Outsourced Program Management (OPM) - Services for Merchants - RhinoFish Media

Outsourced Program Management (OPM) - Services for Merchants
Hire an OPM (Outsourced Program Manager) to Start or Improve Your Affiliate Channel Distribution Business
OPMs offer consulting services to help Merchants start and run their Affiliate Programs. They act as Outsourced Program Management (OPM) consultants instead of your company spending the time and costs of managing it all in-house. OPMs offer services to manage affiliate programs or to consult on improving the performance of existing affiliate programs.
List of Affiliate OPM Firms to Consider:
Each OPM firm is different in scope and size and experience and talent and available hours and type of programs best managed. While all offer the same range of services, it's a very normal course of business for me to refer prospective clients (you!) to someone on this list who may best suit your needs. You should consider contacting each and see which one you think is best for you. Affiliate OPMs that I have personally worked with -AND- that I most strongly recommend for ANY OPM opportunity -AND- that I have personally verified are trained and have also earned the designation of Certified Affiliate Managers: Acceleration Partners - Robert Glazer AffiliateManager.com - Michael Nunez All Inclusive Marketing (AIM) - Sarah Bundy AMNavigator - Geno Prussakov ARC - Andy Rodriguez CMC - Greg Rice Custom Tailored Marketing - Angel Djambazov eAccountableOPM - Durk Price ebove & beyond - Jennifer Myers-Ward GHC - Greg Hoffman GrowthSpurtMedia - Liz Gazer GTO Management - Karen Garcia Hamrick.Biz - Chuck Hamrick MadHatter - Kristin Kinsey Schaaf-PartnerCentric - Brook Schaaf Team Loxly - Deborah Carney 7 Days A Week Marketing - Ron Bechdolt Other prominent, recommended OPMs: Adam Riemer Marketing - Adam Riemer AffAction - Shawn Schulze AffiliateApex - Taylor Hawes Affiliate Traction - Greg Shepard AffSolutions - Akiva Bergstrom AMWSO - Chris Sanderson Catalyst eMarketing - Linda Buquet DMC Affiliate Consulting - Donna McCarthy Experience Advertising - Evan Weber Her Affiliate Manager - Karrine McFarlane iMarketing - Keith Kochberg JEBCommerce - Jamie Birch JRami - Jorge Ramirez LinkProfits - Jim Gribble MGECom - Matt Enders NetExponent - Peter Figueredo OPM Pros - Paresh Vadavia Paulson Management Group - Heather Paulson Profit Rank - Mike Gunn Rise Interactive - Jon Morris Sam Harrelson Consulting - Sam Harrelson Snow Consulting - Roger Snow Superior Affiliate Management (SAM) - JP Diaz The JAR Group - A.J. Lawrence VastPlanet Corp - Michael Vorel Watchdog AM - Jennifer Jordan High Noon Performance Marketing - Bill Swartwout 49Above - Lasse Kubiack There are plenty of other OPMs that did not make my lists. Choose your OPM wisely and you'll set yourself on a path to success!
RhinoFish Media is a certified OPM!
RhinoFish Media, specifically the founder of RhinoFish Media [Patrick Grady (me!)], has gone through the formal training process to become a certified "Affiliate Manager" via Andy Rodriguez's training and certification process. We've earned the right and privilege to proudly display the Andy Rodriguez Certified Affiliate Manager logo:
Learn how to be an Affiliate Manager (AM) or Outsourced Program Manager (OPM)
If you're a merchant or sales executive and you want to learn how your Affiliate program should be run, you can attend one of Andy's OPM seminars. Don't waste years (and a whole lot of money) by learning through trial and error! Just one tip from his seminar can change your program for years to come. At the one I attended, he revealed the best techniques and tools to use to find and recruit new power affiliates that fit your program best - that alone is worth the cost of attending! Other Affiliate Manager [both in-house (AM) and outsourced (OPM)] training courses have sprung up over the years, many have come and gone. One quality online training course with staying power comes from Anik Singal (of Lurn and AffiliateClassrom fame), it can be found at AC Certified.com. Greg Hoffman, an award winning OPM himself, sells an Affiliate Management e-book.
RhinoFish Media is certified, yet is very different from the other OPMs!
One little problem - RhinoFish Media primarily performs product marketing itself, not OPM services. We do very well - and we enjoy our autonomy and independence. We don't have new, inexperienced affiliates asking us for help - and we really like that! We're spoiled. So we've become a hired gun... or hired fish... or hired RhinoFish when it comes to OPM matters. We're focused on short-term OPM repair projects only. We have not spent years building OPM relationships with hundreds or thousands of affiliates (a very important OPM criteria you should consider!) - so we're just not suited to manage and grow your affiliate program. But, if you find yourself here... Your Affiliate Manager just departed and you're looking for a fill-in while you hire a dedicated replacement in-house Affiliate Manager or choose a new OPM You're just starting your Affiliate Program and you want some suggestions, unbiased suggestions - from a source like us that won't be getting paid a percent, or a referral fee, or a bounty, or a headhunter's fee or anything else that smells bad You want to hire an Affiliate Manager but really don't know what to tell your HR department to look for or where to start their search You want to know which OPM above is best for you You want to talk to a power affiliate about what you can do better or where you should go to recruit other high-volume Affiliates Your Affiliate Program isn't working well - and you need a troubleshooter or program review Then contact us for a proposal to meet your short term needs. Short term OPM - yep, we dare to be different!
Services Performed by OPMs:
Affiliate Program Management: Daily Task Management of all aspects of your Affiliate Program. Recruit new Affiliates using affiliates we know and have worked with, dedicated affiliate forums, merchant directories, referrals and technology. Negotiates terms and build relationships with all new affiliates as part of recruiting. Work with all affiliates to grow their revenue and exposure. Manage power affiliate motivation including specials, raises, coupons, unique offerings, keywords, revised terms and more. Design initiatives, including creatives, that maximize affiliate productivity and the program's growth and ROI. Manage email communications with Affiliates including Newsletters that get motivate and drive sales. Coordinate with other internal departments to ensure goals of affiliate program remain consistent with overall goals and do not interfere with other internal and external marketing and sales efforts. Work with internal SEO, SEM and PPCSE teams to maintain growth, set appropriate affiliate policies and ensure affiliate program is allied with larger goals. Analyze metrics and create reports for all aspects of affiliate program marketing and sales. Draft, create, post, share, explain and enforce program policies and practices. Perform test purchases and testing to identify any affiliates using technology (parasitic applications) to divert proper commission credit - reward the earning affiliates! Create and drive promotional ideas, contests and incentives for recruiting affiliates and driving sales. Classify the different types of affiliates into groups, segment approaches and communications to maximize each type's contribution to the mission as well as to maximize revenue and profit contribution by appropriately managing time and resource slices by grouping. Make sure fresh ideas, plentiful support and useful tools are made available to top affiliates. Consult on your Affiliates efforts towards Search Engine Optimization (SEO), use of trademarks and related branding issues and guidance regarding keywords and ad text used for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Ads run in-house and by your Affiliates. Identify any Spyware/Adware that is affecting your programs performance or is being used by your Affiliates directly or indirectly. Consult for Program Growth including advising which Networks to use and to guide programs. For new programs, or those considering major changes, consult on choice of Network or Indy platform. Build strong Affiliate relationships and establish trust in the affiliate program. Drive the Affiliate program to the top of its competitive category and explore any new areas to generate sales. Show, by example, how your Affiliate Program Manager is both working for you and for your affiliates. Encourage, motivate and activate (or retire) in-active affiliate partners in the program.