In the latest edition of our Meet the IA Team series, we speak to Affiliate Marketing Coordinator Bernhard Obojes. Bernhard has been shortlisted under the ‘Best Lottery Affiliate Manager’ category for February’s 2018 iGB Affiliate Awards in London, following his management of two successful iLottery brands, such as LiveLotto and the Health Lottery, over the past 12 months.

Here Bernhard discusses his day-to-day responsibilities, along with his favourite out-of-office activities.

Generally, how would you say your working day is structured?The first thing I do every morning is check my managed brands’ statistics. This usually doesn’t take long, but situations that require addressing can sometimes arise.

Once this is complete, I respond to all messages from clients and affiliates. It’s important to reply quickly and not only help with queries, but also take advantage of potential partnership opportunities.

In the afternoon, I focus on more administrative work, such as uploading banners, generating payments for affiliates and creating affiliate recruitment lists. Towards the end of the day, I prepare for the next one by ticking off the rest of the most significant items on my to-do list.Compared to sportsbooks and casinos, how different is managing iLottery brands’ affiliate programmes?iLottery isn’t yet as established as the other two verticals, meaning there are fewer lottery-dedicated affiliate sites. I therefore have to be more creative and reach out to niche traffic sources, such as bonus codes, voucher websites or general gaming sites that promote a number of verticals.

Because many affiliate sites are less familiar with iLottery brands, I often need to explain the vertical in more detail during negotiations. However, while fewer traditional affiliates promote iLottery at the moment, many are looking to do so in the future.What are the most important skills related to your role as an Affiliate Marketing Coordinator? Organisation It’s very important to be well-organised. It’s easy to get lost in multi-tasking and lose a lot of time focusing on less urgent details, so I find structuring my work and prioritising the most vital tasks much easier.CommunicationCommunication skills are also a necessity. Affiliates get a lot of promotional requests, many of which are extremely similar. Establishing a personal relationship will make them more likely to open up to your proposals. We’re also in different offices and (in many cases) time zones than other clients and affiliates, which makes maintaining regular contact a must.

Get to Know Bernhard!

What are your favourite activities outside of the office? I take part in a lot of sports and like to play basketball. It’s especially fun to play in the summer – we’ve got outdoor courts in Montreal where you can just play with and against other people.

 

I also had the opportunity to attend an NBA game between the Toronto Raptors and San Antonio Spurs when I first visited Canada. Along with the considerable travel distance, it was difficult to watch NBA games as a teenager growing up in Europe because the games took place late at night. So being there with thousands of other people was a childhood dream come true.You’ve lived and worked in both Vienna and Montreal… How do the two cities compare to one another? They’re very different. Vienna is a nice place to visit with many old buildings, whereas Montreal is more of a globalised city.

The work life also contrasts greatly. In Montreal, we have an open office, with several dozen people and almost no walls between us. This largely isn’t the case in Vienna – the offices are generally smaller, with only two or three people in each.

People have fun at work here and the atmosphere is more relaxed. We always enjoy our day together, whereas people in Austria are generally more focused on their work in the office and view having fun as an activity for your free time.Speed Round! What’s your favourite…

• Outdoor activity: Skiing
• Food: Indian Food
• Movie: The Matrix
• Song: Imagine by John Lennon
• Animal: Bear

To discover more about the affiliate management services provided by Bernhard and his team, please reach out.

 

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