Name: Vimal Patel
So, what do you do?
My role at Greenlight can roughly be broken down into two parts: managing our affiliate programmes, which sees me covering everything from strategy and planning to reporting and analysis, and assisting Matt Brown, our Head of Affiliates, with growing the department and team.
What's on the agenda for today?
09h00: After my ritual morning coffee, I'll send out progress updates to publishers and clients. Then I'll usually work on any scheduled day-to-day programme management work - promotional or ad updates, reporting, etc.
11h00: Next, I'll usually have a call with an affiliate to get a better understanding of how they work, what type of advertisers and sectors work well for them and to see if there are any mutual opportunities to work with our clients.
12h00: One of our clients has asked us to help them understand what affiliate marketing is and how we need them to support us. This is a request we tend to get regularly. To explain this, I'll be making a few tweaks and changes to a presentation I've prepared.
14h00: Another client has asked for a forecast and for additional opportunities to increase performance through their top performing publishers. To provide this, I'll work out the amount of available budget and put together some recommendations from the available opportunities.
16h30: I need to research growth opportunities for a new client. I'll be using insights on publishers who perform well to identify similar opportunities based on their type and audience.
What's the best thing about your job?
Variety is the spice of life, and probably what I enjoy the most about my job. Affiliates can run anything from cashback and employee benefits schemes to content sites, comparison search engines and mobile apps. Working with a variety of partners can require different approaches and an understanding of their contribution to an affiliate programme, so it keeps me on my toes.
Working in a small team also means my day-to-day tasks vary; I could be working on anything from tracking implementation, outreach, media buying or pitch preparation - I've certainly learnt a lot here.
What's for lunch?
Depends very much on my mood, but I'm a sucker for Mother Clucker's fried chicken when they're at Kerb… there's not much I don't eat!
How did you get started in digital marketing?
I've had an interest in marketing since I was a teenager, and after completing my studies in music, enterprise and marketing, I decided marketing was the discipline I saw myself having a career in. I started off by doing an internship in live events for Channels 4's 'A Place in the Sun Live', and quickly realised I enjoyed the digital part of the role. While I was working there, I was offered a job working in Email Marketing by a supplier that specialised in lead generation for overseas property and investments, which I accepted. Working in a small business meant I was required to work on varying projects from creative and landing page build to list segmentation and client-facing work.
Following this, I worked client-side as Onsite Marketing Manager for Chemist Direct. My role there involved a mixture of on-page SEO, merchandising and CRO. As part of that role, I was asked to take on the management of the affiliate programme, and eventually decided I wanted to go back to agency life in an affiliate marketing role - and the rest is history!
Plans this evening?
The weather is great so I want to get out in the sun, ideally with a rum and coke!
What's your proudest moment since you joined?
Passing my probation period… only joking! I'm most proud of one of the affiliate programmes I worked on when I first joined Greenlight, as it's progressed leaps and bounds since. It's great to get such a positive reaction from a client, and very rewarding to nurture and watch an account grow.
What's the coolest thing you've learned on the job?
I enjoy the technical side of my role, so the coolest thing has been getting more hands-on in that area and learning how different affiliates work in practice.
How do you keep up with the latest digital marketing updates?
Things move fast in digital, so I regularly check Econsultancy or MarketingLand for updates. When it comes to affiliate marketing updates, I look to PerformanceIn and a Facebook group which Matt Brown introduced me to.
