Affiliate Rockstar: Kamile Kaselyte

Introducing Kamile Kaselyte

Kamile Kaselyte is an Affiliate Account Director at Nord Security, a leading cybersecurity company valued at $3 billion, and is best known for launching cybersecurity products such as NordVPN and NordPass.

Kamile is a seasoned digital marketer, with over 10 years of experience in digital marketing and a strong entrepreneurial background. With a solid expertise in affiliate marketing, Kamile’s career has been defined by her strategic prowess and innovative approach to establishing successful organic partnerships with media publishers.

Now please help us welcome to the stage our main event, Kamile Kaselyte!

Rockstar Q&A with Kamile

What are your day-to-day duties?
As an Affiliate Account Director for new products at Nord Security, my primary focus is on building new affiliate partnerships and nurturing the already existing ones with our key accounts. My role also involves frequent monitoring of our results, helping the team set up initiatives related to new products, as well as bridging the gap between product and affiliate teams.

What’s the best thing you learned at the last conference you attended?
Networking can occur not only during scheduled meetings, but also in between them, during panel discussions or happy hours. I have learned that some publishers can be met or approached directly after their panels — sometimes a quick five-minute conversation can turn into a fruitful long-term affiliate partnership. That’s precisely what happened during one conference I attended this year, which was PI Live in Miami.

What are your most important KPIs?
At the end of the day, affiliate marketing is about making sure that key metrics, such as billings, ROAS, CR, and AOV stay at the desired levels. However, it’s needless to say that none of this is possible without nurturing transparent, long-lasting partnerships that create value for both parties. Besides that, for me it’s always important to see our products represented meaningfully and accurately.

What have you done in the last 6-12 months to improve your affiliate efforts?
I think that a lot has been done, but what really made an impact was looking beyond the scope of what fits into our target affiliate description — expanding our affiliate base by widening the type of partnerships that we make. Additionally, assessing the focus areas every quarter helped a lot since the landscape is constantly changing and it may be the case that SERP results have shifted, and hence, our focus affiliates.

“Affiliate” or “partner” and why?
Perhaps it’s subjective, but I’d classify “affiliates” as any partners that work purely on an affiliate basis and “partners” as those who would fall under the scope of more traditional partnerships (when affiliate links are used, but the nature of partnership is larger and can involve more teams and objectives).

What’s the next big thing in affiliate marketing?
I think that the next big thing in affiliate marketing is about being able to manage the emerging technology in the right ways.

AI and machine learning can be helpful in many ways, for example, by providing personalized recommendations and, thus, increasing CR. However, if overused, especially in terms of AI-enhanced or generated content — publishers can be drastically penalized by Google and, therefore, lose their positions in SERPs. For brands, relying too much on automatic fraud detection or using predictive analytics to optimize campaigns can harm results, if human oversight is drastically reduced.

So, for me the next big thing in affiliate marketing is about embracing these new technologies, while ensuring effective and balanced human-AI collaboration.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made in affiliate marketing?
It may have been the times when I really pushed on a partnership that I believed in without noticing the signs that the other party won’t put in the required amount of work into the project. It’s always important to focus your time, energy, and other resources into partnerships where both parties are ready to be invested.

What’s your ideal partner mix?
Usually, a diverse affiliate program is best, in which you can find strong organic publishers, comparison affiliates, coupon and deal sites, affiliate networks, loyalty and reward sites, and many more. Ideally, all these categories diversify the affiliate program, avoiding the risk of relying on a single type of publishers.

What are 2-3 trends you are seeing in the industry?
More and more publishers are starting to work on and appreciate performance-based partnerships. Commissions are based on actual sales and performance as opposed to flat fees, which is a great shift in the industry. I see this approach as more sustainable and long-term in affiliate marketing. Also, attribution models are getting more sophisticated since there is a much more accurate cross-device tracking. Besides that, there’s a trend for social commerce — more and more publishers are able to integrate shoppable content across their sites, which could be a part of affiliate partnership.

What’s your top tip when it comes to negotiating affiliate deals with partners?
Closing a great affiliate means understanding your metrics and market rates well. Then, it’s important to ensure that clear objectives for the campaign and partnership are defined whilst agreeing on a commission structure that makes sense for both parties. Of course, there is so much more to it, but I’d say that reading your email with the final offer two or three times before sending out or leaving it for a day to rest — can really give you a fresh perspective and a more comprehensive understanding of the negotiation and partnership in general.

How do you think your strategy differs than other verticals?
Each vertical may have similar KPIs, but different ways and strategies to achieve them. In affiliate marketing, a certain niche in which the company operates already defines the best converting type of content. For some brands, it may be review sites, whilst for others, coupon and cash back sites. In short, the audience behavior sets the direction where affiliate marketing efforts should be focused.