Skimlinks Around The World… Meet Ramon Geitebrügge

Welcome to our Employee Spotlight series where we get to know Skimlinks employees from around the globe a bit better. 

This time we feature Ramon Geitebrügge who works as a Senior Merchant Account Manager for the German and UK markets.

Let’s start with you telling us a bit about yourself…

My name is Ramon and I am originally from Germany, the Dortmund area. I moved to England in 2005, so I have been in London for a while and would consider myself a Londoner now but I do travel back to Germany quite a lot as my roots are there. Unsurprisingly, the football team I support is Borussia Dortmund, which I follow for overseas games and whenever they play in London. 

What has been the highlight of your week so far?

Setting and gearing up everything for OMR, we always have great meetings and conversations with existing and new partners. It is also always refreshing to meet face to face with people you usually only see on screens or are names on emails.

And then personally, football has been a massive highlight. My hometown club Dortmund are in the semi-final of the Champions League, and 1-0 up in the first leg, so squeaky bum time for me right now.

When and why did you join Skimlinks?

I joined in September 2022 and I have been in the affiliate industry for nearly 8 years now. The opportunity to work with Skimlinks presented itself and in particular, helping the German market as well as the UK. I have experience working with the DACH region from previous roles and so believed I could apply that here to help grow these markets. 

What is your role in the EMEA markets? 

I am building out the merchant base in Germany as well as working towards more strategic partnerships. I have the advantage of also working with the UK market, so I know what the standards are and the benefits we can provide through close collaboration. The key here is that we need to translate the already successful model from the UK to the German market.

And do you think there is an overlap between the UK and German markets?

Yes, we have a lot of clients who work across multiple countries and have traffic from international audiences. For many of these Germany makes up a portion of this and so many conversations we are having are about whether Germany is a focus area of ours. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing those markets right now? 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know there has been a cost-of-living crisis going on across the world and definitely in Europe. So a challenge we are facing now is adapting to the market and changing consumer behaviours. Consumers are more price-savvy and less impulse-driven. Purchases are thought-through and that’s where we can provide a great resource as many of our Publishers are very editorial and trustworthy, often acting as research sources for consumers.

What do you believe is the biggest opportunity in the industry right now?

Within the UK we have a great working relationship with our partners. We have established best practices and we can showcase great success stories. Therefore, we can leverage the experience we have here to continue our growth. Within Germany, although it is very similar regarding processes, there are cultural differences that need to be considered. We are very aligned with this as a company and provide a best-in-class service that really understands all the nuances and goals our clients possess. 

Where do you want Skimlinks to be in your markets in a year’s time? 

As it stands for Germany we need to provide education about who Skimlinks are and what we do. I want Skimlinks to be synonymous with quality and trusted traffic and hope we have reinforced the transparency we provide within the market. Our reporting and insights are very strong in supporting all of this, so this is definitely achievable. 

What’s the best career lesson you’ve learned so far?

Treat everyone with the same level of respect no matter their station and position. You will always see each other twice, if not more, within the industry and people always remember how you made them feel. 

And let’s finish with your favourite idiom…

‘Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei’, which translates as ‘everything has an end, only the sausage has two’. This is meant to remind people not to worry too much, everything, particularly hard times, has an end. So no matter what happens, persevere and things will get better.