Influencer and Affiliate Marketing Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Digital Marketing Managers, Influencer Marketing Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-DM-043

Before you join: Participants should understand core digital marketing concepts such as target audiences, conversion journeys, paid and owned channels, basic campaign metrics and marketing budgets.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Influencer and affiliate marketing can produce qualified reach, referral traffic and sales, but weak partner selection, unclear commercial terms and poor measurement quickly waste budget. Marketing teams must distinguish creators who build trust from publishers who drive transactions, set appropriate rewards, control promotional claims and prove whether partner activity creates incremental value. They also need practical safeguards for disclosure, brand safety, fraud, content rights and customer experience.

This course equips participants to plan, launch and manage influencer and affiliate programmes with commercial discipline. Participants define objectives and KPIs, select suitable creators and publishers, assess audience quality, construct partner propositions and negotiate deliverables. They learn how to write briefs, structure contracts, set affiliate commissions, implement tracking links and promotional codes, and apply attribution approaches. The course also covers FTC Endorsement Guides, ASA CAP Code requirements, GDPR considerations, approval controls and escalation procedures for problematic content or suspicious conversions.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with sector cases, partner-selection decisions, contract and briefing reviews, measurement analysis, fraud scenarios and team discussions. Participants apply methods to a realistic campaign or their own programme, receiving structured feedback on assumptions, metrics and controls. Each participant leaves with a reusable influencer and affiliate marketing programme plan, including a partner scorecard, commercial model, campaign brief, measurement plan and governance checklist.

The course suits marketing, ecommerce, partnership and customer acquisition professionals who already understand digital marketing fundamentals and now need to run partner-led campaigns with greater accountability.

What you will be able to do

  • Design an influencer and affiliate programme charter with objectives, KPIs and governance
  • Evaluate creators and publishers using audience authenticity and brand-fit scorecards
  • Construct partner propositions, outreach sequences and commercially sound briefing documents
  • Negotiate deliverables, usage rights, exclusivity and commission structures
  • Apply FTC Endorsement Guides, ASA CAP Code requirements and disclosure controls
  • Configure a measurement plan using UTM conventions, GA4 and attribution models
  • Calculate affiliate performance using EPC, conversion rate, reversal rate and margin
  • Produce a quarterly partner activation and optimisation plan with accountable actions

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build credible business cases for creator and affiliate programme investment
  • Assess partner quality beyond follower counts and headline engagement rates
  • Negotiate clearer commercial terms, content rights and performance expectations
  • Explain partner-channel results using commercially relevant performance measures
  • Manage disclosure, brand safety and fraud risks with documented controls

For your organisation

  • Reduce spend on unsuitable creators, low-quality publishers and unverified audiences
  • Improve referral conversion through clearer offers, tracking and partner activation
  • Create consistent controls for disclosures, claims, approvals and content rights
  • Strengthen reporting on revenue, margin, incrementality and partner contribution
  • Establish repeatable operating procedures for cross-functional partner programmes

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can distinguish partnership models and define the operating structure for a partner marketing programme.

  • Creator, publisher and affiliate roles within performance marketing programmes
  • Paid, gifted, affiliate and ambassador partnership models compared
  • Full-funnel customer journeys mapped to creator touchpoints and referral links
  • Commission structures, platform fees and media costs separated clearly
  • Stakeholder responsibilities defined through a RACI operating model
  • Channel conflict risks between affiliates, creators and direct media

Participants can create a programme charter that connects commercial objectives to partner activity and measurement.

  • Business objectives translated into awareness, acquisition, retention and advocacy KPIs
  • SMART objectives paired with target audiences and conversion actions
  • STP segmentation used to prioritise partner audiences and propositions
  • Funnel stages selected using reach, intent, conversion and lifetime value
  • Partner programme charters define scope, governance, budget and decision rights
  • Incrementality hypotheses written before partner recruitment begins

Participants can identify, assess and shortlist partners using evidence-based selection criteria.

  • Creator discovery criteria combine audience fit, content quality and credibility
  • Affiliate recruitment sources assessed: networks, publishers, communities and direct outreach
  • Audience authenticity checked through follower quality, engagement patterns and comment signals
  • Brand-fit scorecards compare values, tone, risk and category conflicts
  • Historical sales, traffic and conversion evidence verified before contracting
  • Shortlists documented with rationale, exclusions and approval records

Participants can prepare partner approaches, briefs and commercial terms that set clear expectations.

  • Partner value propositions tailored to creator and publisher motivations
  • Outreach sequences specify proposition, deliverables, rates and response deadlines
  • Negotiation anchors set using usage rights, exclusivity and performance evidence
  • Briefs distinguish mandatory claims, creative freedom and approval gates
  • Contracts cover deliverables, disclosure, payment, cancellation and content rights
  • Affiliate terms define attribution windows, prohibited methods and commission reversals

Participants can apply practical controls for disclosures, promotional claims, data use and partner risk.

  • FTC Endorsement Guides applied to material connections and disclosure placement
  • ASA CAP Code requirements translated into creator briefing controls
  • GDPR lawful bases considered for tracking links, pixels and remarketing
  • Promotional claims substantiated before creators publish health, financial or environmental statements
  • Brand-safety escalation paths address misinformation, harmful content and reputational incidents
  • Approval logs retain evidence of reviews, disclosures and corrective actions

Participants can develop creator content plans that balance authenticity, conversion and brand requirements.

  • Creative briefs connect audience insight, proposition, format and call-to-action
  • Content pillars balance education, demonstration, proof, entertainment and conversion
  • Platform-native formats selected for TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and blogs
  • Usage rights planned for whitelisting, paid amplification and owned-channel reuse
  • Creator content reviewed against claims, disclosure and brand guidelines
  • Publishing calendars coordinate launches, embargoes, seasonal peaks and product availability

Participants can establish affiliate tracking, commission and validation processes for controlled programme delivery.

  • Affiliate tracking architecture connects links, codes, pixels and server-side events
  • Attribution models compared: last-click, first-click, linear, position-based and data-driven
  • Commission plans combine percentage, fixed bounty, tiered and hybrid structures
  • Validation rules identify cancelled orders, fraud, returns and duplicate conversions
  • Network, SaaS and direct programmes assessed against control and cost
  • Publisher activation plans use newsletters, placements, incentives and seasonal promotions

Participants can measure partner activity and communicate its contribution to commercial results.

  • Measurement plans link objectives, KPIs, data sources, owners and reporting cadence
  • UTM conventions distinguish partner, campaign, content and placement performance
  • GA4 acquisition reports reconcile sessions, conversions and revenue by source
  • Creator metrics separate reach, engagement, clicks, conversions and qualified leads
  • Affiliate metrics calculate EPC, conversion rate, average order value and reversal rate
  • Incrementality tests use holdouts, geo splits or matched-market comparisons
  • Dashboards distinguish leading indicators from commercial outcome measures

Participants can diagnose performance issues and take proportionate action on underperforming or risky partnerships.

  • Performance diagnostics isolate audience mismatch, weak offers, creative fatigue and tracking faults
  • A/B tests prioritise variables using expected impact, confidence and implementation effort
  • Commission changes model margin effects before partner communications
  • Fraud signals include cookie stuffing, voucher poaching, bots and self-referrals
  • Anomaly thresholds trigger investigation, partner contact, withholding and escalation
  • Partner tiers guide investment, remediation, probation and exit decisions

Participants can prepare an actionable operating plan for improving a current or planned partner programme.

  • Quarterly partner plans sequence recruitment, campaigns, reviews and renewal decisions
  • Budget scenarios allocate fixed fees, commissions, production, tools and contingency
  • Performance review agendas combine scorecards, insights, actions and accountable owners
  • Cross-functional workflows align marketing, ecommerce, legal, finance and customer service
  • Application plans identify one programme improvement, milestones, dependencies and measures
  • Executive updates present investment rationale, risks, results and next decisions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Influencer and affiliate programme charter template
  2. Creator and publisher selection scorecard
  3. Partner outreach, briefing and approval checklist
  4. Commercial terms and commission model
  5. Partner measurement and attribution plan
  6. Quarterly partner activation plan

Who should attend

  • Digital Marketing Managers — responsible for partner-led acquisition and campaign performance
  • Influencer Marketing Managers — selecting, briefing and managing creator partnerships
  • Affiliate Managers — operating publisher relationships, commissions and tracking
  • Ecommerce Managers — improving referral revenue, conversion and promotional control
  • Partnerships Managers — building commercially viable external marketing relationships
  • Brand and Communications Managers — protecting brand standards across creator content

Skills and tools covered

Partner programme designCreator selectionAffiliate operationsCommercial negotiationCampaign measurementCompliance governance

Tools and standards

FTC Endorsement Guides, ASA CAP Code, Google Analytics 4, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by case work, group analysis, decision simulations and application planning. Participants assess creator and publisher profiles, compare commercial models, review sample briefs and contracts, diagnose tracking and attribution issues, and respond to disclosure or fraud incidents. Marketing, ecommerce, consumer goods, financial services and nonprofit examples are used where relevant. Facilitators connect each method to participants’ own partner programmes, campaign priorities and internal approval processes.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand core digital marketing concepts such as target audiences, conversion journeys, paid and owned channels, basic campaign metrics and marketing budgets. Experience managing social media, ecommerce, performance marketing, partnerships or agency activity is useful. Participants should be comfortable discussing campaign objectives, reviewing marketing content and working with simple performance data. Prior influencer or affiliate programme ownership is not required. No coding, legal qualification, advanced analytics expertise or prior use of a specific affiliate network is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need a working understanding of digital marketing, audiences and basic campaign metrics. They do not need previous responsibility for an influencer programme, affiliate network or analytics platform.

Participants may bring an existing campaign brief, partner list, performance report or business challenge if organisational policy permits. Course materials and working templates are provided.

It is designed for marketing, ecommerce, influencer, affiliate and partnerships professionals managing or supporting partner-led campaigns. It also suits brand and communications managers who approve creator activity or protect brand standards.

This course focuses on commercial relationships with creators, publishers and affiliates rather than organic channel management or media buying. It covers partner selection, agreements, commissions, tracking, attribution, disclosures and fraud controls.

Participants can use the programme charter, scorecard, briefing checklist and measurement plan to review an existing programme or prepare a new one. The methods also support clearer discussions with agencies, affiliate networks, legal teams and finance colleagues.

Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, with approximately 6.5 contact hours daily. The five days cover ten modules in teaching order, moving from strategy and partner selection through activation, measurement, optimisation and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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