral friend, a super affiliate, an agent, you know, like all of these levels of affiliate types, influencer. I think, you know, thinking that Africa is going to go the same way is completely different. I think they've already bypassed all of that and just gone straight to influencer and super affiliate status. You know, they've got agents on the ground who refer other agents, and that community piece is super important for brands that want to get in and really build affinity with the communities that they're trying to attract. Now, I want to ask the two of you, because we've covered quite a lot in this podcast. We've covered, you know, content localization, some of the barriers to entry, some of the things that brands need to be looking at in terms of their marketing strategies and really going back to basics, you know, using things like billboards. But what do you think the future of affiliate marketing looks like in the African content, especially as we're coming into a new year where we've come out of, you know, pivoting during COVID, you know, customer activity online has changed so significantly and has in fact increased. Where do you think, you know, some of the key emerging regions of Africa are gonna sort of come alive in the year ahead? And is it still gonna be a huge growth rate, or do you think it's still gonna be a kind of slow burn that brands need to invest in? If both of you can just give us your thoughts on that, that would be great.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna say to Albert, when you bring Burner Boy or Wiz Kid, don't forget your friends. I was going to say, you're absolutely right. Music, music is a very uniting force in the continent. Or obviously, if you have brand ambassadors like uh Didier Drumbo or Mosala, well then you're talking another level. But I think w like I said in the beginning, we've only just scratched the surface. I think there's so much more growth to come. I'm just hopeful that the way we we regulate and legislate doesn't put too many barriers in place. Because I think one of the problems that I foresee for our region is obviously there are more some countries that are a lot more advanced than others and the infrastructure is is very prevalent. But if you are able to go into a site in eastern Africa or eastern southern Africa and, you know, be a customer across multiple countries or or locations, then that's gonna help you a lot. But if we go country by country, region by region, I think that you know, yes, there's still a lot of growth, but then there'll come a time where it might start to become a bit of a barrier for some of the less advanced countries. But um social media obviously it's gonna continue to be big and the whole nature of our social behavior, you're probably going to see other platforms like the TikToks and the YouTubes become even more prevalent. Because right now people use a lot of the the WhatsApps and SMS marketing is is the big thing. Either becomes readily available, and you know, again, with development, you're going to see more of the more newer social media platforms being used a lot more. That's my prediction. Over to you, Albert.
SPEAKER_01I totally agree with you, uh, Serafina. It all comes down to regulation, right? And yeah, it is difficult for uh uh uh an affiliate. I I am very optimistic, okay, about about uh affiliate marketing in Africa. And I think that it's just a matter of time until all the big affiliate networks start putting a lot of money on this market. It would all come down as well as on how many operators like ours, right, like us, right, also show a strong interest on this market. Of course, we're kind of first movers at this point, but as uh Serafina said, at this point. Everybody's playing the game of okay, I wanna enter into Africa, then I'm gonna get fifteen different licenses, I'm gonna create fifteen different sites, uh and maybe you know I run fifteen different affiliate programs for each region. It's tough, right? For the big international investors to come in and say, Okay, how am I gonna make money out of this? Right, I have to make fifteen different deals with fifteen different jurisdictions to start promoting a brand, which is not gonna give me that much value in exchange, right? So I am very optimistic because I am seeing that people are gonna start switching their interest to Africa a big time because they will, I guess, understand that you need to have, as I said, a laser focused. A lot of players will start coming in the market. And once that happens, then of course it will attract the interest of the big affiliate marketers in the world, the big groups will come in. So yeah, I think that uh things good things are gonna happen, but I'm quite positive about affiliate marketing in the next three to five years in in Africa.
SPEAKER_05I think that's a great news story, and it's uh I've really been waiting for this episode in the season because Africa is obviously close to my heart, and I've been watching very closely how the development of kind of brand marketing has has developed in this space. So it's very encouraging to have both of you on this podcast to hear some of the insights and the things that you see are working very, very well that we can share with others. From an affiliate's perspective, I think also it's quite good to hear these stories because they're obviously investing money to get into new markets as well. And right now I feel it's a toss-up between do we go to the US where things are slowly being regulated quite efficiently, state by state, or do we invest our time and effort in Africa? And to hear both of you say that this is such an emerging market and there is really good value, and it's it's really going back to basic marketing to actually get things started and get things done. It's it's not going to be overly complex to build brand affinities is a positive news story for us to leave this podcast with. So I want to thank you both for being on Affiliate Insider's Affiliate Marketing Podcast, the Africa episode, and sharing all of the insights that you guys have seen and have experienced in your time working with clients and brands that are actively reaching out to this marketplace. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you both on the podcast today.
SPEAKER_01Thank you very much, Liana. It was a pleasure.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Leanne and Albert. It was a wonderful pleasure to be with you both.
SPEAKER_01Same year, so I think that was a pleasure. Thank you.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.
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