Session Description: Presenting actionable items for 7 main topics, including social media, negotiating, points of sale opportunities, content that pulls, partnerships, prioritization, and the expense of inefficiency. The panel consisted of:

• Lisa Riolo, Consultant, LisaRiolo.com (Twitter @lisariolo) (Moderator)
• Jason Oates, VP Media Services, Datran Media
• Durk Price, President, eAccountable OPM LLC
• Chuck Hamrick, Affiliate Manager, AffiliateCrew.com

This session was a perfect mix of business 101 and affiliate marketing.  I think a lot of affiliates get into this thinking they’re going to get rich quick and don’t really consider that they’re really creating a business.  So this little business intro and how it applies to performance marketing was a nice session.

Bullet Point Review!

• Top line thinkers focus on revenue, whereas bottom line thinkers focus on profit.
• You might think you can, but you can’t do it all.  Learn to delegate.
• Develop tools and methodologies to do more with less.
• Think long term and potentially sacrifice short term gains.
• You should be spending less than 50% of your time putting out fires.
• Prioritization
  • 1st Priority -> High growth & unknown costs
  • 2nd Priority -> Highly profitable growth
  • 3rd Priority -> Profitable with limited growth
  • 4th Priority -> Undetermined growth and costs
• Coupons are one of the best performing verticals.
• Affiliate marketing is not a brand meter.
• 6-12 month curve; don’t expect overnight results or a 90 day ROI.
• Everything is negotiable; evaluate other programs.
  • It doesn’t hurt to ask but remember it’s a business relationship.
  • Make sure to negotiate with 2-3 partners at once – and that they know you’re exploring other options.
• Be data driven and use data to your advantage.
• Find someone that’s going to vouch for the vendor you’re negotiating with and ask for referrals.
• Be more available and transparent.
• Three uses of email
  • Acquisition
  • Retention
  • Monetization
• Many people using feedback loops and opening dialog in order to improve.
• Find ESP that will work on a performance basis – they will help you weed out non-responders.
• Synchronize your email expertise.
• Use employees in the smartest way possible for maximum operational efficiency.
• You need metrics before you negotiate either internally or externally.
• Points of Sale
  • Up-selling
  • Add-on Products and Services
  • Continuity Programs
  • 2nd Sale and Renewals
• Providing valuable, free content is a good way to capture emails to market to.
• To decrease unsubscribers, offer other subscriber options with different frequencies or options.
• Positions 3-5 on the SERPs are the secret sauce of SEO.
• Calling a customer to confirm a sale will encourage return business.
• Know key metrics – average order value, conversion rates, lifetime order value (that one is tricky).
• You can’t just be an OPM, you have to be a consultant.
• Doing more targeting is effective.
• A monthly affiliate newsletter isn’t that effective.
• Just keep the parasites out.

Overall I got a lot out of this, and I hope others did too.  I wished the panelists had had a bit more fun with the topic to liven things up, but I understand there’s only so much you can spice up such a dry topic. Here’s the presentation, though this is clearly an older version since Karen White didn’t end up making it and Durk & Chuck stepped in:

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Yes, that’s right.  It’s been MONTHS since Affiliate Summit East 2008, and we’re less than a month away from Affiliate Summit West 2009.  And I’m just now getting around to giving you the skinny and my notes on this incredibly helpful session.  Why now?  Now there’s video:

The panel consisted of:

• Lisa Riolo, Founder, Hammock Ventures (Moderator)
• Adam Gilad, CEO, Gilad Creative Media, Inc.
• Scott Polk, CEO, Purplestream Marketing
• Anik Singal, CEO, Affiliate Classroom Inc.

As I mentioned, this was a fantastic panel.  In fact, I might consider this hands down the best panel I’ve attended at any trade show.  It was FULL of useful information.  Watch the video for yourself (ignore my head in the front row ) or check out my notes!

Bullet Point Review!

• Copy writing is salesmanship in writing (Anik).
• Headlines are huige – your copy can suck if your headline kicks butt, but the other way around doesn’t work (Anik).
• Simple video dresses up your content (Anik).
• Making an ugly order button actually helps because it stands out – believe it or not, conversions go through the roof (Anik).
• Think of headlines as plot points (Adam).
• Act I is the Familiar World.  Turn pain into calling.  If you can articulate their pain better than they can – it will bring trust & bring them to the calling (Adam).
• Act 2 is the Road of Trials.  Meet new allies and villains – in copy writing allies can be testimonials, villains are negative – brings you to the death of the protagonist (Adam).
• Act 3 is the Resolution.  Give them to sword to slay the dragon – the order information and a promise of how great it will be when they get there (Adam).
• Write for your reader (Scott).
• Optimize against the competition (Scott).
• 350-450 words is a good start (Scott).
• Use main keywords you’re optimizing for in the 1st sentence, twice in the first 200 words (Scott).
• Editorial content is what powers the web (Scott).
• People have difficulty getting started, but the key is tight copy.
• Use of active verbs – creates motion & engages users.
• Try to evoke senses when selling -> smell/scent works well.  They’re related to positive emotions.
• Listen & read things around you – it will inspire you to get started.
• Process of writing and process of editing are two very different processes.
• Take 12 hours in between the creative of writing and the technical of editing as a buffer period.
• Build momentum – make them want to turn the page (Adam).
• Take note of evocative words.
• There are good books that are just lists of words.

Points brought up during the Q&A

• Adjectives are your enemy.
• Reading out loud helps develop the rhythm of language.
• How does attention span factor in?
  • -> The story should be compelling enough and people are drawn in.
  • -> The sub-headlines should tell the story.
• Never assume people have read the page before or after on a website – have good site navigation too.
• Tone – more professional robot or real person writing?
  • -> That personal aspect is what draws people in.
  • -> Talk to them in your voice.
  • -> Consistency of voice is important.
• Humorous content is vital.
• What can brands with stuffier businesses do to liven up without adding personality?
  • -> If you can’t do it within the funnel, ask affiliates to try stuff or do stuff elsewhere on the site.
• Any tools to check what you’ve written to improve it’s SEO?
  • -> SEO Toolkit – keyword density analyzer
  • -> Make title tag for search engines
• Have depth – don’t be too dumbed down.
• Supporting information is good, but don’t clutter the conversion funnel.
• It’s difficult to speak in absolutes and don’t disrupt the process.
• Multi-variant testing with copy gives you a realistic picture of what’s going on.
• Pop your sentences into Google to see how many others use those same phrases.
• Copyscape can analyze your content to see how unique it is.

I easily took the most notes of the conference at this session.  Great tips all around, and I espeically loved hearing Adam relate copy writing to screen writing – my major in college was Theatre Arts, emphasizing on dramatic writing, so that was a nice way to bring together my visions of what I was going to do for a career and the reality of what I am doing for a career.  Very awesome and I hope to see similar clinics like this offered at future shows!

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Unfortunately, the weather has gotten me down this week and I got sick mid-week.  I wasn’t able to attend the November BAAMC meeting, but here’s some other stuff I picked up this week.

• Dallas Mavericks owner and noted entrepreneur Mark Cuban was charged with insider trading on Monday.  Looks like a “he said, she said” for the time being, so we’ll see how this unfolds.
• Quick thanks to Lisa Riolo and Sam Harrelson for putting me in their blog rolls!
• This ventures into last week, but there was a big spam crackdown and many affiliate marketers saw a dramatic decrease in spam.  Check out the ABW thread with the discussions.
• In an Obama presidency, the weekly address is going to be done on YouTube instead of over the radio.
• I bought something from an infomercial this week.  Stay tuned for it’s awesomeness.  You have to admit that infomercials do work from time to time.  I’m just hoping that this product is as awesome as it seems.  (No, it’s not Listen Up or ShamWOW).
• Oh, and Ted Murphy from Izea is swimming around in cereal for fun.  And you can win!

That’s it!  Have a good weekend and get all geared up for the holiday next week!

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