In the last ‘Meet the IA Team’ blog post before ICE and the London Affiliate Conference (LAC) next week, we speak to Affiliate Marketing Coordinator Divit Mehta.
Divit, who manages the WildWildBet affiliate programme, has been shortlisted for the ‘Best Newcomer’ award at LAC’s iGB Affiliate Awards on 9th February. He’s the one of three Income Access Affiliate Team members to be nominated for awards at this ceremony, with Bernhard Obojes and MichaelAngelo Angana also in the running.
Divit discusses how he grew the WildWildBet affiliate programme from scratch and also speaks about the business he co-founded, along with his day-to-day office responsibilities and other hobbies outside of it.
Name: Divit MehtaPosition: Affiliate Marketing CoordinatorBackground: After moving to Canada from the United Arab Emirates in 2012, Divit studied Business Technology Management at Concordia University before co-founding the business FounderCube. He joined the Income Access team in June 2017, and has since helped to grow WildWildBet’s affiliate programme while also managing the 21BET brand.
Divit discusses his day in the office
How did you grow the WildWildBet affiliate programme?
I received the client just after joining Income Access last June. At the time, WildWildBet’s programme didn’t have any affiliates or sign-ups. I focused largely on communication, and searched for sites who specifically offer revenue share for the first three months to lay the foundations. Cost per acquisition (CPA) was added to the programme after this, as were other revenue models.
Seven months later, the programme is receiving more clicks, and players are now signing-up themselves. It was quite cool to establish a client relationship straight away and grow the platform from scratch, and also watch the number of clicks and affiliates rise. The transition period helped me settle into my role.
How does managing a completely new affiliate programme, such as WildWildBet, differ to managing more established ones like 21BET?
When you’re trying to get a smaller client off the ground, you have to earn the trust of affiliates and players. Until the programme has shown it can drive traffic, affiliates are often reluctant to provide the desired deal. You need to manage smaller operators’ expectations and set realistic goals, but the programme will see results in the long term if there’s a well thought-out plan in place.
Established operators, on the other hand, don’t need to do as much work to attract affiliates. Instead, they come to you and it’s also easier to negotiate better deals.
Which skills do you think are vital to your role as an affiliate marketing coordinator?
A lot of communication is required, and you also need to keep track of who you’re contacting. To build a successful brand, you need to maintain this because communication is the best way to grow an affiliate programme. I like to keep Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations to manage the clients I’ve reached out to, especially when I’ve spoken to so many. It’s also important add every person you’ve spoken to as a contact on instant messaging platforms, such as Skype, and know which deals they each offer.
Technical skills are also vital to my role. If you haven’t got a good knowledge of the affiliate platform, then things will get difficult. Brands often have a lot of technical queries – we usually have weekly calls where there are a number of questions related to this field.
Get to know Divit!
You also created the business, FounderCube. Tell us a bit about this, and what was the idea behind it?
I’ve done a lot of work with start-ups. For a period of between 18 months and two years, I worked with a couple of firms from the technology, e-commerce and other industries. I really liked working in a small environment and often did it voluntarily, because I enjoyed helping these companies grow and finding ways to build sites without spending lots of money.
From there I transitioned to creating my own courses, where I show young people who want to start their own companies how to build websites and e-commerce stores, based on their individual needs. These tutorials are published on YouTube and other e-learning platforms.
What are your other favourite out-of-office activities?
I play and watch a lot of sports. Primarily I play basketball, but also enjoy cricket and soccer. At high school I played for the basketball team, and also participated in cross-country running and other track-and-field sports. Since then, I’ve played recreationally rather than for teams.
I’ve also played the guitar for over a decade. My playing style is generally more classical, slow-jam music as opposed to heavy metal or rap. When I’m not doing either of these or working on FounderCube, I also like hanging-out with my friends.
Speed Round!
What’s your favourite…
- Food: Butter chicken
- Movie: Lord of the Rings
- Song: U2 – ‘With or Without You’
- Animal: Tiger
To discover more about the affiliate marketing services offered by Divit and our Affiliate Team, please reach out.
If you wish to meet the team at ICE Totally Gaming and/ or LAC 2018, please email us to schedule a meeting. Alternatively, we’ll be exhibiting at both conferences – the details for which are here.
