Affiliate Marketing

CJU Course: Kerri Pollard’s Opening Remarks

Posted on Oct 25, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking |

Despite our impressive growth rates, performance-based model and in-depth relationships, why does affiliate marketing continue to play in the minor leagues? Commission Junction President Kerri Pollard challenged us (advertisers, publishers, agencies, and CJ employees alike) to become major players in the overall media mix — aka, the “big leagues.” Not only do we recognize that there is life beyond the last click, but we can — and we do — add value to many of the critical stages of the consumer life cycle that lead to the purchase.

As usual, Kerri’s opening remarks were engaging, energetic  and encouraging.

Bullet Point Review!

• The industry thinks we’re too small, we don’t deserve as much attention in affiliate marketing.
• Benchmark Capital says “Affiliate marketing is slowing” but they’re the only ones that think that.
• We know we’re growing; those outside our industry and those above us do not.
• We can ignore these doubtful questions or we can answer them by demonstrating our value.  Answering them will allow us to do more in the future.
• How do we create more outliers to increase commissions?
• Are we having the right conversations?
• We need to focus on incrementality.
• Loyalty publishers have a 171% higher AOV, their users shop more frequently, and they have less returns (within CJ, anyway).
• We need to look at what’s happening in other channels and address the concern, money can be funneled elsewhere.
• We need to focus on profitability.
• Revenue: cost of goods sold – operating expenses = profit.
• Reach: who is your audience?  What are their preferences?  Do they match advertiser goals?
• We can do more.
• 5% of CJ publishers have a mobile experience or mobile website.
• Only 10% of advertisers have mobile shopping experiences.
• Starting November 3rd, CJ will be offering impression to conversion.  The click will always trump the impression.

CJU Keynote: So what drives customer engagement, anyway?

Posted on Oct 24, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking |

2011’s keynote speaker was the very informative Dr. Jeffrey F. Rayport, Ph.D. Jeffrey coined the term “viral marketing” and brings an incredible knowledge of the online commerce space. He advises businesses in rethinking how they interact with their customers. His keynote focused on how the networked world requires new approaches to drive customer engagement, which in turn is changing the face of online and multi-channel commerce.

Last year’s keynote was informative, but dry.  This year’s keynote was awesome.  Dr. Rayport was informative as all get out while being funny and engaging all at the same time.  I’d love to see him speak again, and I definitely ended the keynote feeling jazzed to keep learning more and energized for my meetings!

Bullet Point Review!

• Consumers have changed over the decades
• Consumer 1.0: Demand was greater than supply
• Consumer 2.0: Demand was equal to supply
• Consumer 3.0: Supply is greater than demand
• We’re all in the business of demand generation.
• Engaging and captivating consumers is key.
• Toyota’s Scion is a great cast study of how to do it right.
• Scion never spent money on TV advertising: 60% allocation of their marketing budget to events and 40% to online advertising.
• Made a lot of after market peripherals and accessories for the car.
• It’s changing the way car buying works.  Most owners customize their Scions online.
• Integrate social networks, read dynamic comments, follow Twitter streams.
• 2/3 of the 100 million streams of videos happen on exterior sites, not YouTube.com
• StumbleUpon now accounts for over 50% of all the referral traffic from the topographic social media sites.  There are 12 million SU users vs. 750 million Facebook users and yet SU just surpassed Facebook.
• Best Buy extends multiple-channel retail experience into many useful OUTGOING points of presence, such as Facebook, online magazines, mobile apps, Twitter-based customer service, and crowd sourced ideas.
• A single social graph can become a vast constellation of thousands of INCOMING points of presence.
• With the proliferation of local deals and offers, mobile couponing is growing rapidly in appeal.
• It’s expected that 16.5% of adult mobile phone users will be using mobile coupons by 2013.
• iPhone and iPad apps enable mobile access to flash sales with “call to action” offers for people on the go.
• To boost mobile sales, companies have provided a “virtual shop window” for the retail experience without the inventory.  Ocado in the UK has a store front, you can scan the barcodes on the window with your mobile phone and order items.
• Mobile smart phone apps provide branded city guides to deepen brand engagement and drive sales.
• Hulu’s move beyond online video streaming is fueling growth for it’s business and content owners, too.  It went from a website to having multiple platforms to provide premium content.
• The highest productivity retailer in the world as measured by retail sales per square foot is the Apple Store.
• Publishers and advertisers will win consumers not through Customer Relationship Management, but Customer Managed Relationships.
• Forget segments and niches in the traditional sense.

Dr. Rayport’s 5 Main Takeways:

1. Target your diehard fans: put them in the driver’s seat
2. Social the brand: make rewards matter
3. Work the web: let the outside in and the inside out
4. Experience is everything: form factors rule
5. Integrate the touch points: be savvy and seamless

CJU Course: It’s a TAXing Debate: Don’t Cut Me Off

Posted on Oct 20, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking |

So many states have implemented affiliate nexus tax laws. What does this mean to you as a publisher? What does this mean to you if you are an advertiser who does not have a store in the state? Come listen to our panel to hear how others are managing the challenge. The panel consisted of:

• Jennifer Lovette, Vice President, Client Development, CJ (Moderator)
• Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association

This was a very informative discussion, even for someone like me who tries to keep abreast of what’s going on in an effort to help however I can.  I should note that since CJ (since this info is about a month stale) that the Governor of CA has signed the deal with Amazon and many merchants have welcomed CA affiliates back into their programs.

Personally, I only accepted a few that I really liked before and declined the pushed offers from the others as I already did my link removal on my sites, but I’m the lowest level of affiliate in terms of how much I personally make, so it’s the bigger affiliates who can really make a difference in leveraging their income figures in this fight!

Bullet Point Review!

• Do we want to fight this on a state by state level or on a national level.
• Publishers aren’t mad at the advertisers, they’re mad at the legislature.
• On average affiliates lose 25-45% of their revenue, the state loses income tax revenue, and never collect the sales tax.
• There are a lot of names, which are confusing, but we’ve chosen affiliate nexus law as a general catchall phrase.
• Quill Corp v. North Dakota: advertising does not constitute physical presence or nexus. It became a constitutional issue.
• Passed: California, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Illinois, Connecticut, Arkansas.
• Big box retailers banded together this year to support this tax to try to get Amazon to pay tax. Rumor is they spent 11 million.
• The PMA surveyed California affiliates after the budget bill was signed here:
• 32% are moving out of state or plan to.
• 20% decided to shut down their affiliate marketing efforts altogether
• 35% of lost over half their income when the law passed.
• Amazon & CA have come to an agreement that will eliminate this tax for 1 year – we need to look at it more long term.
• They want to get a federal sales tax solution in place by July 2012. If they’re not successful, the law gets reinstated September 15, 2012.
• Streamline Sales Tax Project. 24 states have agreed to this. Main street fairness act needs to pass to allow SSTP. The chance of this happening isn’t very high.
• Amazon just cut a deal with the state that benefits their own business, so now all these other advertisers who haven’t been involved in the fight or the opposition will be forced to collect tax. Now is the time to fight for yourself & promote the federal solution.
• Board of directors of the PMA are new and still determining whether to fight nationally or state level.
• What can you do?
• Think before you act.
• Make Your Case
• Simplify actions
• Measure twice, cut once. Advertisers need to make sure you’re doing what’s best for your business before making a knee jerk decision to cut affiliates. Talk to a lawyer if you have to.
• There are ways to work together, identify your threshold of risk.
• Taxes will always exist, think long term when making decisions that are going to affect your business.
• No matter what side you’re on, WE can make a difference
• Things change quickly so don’t give up!

If you were an attendee of CJU and registered for their (awesome!) CJUniverse network, you can download a PDF of Jennifer’s slides here.

Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 57: Geek Cast Wannabes

Posted on Oct 20, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Marketing Fanatics |

Podcast: Play in new window | 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!

It seems longing for a simpler time, back when we all religiously listened to Geek Cast, is a virus that’s going around.  Before the band got back together last week on Affiliate Thing, we had a similar idea to emulate that model for fun.  Mike is back, and we were also joined by Wade Tonkin of Fanatics and Drew Bennett of BenSpark.com. In in this episode we discuss:

• Our collective love of the original Geek Cast with Shawn Collins, Sam Harrelson, Jim Kukral, and Lisa Picarille.
• The passing of Steve Jobs… would the reaction be similar if Bill Gates had passed?
• CityCrashVille Hometown on iPad.
• Speculating on what Affiliate Summit Central will be.
• Upcoming Affiliate Summit West in January and how the session voting is going.
• Mike’s recap of the New York Comic Con

Find us on Twitter: @AMF_Podcast, @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn. Like us on Facebook! Be old fashioned and just leave us a comment!

Special thanks to GeekCast.fm for hosting Affiliate Marketing Fanatics!

Affiliate Summit East 2011: How to Pitch Your Company #ASE11

Posted on Oct 4, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking | 2 comments

Session Description: Candid advice for exhibitors representing their company at the Affiliate Summit conference.  On the panel were:

• Tricia Meyer, Owner, Sunshine Rewards (Moderator)
• Robert Adler, President, The Link Builders
• Ad Hustler, Chief Hustler, Ad Hustler, LLC
• Kim Rowley, Owner, Key Internet Marketing, Inc.

I have to admit that this session came off unlike what I thought I was in for.  What I expected was tips to hone your pitch when talking to people.  What I got was a newcomers’ guide to attending conferences.  While there’s definitely a lot of value in that, especially for, well, newcomers, there wasn’t a ton of value in it for me.  However, I did pick up some “best practices” that I’ll definitely be sharing with folks that are new to trade shows and nervous about representing their companies well!

Bullet Point Review!

•  Don’t look straight at a person’s name tag for their name, just ask for it.  Don’t devalue a person based on what their badge says their role is – people wear many hats in this industry.
• Business is supposed to be personal to a point.
• Don’t look over people’s shoulders to see who else there is to talk to (it’s rude!).
• Don’t judge people based on what they’re wearing.  Never think the way they dress equates to how much money they can make.
• CPA networks rely on a gender bias going towards men.  Ladies can drive leads too.
• Don’t assume people are in a role they’re not.
• Highest price, best offers…most of your CPA networks claiming these things are full of it.  Only one network can have THE highest price or THE best offers, so you’re all just lying.  Develop a relationship with the affiliate – the rest is nonsense.
• Have a unique pitch.  What is it about your company that’s different from your competitors?
• Name one thing that will make you walk past a booth?
• Booth babes.  They don’t know anything about your company and it looks pathetic.  You’re not going to attract real performers that way.  As Ad Hustler said, your hot chick isn’t going to entice them because they can probably afford a hotter one!
• When people working at the booth look disinterested in being there.  Potential partners need to see your excitement!
• Aggressive sales mentality.  It doesn’t work in affiliate marketing.  These panelists said they’d avoid a booth if they saw the staff trapping other attendees.
• Knowledge is the best sales tool.  Everyone at Affiliate Summit is a sales person when you think about it.  Make us interested.
• Don’t spam.  If you add a person to a list after a short conversation with them, it’s a big turn off.  A follow up email, however, is good; if you don’t follow up within a week, people will forget about you.
• Be memorable, in a good way.
• Have you had bad booth experiences?
• Don’t snipe people as they walk by your booth with the lead scanner gun.
• Tell someone what you do quickly – be respectful of people’s time and busy schedules during a conference.
• Anecdote: Tricia was trapped in a conversation in a booth for almost 10 minutes and couldn’t get away.  The personal eventually admitted that they wanted to practice their pitch on her!
• Good booth experiences?
• If someone is an expert at whatever it is they do, it gives a person confidence that they’re the best person to work with.  Be the expert.
• Listen to what the other person is saying about their company.  You can brainstorm together.
• Just don’t lie.
• What do you NOT want to hear at Affiliate Summit?
• I can get you higher payouts!
• We have the best offers!

Points brought up during the Q&A

• If you’re confident in what you do, you can afford to be a little annoying.
• Some of the best opportunities to pitch your company can be the least obvious.
• How do you quickly explain affiliate marketing?
• You’re the guy in the duck outfit outside the pizza place trying to get people to come in and order.
• What you put in is what you get out.
• Is there a tension of working with both affiliates and other vendors?
• Affiliates expect it, as long as you’re not wasting the other vendors time they’ll be open to partnerships.
• What are the best opportunities for networking?
• Meals and cocktail hours.  Just start a conversation with someone.
• Let people know that they can refer people to you if they think there’s a good fit.
• Cab lines, heck any line where people are probably from the conference.
• Don’t pitch people you don’t know – wait until they ask what you do.  Wait until someone asks for your card.
• Hang around and talk to speakers after sessions.
• Give free stuff to bloggers.
• How do you pitch when you have multiple hats on?
• Start with everything.
• Come up with something memorable (e.g. I’m a hustler).

Affiliate Summit East 2011: Wil Reynolds Keynote #ASE11

Posted on Oct 3, 2011 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking |

Wil Reynolds knocked it out of the park once again speaking at Affiliate Summit East 2011.  Not just the most requested session, but as a keynote speaker!  It was the only keynote I attended this time around, and well worth it!

Bullet Point Review!

• We fall in love with the things that are easy.
• This is the 12th affiliate summit Wil’s speaking at.
• Sick of shortcut tactics that win.
• Find .edu clubs on topics that you could sponsor.
• Intitle search.
• Google is matching synonyms so sometimes you don’t have to do as much work as you think
• Believe in the power of 1.  What are you doing to turn 10 to 10,000?
• What value do you add?
• Google will eventually figure it out.
• Rel=author (once you get to a certain level, Google starts putting your picture by articles).
• 30-40% of searches are related to brands.
• If you’re being un-followed en masse, you screwed up.  Invest your time & find out why.
• Underutilized assets: badges, giveaways, social.
• Invest in assets.
• Find .edus or k.12 that list scholarships – make one!
• Strong connections are always valuable.
• Little tidbit: Press 4 in Google Voice to record.  Pay Speech Pad $1 per minute to transcribe and use that as your content!

Wil was goodly enough to utilize the power of the SEER Interactive Blog and his twitter following and posted all the links he mentioned in his keynote here: Affiliate Summit Keynote Links.