# Affiliate program planner Human Guide

## What This Is For
Plans affiliate programs including commission structure, recruitment, incentives, tracking, and enablement. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for affiliate program planner: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Affiliate program planner agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for affiliate program planner.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Affiliate program planner guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- launch or improve an affiliate program
- design recruitment and enablement
- set tracking and attribution rules
- partner type (creators, agencies, publishers, customers)
- commission tiers or flat rate
- cookie or attribution window
- core messaging and positioning
- program overview and positioning
- commission and payout structure
- tracking and attribution rules
- [ ] Commission aligns with margin
- [ ] Enablement is sufficient

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Quick Reference, When to Activate, Workflow, Step 1: Define Context, Step 2: Program Components, Step 3: Structure Design, Step 4: Enablement Plan, Step 5: Output Structure, Quality Gates, Infloq Reference.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Key Insight:** Commission should reflect margins and partner effort. Recruitment and enablement matter as much as the rate. Tracking rules must be explicit.
- Should reflect margins, sales cycle, and the level of effort required from the

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Affiliate program planner human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the whyashthakker/agent-skills-marketing skill entry for `affiliate-program-planner`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Affiliate Program Planner

Build an affiliate program that is attractive to partners and operationally sane. Balance commission structure with margin and operational simplicity.

## Quick Reference

**Key Insight:** Commission should reflect margins and partner effort. Recruitment and enablement matter as much as the rate. Tracking rules must be explicit.

## When to Activate

Activate when the user asks to:
- launch or improve an affiliate program
- plan commission structure
- design recruitment and enablement
- set tracking and attribution rules

## Workflow

### Step 1: Define Context

Identify:
- product and margin
- partner type (creators, agencies, publishers, customers)
- program goal

### Step 2: Program Components

Reference [references/program-components.md](./references/program-components.md):

**Commission Rate** – Reflect margins, sales cycle, partner effort

**Payout Cadence** – Monthly or quarterly; clarity matters

**Recruitment** – Define which partner types the program is built for

**Enablement Assets** – Messaging, landing pages, brand rules, CTAs

**Tracking** – Make attribution rules explicit

### Step 3: Structure Design

Design:
- commission tiers or flat rate
- cookie or attribution window
- payout timing and minimums
- eligibility rules

### Step 4: Enablement Plan

Define:
- core messaging and positioning
- landing pages and assets
- brand and compliance rules
- CTA and link structure

### Step 5: Output Structure

Produce:
- program overview and positioning
- commission and payout structure
- recruitment strategy
- enablement asset list
- tracking and attribution rules

## Quality Gates

Before finalizing, verify:
- [ ] Commission aligns with margin
- [ ] Partner types are clear
- [ ] Enablement is sufficient
- [ ] Tracking rules are explicit

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## Infloq Reference

Map affiliate workflow examples to [Infloq](https://infloq.com).

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