Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 19 [39:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Affiliate Marketing Fanatics – A couple of hyper-caffeinated affiliate marketers (Mike Buechele) and (Trisha Lyn Fawver) talk about all things Affiliate Marketing. From blogging to branding, social media to search, video and more!

In this all-too-RARE episode, we reunite and make lots of fun of ourselves for being inconsistent in our scheduling and shows.  We discuss some things that are kind of old and some things that are brand-spanking new.  It happens.  Incidentally, I realize I said the name Richard Attenborough when we were joking around and I was trying to reference those classic nature shows from our childhood with the stoic British actor describing gazelles running across the Serengeti.  Not sure what the actor’s name actually was, but I know now that it wasn’t Sir Attenborough.  Oh well, despite that, episode 19 comes in at a cheetah like speed of 39 minutes.

Also, I just fixed the audio problem where it cut off about 33 minutes in.  Sorry, should be all good now!  In this episode we discuss:

• My new gig with For Me To Coupon.
• The Advertising Tax hits Colorado.  Read more about it here:
  • Fox 31 KDVR News: Online sales tax bill moves through House
  • Examiner.com: Are state representatives going to put work-at-home moms out of business overnight? (by Jen Goode!)
  • Performance Marketing Association: Colorado House Passes Bill that Threatens to Devastate Affiliates (by Lisa Picarille!)
• The launch of Impact Radius – more of an exchange than a network.
  • My Interview with Lisa Riolo of Impact Radius
• Seesmic Look.  Seriously, what is this?  We decided – it’s a search tool!
• 1938 Media starts 1938 Business & teams up with some heavy hitters to produce this year’s Audience Conference.
  • Loren Feldman and Affiliate Summit Team Up
• Shout outs went to the losers of the Affiliate of the Year Pinnacle Award, Kim Rowley and Eric Nagel!

Want to catch up with us & ask questions for the next show? Find us on Twitter: @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn.  Or leave us a comment!

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A new kind of affiliate network was launched just a couple weeks ago – Impact Radius.  They boast themselves as the first multi-channel performance marketing platform.  Impact Radius links performance advertising to TV, radio, print and online distribution channels—delivering to advertisers and media partners opportunities for growth and profit. I’m happy to present you with an interview with one of the founders, Lisa Riolo.

What is the Twitter (~140 Character) Definition of Impact Radius?
Well, I’m going to cheat a little and send back-to-back tweets from @impactradius

• We’re the first multi-channel performance advertising platform. Emphasis on multi-channel.
• We feature an open directory for discovering partners, electronic insertion orders, comprehensive tracking, reporting and payout processing.

Are all the founders of Impact Radius from your days at Commission Junction?
Yes, we all met there in the early days. We’ve all worked for other companies or pursued other ventures in-between then and now.

Those other experiences apart provided tremendous value because it gave us all expanded perspectives. It’s like when everyone in a band goes off and does solo projects and experiments with new rhythms and different instruments. Later, the band reunites with transformed creativity and a familiar, but fresh sound.

How do you feel this will impact the industry in the short term?  Long term?
We see the convergence of traditional and online media as a huge opportunity. Almost immediately, new partnerships that bridge traditional channels to online and vice-versa started forming. Relationships like these, before Impact Radius, were challenging. This makes us a catalyst for growth for the industry as a whole.

Do you foresee any hurdles since the nomenclature of performance marketing terms usually mean different things in different aspects of marketing?
One of the greatest opportunities about building this business was the chance to start with a completely clean slate. We re-visited everything about performance advertising. We asked questions like: What is fundamental to the relationships and what could benefit from a new approach? What business processes are counter to the way people actually work together? And even—is this the best descriptor to use?

So, yes, with respect to nomenclature, we have introduced changes that should minimize confusion and help bridge the differences in a way that creates opportunity. Let me give you an example: We don’t call “affiliates” Affiliates. We don’t call “affiliates” Publishers either. We say: Media Partners—which works for Internet marketers, broadcast TV networks, print publications etc.

Who do you feel this is a sure sell to? (i.e. Who are your primary demographic?)
The performance advertising industry, meaning the advertisers, the media partners, the agencies and services, and even the networks.

I know that answer sounds like we’re flying in the face of conventional wisdom—trying to do ‘everything’ for ‘everybody.’ We’re not, though, doing everything for everybody. We are a technology platform designed specifically for performance advertising. But we’re not also an agency and also a broker and also direct response product owners. We designed Impact Radius to serve the needs of many business models, including the one’s I just listed, as they manage their performance advertising efforts.

How does this integrate with the existing affiliate technologies out there?
Technology companies and solution providers alike can promote their services in our directory and interface with our technology platform through Web Services.

What are the questions you get asked the most about Impact Radius from affiliates?  From merchants?  From agencies?
How do I sign-up? Seriously.

There really isn’t a strong argument against doing some level of business with us. Even if it’s just to manage a few relationships on the platform or promote your services in the directory…

How about questions from the networks?
The initial response is congratulatory and supportive. Then comes the question: Should I consider you a competitor?

Our answer is: Not necessarily. Aspects of our functionality may overlap—but aspects may also be complementary. For example, a CPA network could promote their offers in our directory and use platform features like the electronic insertion orders or payout systems to efficiently manage certain relationships. Or, an affiliate network could refer one of their customers to Impact Radius to start managing their “offline” advertising on a performance basis.

The idea is to fuel performance advertising growth exponentially.

Lisa Riolo is an active, dedicated member of the performance advertising community and remains committed to its further growth and achievement. Prior to co-founding Impact Radius, Lisa consulted with high-growth businesses to develop online marketing programs and scale operations. Lisa’s previous experience includes serving as senior vice president of business development at Commission Junction, where she played an instrumental role in growing company revenue, and managerial roles at Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Bank of America.

Lisa holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Claremont McKenna College.

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I’m excited to say that an article I wrote is included in the book Internet Marketing From The Real Experts, edited by Shawn Collins & Missy Ward.  This is the first book to be published under the Velocity NYC Press imprint by Morgan James Publishing.  The official author is “The Gang of 88″ as the book is a compilation of articles written for and printed in FeedFront Magazine.  The book was given out to attendees of Affiliate Summit West 2010 and boasts 3 minute lessons on affiliate marketing, email marketing, search engine optimization, social media, and much more!

My article on Affiliate Manager Communication Strategies appears on page 15.  Unfortunately since I wrote that article towards the beginning of FeedFront’s publication, it says I’m the marketing manager for PsPrint.com, which if you follow my blog you know that’s not true anymore.  Oh well!  I’m excited to be part of the gang of 88, and look forward to reading the entire book (well, the articles I haven’t already read in FeedFront).

From the back of the book:

What do Jay Berkowitz, Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Jim Kukral, Ted Murphy, Jeremy Schoemaker, and Mari Smith have in comment?  They all walk the walk when it comes to their Internet marketing expertise.  And they also have joined dozens of innovators and thought shapers to share their ideas, advice, and insight.

Internet Marketing from the Real Experts is a collection of affiliate, email,  blogging, podcasting, video, search engine, and social network rock stars that break down the how and why of Internet marketing in a clear, easy to understand way.

Their voices, their ideas, their action items, and their lessons learned from mistakes – all for you to grow your business the day you start reading Internet Marketing from the Real Experts.

I know that all those flattering words are really meant for the caliber of people listed on the back cover, but I’m honored to be among them in print!  Maybe now I will write that book I’ve been thinking of!

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