5 Tips for Growing your Affiliate Program in Emerging Markets like LATAM

Why Trading Programs That Move Fast Break Everything (And How Slow Growth Built a 115-Country Empire)

If your affiliate program chases explosive growth with aggressive spend and flashy campaigns, this episode reveals why you might be building on sand. Jana Ivanova and Nir Iter from Exness share how they scaled from 18 to 115 countries not through brute force marketing, but through something radical in trading: patience. Lee-Ann and her guests discuss why daily payouts matter more than commission rates, how localisation means hiring humans who actually understand regional nuances, and why the Latin American market demands emotional connection before transactional relationships. This conversation reveals a counterintuitive truth: sometimes slow and steady really does win the race.

Talking Points Include:

• The payment infrastructure breakthrough that built trust faster than any marketing campaign and why waiting until month-end to pay affiliates destroys credibility in emerging markets
  
• Why treating LATAM as a single homogeneous market is the fastest path to failure and the exact localisation strategy that transformed passive content into community engagement across culturally distinct countries
  
• The team structure that prevents cannibalisation when 11 account managers chase global traffic and how individual KPIs combined with team goals create collaboration instead of internal competition

Meet the Guests

Jana Ivanova serves as Affiliate Marketing Lead at Exness with over 15 years in digital marketing and 6+ years specialising in affiliate marketing. She leads the strategic development of Exness's Latin American market expansion.

Nir Iter manages the affiliate team alongside Jana, bringing 20 years of industry experience and seven years with Exness, where he's led their CPA offer since launch.

Forget Get-Rich-Quick, This Is About Get-Rich-Eventually

Most trading programs operate on a transactional premise: pay affiliates commissions, send promotional emails, track conversions, repeat. Exness discovered this approach creates churn, not loyalty. When Nir tells affiliates “our offer is not to get rich overnight,” he means it applies to both sides of the partnership. The company operates on three-year and five-year plans, not quarterly revenue targets that sacrifice long-term relationships for short-term gains.

This philosophy extends beyond marketing platitudes into operational reality. Daily payouts emerged as a trust-building mechanism that competitors avoided due to fraud concerns. Rather than waiting for month-end settlements, Exness pays affiliates the day after client activity, giving partners immediate capital to reinvest and tangible proof that the company honors its commitments. As Nir explained, “As soon as the client needs to be paid, we pay the next day. They don't need to wait for net 30 or net 60. This created a lot of trust, and they also have money to reinvest.” The risk mitigation came through data analysis and activity requirements, not through making affiliates wait.

Localisation Isn't Translation, It's Cultural Fluency

When Exness expanded into Latin America, the team resisted the standard playbook of translating English assets into Spanish and Portuguese. Instead, they opened a local office, hired Spanish-speaking team members who understood regional trading culture, and created dedicated social media channels that spoke to Latin American affiliates in their own voice. The difference between countries isn't just language, it's communication style, trust-building approaches, and what constitutes compelling content. As Yana noted, “Each country has unique cultural nuances.”

The company produced over 8,000 promotional assets globally, but for LATAM specifically, they focused on educational materials and short-form video content optimised for mobile viewing. The region skews younger and mobile-first, with audiences consuming content on TikTok and similar platforms. Rather than assuming what would work, Exness asked affiliates directly what they needed, then tailored campaigns including fixed CPA offers (up to $960 in some Latin American countries), hybrid models, and referral structures based on actual partner feedback.

Jana emphasised the emotional component: “What's really interesting is how much emotional connection matters in Latam. If you focus on this vibe, on this educational content performance, if you feel the people and make it relevant to your audience, it brings a result.”

Events Are Where LATAM Partnerships Actually Begin

Physical presence matters disproportionately in Latin America compared to other regions. The culture values face-to-face interaction, personal connection, and the ability to shake hands with real humans behind a brand. Exness sponsors and attends both major global events and smaller regional gatherings, recognising that in-person conferences deliver more qualified partnerships than digital campaigns with ten times the reach.

Jana shared, “People want to talk with real partners. It's crucial if you would like to set up this long-term partnership.” This isn't about booth size or party budgets. It's about showing up consistently, having Spanish-speaking team members available for genuine conversations, and demonstrating long-term commitment to the region.

The Exness Growth Strategy: What Actually Worked

Radical Localisation Beyond Translation

Exness didn't just translate content, they rebuilt their entire approach for each market by hiring local Spanish and Portuguese-speaking team members who understood cultural nuances, opening dedicated offices in Latin America, creating region-specific social media channels for affiliate partners, and working with regional influencers and bloggers to build authentic community engagement.

Strategic Content Abundance

Rather than keeping things minimal, Exness created thousands of promotional assets including banners, landing pages, videos, and widgets, all available globally with localised Spanish and Portuguese versions. Their “Born to Trade” cinematic campaign showcased real traders, resonating particularly well with Latin America's young, mobile-oriented audience. Short-form video content for TikTok and social media proved especially effective for explaining complex trading concepts in engaging ways.

Team Structure That Eliminates Cannibalisation

Growing from a handful to 11 professionals required careful management to avoid internal competition through individual KPIs balanced with team KPIs, a buddy system for onboarding new team members, regional specialisation while maintaining global flexibility, and a support culture where “we succeed together.” As Jana explained, “In our company we say that we succeed together. We're all in one boat. We have our team KPIs as well, not just individual KPIs.”

Nir added, “Each team member can still work globally, there's no boundaries, but each focuses on their own turf.”

Five Key Tips for Scaling Successfully

Tip 1: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Resist the temptation to go big or go home. Exness took a measured, three-to-five-year approach rather than seeking overnight results. This patience allowed them to build authentic relationships, understand market nuances deeply, make data-informed adjustments, and create sustainable partnerships. Develop multi-year market entry plans rather than quarterly sprint campaigns.

Tip 2: Build Community and Trust First

For affiliates entering trading or new markets, Jana's advice is clear: “Pick a niche and concentrate on the real community. Build trust with the audience. This is essential.” Invest in educational materials and community engagement before ramping up promotional spend.

Tip 3: Optimise Operations to Remove Team Friction

Scaling from 3 to 11 team members requires intentional structure. Before hiring your next team member, define how territories will be divided and create clear KPI structures that reward both individual performance and team success.

Tip 4: Give Product Teams Honest Feedback

As Lee-Ann bluntly put it, “You can't guild a turd.” If your product fails to deliver, no amount of affiliate marketing excellence will create sustainable growth. Nir emphasised, “We put so much in the product. When people use our product, they want to stay, and this helps affiliates to get more money and to stay with us for much longer.” Create feedback loops between your affiliate team and product development.

Tip 5: Give Affiliates Multiple Trust Signals

Trust isn't built through one channel, it's the accumulation of consistent signals. Audit your affiliate program for trust signals. Where are the friction points? What would make partners feel more confident promoting your brand?

Listen to Find Out More About:

• How Exness structures team KPIs to prevent account managers from fighting over global affiliates while maintaining healthy competition
  
• The buddy program that integrates new team members without creating hierarchical friction in an 11-person global team
  
• Why the company prioritises quality over quantity now, deliberately slowing growth to ensure sustainable partnerships
  
• The specific data points Exness analyses constantly to identify which markets deserve localised attention versus broad global treatment
  
• How mobile measurement platforms become essential tools for LATAM affiliates where phone traffic dominates
  
• The real reason trading affiliate programs traditionally used CPA models and how Exness diversified beyond that constraint

Key Segments of This Podcast and Where You Can Tune In to Go Direct:

[08:17] The long-term mindset explained through hotel guest analogies and why three-year plans beat quarterly targets

[16:29] Daily payment implementation and the risk mitigation strategy that made it viable without enabling fraud

[20:34] Team scaling from a handful to 11 professionals and how specialisation by region prevents global chaos

[33:03] Honest advice for newcomers: pick your niche, build community, trust your data

Latin America: The Opportunity Ahead

For affiliates considering Latin America in 2026, both guests offered clear direction. Yana's focus centres on local communities, as the region values authentic, community-driven marketing over impersonal automation. Nir emphasised mobile optimisation, noting that with young, mobile-first audiences, ensuring your tracking, creatives, and user experience are optimised for phones is non-negotiable. Tools like AppsFlyer or other mobile measurement platforms are essential.

Massive thanks to Jana Ivanova and Nir Iter for sharing the real strategy behind building a 115-country affiliate program through patience, localisation, and genuine partnership. If you're tired of chasing explosive growth that collapses under scrutiny, master the three essential frameworks Yana and Nir discussed in our Building Ethical Affiliate Programs masterclass. Share this episode with another program manager who needs to hear that slow growth isn't failure, it's strategy. Subscribe to the Affiliate Marketing Podcast

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