Account Managers – Masters of our Domain

Each week, the Confidential includes tips from some of the best known faces in the industry – if not figuratively, certainly literally as their wonderful mugs adorn the bottom portion of the newsletter. When I started in Internet advertising, one chose account management when they didn’t have enough experience to start as an account executive or they wanted a relationship based job that didn’t revolve around the close. It felt like an entry job and paid like one too. For some companies this still holds true, but for others, especially those at CPA networks, account management has ascended from the job you took to the one the company can’t live without. Today’s account managers don’t just sit around passively or exist to expedite administrative tasks. They wear many hats, and in this week’s Digital Thoughts we’ll explore several of the roles that today’s account managers must master.

• Eyes and Ears to the Industry – often in this column we talk about focus and specialization. For example, in lead generation, more often than not the most successful companies, in a given vertical, focus on, and specialize in, just that vertical, or sub vertical even. Think too about a company like Dada Mobile. They know how to run a mobile marketing company. They might do some search marketing of their own and/or some banner buys, but they get most of their traffic from others, and that’s fine with them. They would not have achieved the same growth if they tried to master both the business of mobile marketing – content, billing, customer service, etc. and the world of online advertising.

  The same rules also apply for affiliates. Those who excel in search for instance do nothing but search. They spend their days "cracking the Google nut," not trying to create offers from the ground up. And, while they will follow what goes on in the online space, they serve their bottom line best by figuring out how to drive more traffic. They become experts in their field, ringtones for example, but their account manager keeps them in the loop. How do most people find out about a particular lawsuit, of changes in the way you can market, and information about how a vertical might differ several months from now? – from their account manager.

• Best Friend – when I think of the roles today’s account managers play, I picture Cheers. In that iconic TV series, and for countless people of a certain generation, bartenders do more than serve drinks; they dole advice and listen to an inordinate amount of other people’s issues that probably don’t interest them, except that it keeps people in their stools drinking. When five o’clock rolls around, we don’t make our way to the pub next door. We find our bartenders online, ready to put a smile on our face, give us some attention, and help us make our way in the world today. Their im buddy lists over flow, I imagine, and if you see an account manager chatting, don’t think it can’t be work for they are keeping that bar stool occupied and the drinks flowing.
• Strategy Officer – what makes certain founders at some of the top CPA networks so amazing is not just that they connect to and care about their affiliates. They invented the craft of outsourced strategy. For many affiliates, especially certain super affiliates, the founder’s involvement and insight has made that affiliate, creating an often inseparable bond to a particular company. Unfortunately, talented as they are, they can only do so much; today’s account managers have taken over that vital role of strategy, enabling one of the many values of the founders to reach a much larger audience. A good account manager will know what works, what doesn’t, what deserves ones time and what one should skip. They get to know the affiliate and help them make the best use of their time and resources, shaping them, and in the end, creating a relationship where often the affiliate doesn’t want to try something unless they get their account manager’s blessing.
• Wife/Mother – among their already many roles, account managers must act not just like the best friend but often the better half (or for some it’s parental). A friend listens, encourages; your wife listens but makes sure you get stuff done. They coddle to make sure you have the confidence to get things done, but in the end, it just comes down to getting things done. This role is perhaps the least enviable of the many, but among the most important, just as one’s spouse or mom plays a pivotal role. Like men who love football, affiliates can easily get, dare we say it, lazy. They want to sit and watch the game, not take out the trash or complete some other obligation they will now forget. The same goes for publishers, whose account managers have mastered the art of nagging without it coming across as such. They keep their accounts in line and ultimately online.
• Temptress – there is a reason men like hot women, and it’s more or less biological. Life is unfortunately sexist in ways because life is ultimately about sex. Men will do many things for women and even more to get the interest of one. Extrapolating, as not all affiliates are men and top-notch account managers also come in all genders, the temptress part of account management comes down to motivation. If one’s life partner helps you get major and minor tasks done, the temptress creates motivation. Whether literally or just in the same vain, the account manager becomes the affiliates’ flirt and center of their attention and focus. Like a wind-up toy, good account managers can tap into the core of the affiliate and set them in motion.

What we see is that in the hackneyed "Internet age," relationships yet again rule, and at the heart of the relationships are the account managers. They have a tough role as they must enlighten and inform without giving away too much and potentially damaging another relationship. They must walk a fine line of helping each grow, making each feel special, but teasing out best practices that can apply across all affiliates. Done well, they can drive millions for a company; done poorly, they can drive away millions.

Have a good account manager or know of one that deserves recognition? Email us and tell us who it is and what makes them special.