Affiliate Marketing – The Way Forward

Starting her career as an assistant manager, Neha Kulwal’s professional journey saw her join Optimise Media Group to develop new skills for the affiliate industry. Within a short span, she became an associate director and the leap upward continued, bringing her to her current role as a founding member and director at Admitad India, setting up new business units. 

Recalling some of the challenges she has faced, Kulwal says that women entrepreneurs are more than just entrepreneurs. “Managing personal life and career comes with a lingering fear of failure. However, with time, not only did I manage my team well, but I also earned their respect. I rejoined my organisation two months after having a baby and managed both motherhood and my profession,” she says.

Kulwal also highlights awareness as one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. “The lack of education, transparency and fraud are all concern areas. It took me a long time to convince brands to believe in affiliate channels by creating transparency and offering tech solutions where they could see the value,” she adds.

Opportunities Galore

In the last decade, an enormous change has occurred in the marketing and advertising industry of India. Digital marketing is being used in different ways for marketing undertakings. “With the increase in demand for online shopping, online marketing strategy has become an essential part to reach audiences and customers,” citing this, Kulwal informs that brands have now started to split their total budget into affiliate marketing. 

“It has become a prime source of channel revenue for brands resulting in 10-15 per cent of the total revenue generation,” she points out. Admitad is now a global IT company. Apart from its global partner network, it has launched different business units like TapAffiliate, Whitelabel, Univibes and is also investing in new projects like check scan, and reward apps. The company will now be operating in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam regions as well.

Innovate To Grow

With the motto ‘if you believe, you can achieve’, Kulwal is never tired of trying and working on newer innovations. She sums up, “This is the strength that pushes us ahead in a competitive industry. If you do not have faith, you can hardly achieve anything. In line with the thought of being the change, we proactively advocate bringing in new technologies and innovations to simplify the working environment for all players, whether it is advertisers or publishers, to maintain the affiliate ecosystem.”