Posts Tagged "Performance Marketing Association"

Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 45: Interviewing Lucas Brown

Posted on Dec 15, 2010 in Affiliate Marketing, Affiliate Marketing Fanatics, Conferences & Networking |

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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!

We’re continuing our series of interviews with some speakers at Affiliate Summit West 2011, coming up in just a month at the Wynn in Las Vegas. This time, we talk to Lucas Brown about his origins in affiliate marketing & his panel “Identifying Scam Networks”. Lucas tells us about his software-as-a-service product, HasOffers.com, as well.  In in this episode we discuss:

  • Lucas’ panel with his fellow speakers: Kim Riedell (VP Client Development, Commission Junction), Rebecca Madigan (Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association), & Hersh Sandhoo (CEO, HealthConverter.com).
  • Lucas’ origins in affiliate marketing and the high costs that used to exist to get started.
  • The HasOffers.com Offer Exchange and what it’s doing to lower the barrier of entry for people to get started as merchants.
  • The possibility of a future certification or vetting system for networks within the industry.

Want to catch up with us & ask questions for the next show? Find us on Twitter: @AMF_Podcast, @MikeBuechele & @TrishaLyn. Like us on Facebook! You can also ask Trisha questions through FormSpring.me. Or leave us a comment!

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

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Faces & Voices behind the Affiliate Nexus Tax Mistake

Posted on Aug 23, 2010 in Affiliate Marketing |

Recently I was asked to come to San Francisco and participate in shooting a video to help convince legislators here in California that passing a nexus tax law similar to those passed in New York, Rhode Island, and North Carolina would be detrimental to the state economy, rather than positive.  Unfortunately I fell ill at the last minute and was unable to participate, but I recently see that the video the Performance Marketing Association put together is available online and really puts some faces to the issue.

I hope this will help legislators reconsider their views on the advertising tax and consider it’s impact on 25,000 small businesses here in California.  Please take a look at the video and do what you can to share it.  If you’re sharing on Twitter, please use the hashtag #noadtax.

They’ve already been thanked once, but I’ll send out another big thanks to those that spared their time and opened their offices to the shooting of this short video:

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Fighting the Advertising Tax in Sacramento

Posted on May 17, 2010 in Affiliate Marketing, Rambles | 1 comment

Capitol Building in SacramentoI wish I could tell you that we had an incredibly productive day in Sacramento, educating numerous state senators personally about affiliate marketing.  They all understood what we do and they all agree that adding language to tax bills that make affiliate partners consistute nexus for out-of-state merchants is not going to make the state any money and is a bad idea.

I wish I could tell you that.

Instead, I report back after going to Sacramento last Wednesday, May 12th, with some less-than-uplifting realities about our state government here in California.  Late last week, the Performance Marketing Association learned that there was a meeting on the 13th in CA senate subcommittee 5 to discuss adding affiliate nexus language to one of their pending budget bills.  It’s not yet back, officially, in the form of a bill in the CA senate or assembly, but just knowing that they’re discussing it is enough for us to try to go educate some lawmakers on what affiliate marketing is, why affiliates shouldn’t create tax nexus for merchants, and why the state won’t actually make the $1.7 million they think they will.

I was asked to join Lisa Picarille and up we went to the capitol, no appointments made due to the last-minute nature of the trip, with high hopes of talking to the three state senators sitting on the subcommittee and laying some education on them.  We knew that other affiliates and fighters in this advertising tax battle had previously met with Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny, the chair of the subcommittee and the state Budget and Finance committee, and had not had good luck in getting through to her, so we targeted her office first.  She was booked solid in meetings, but we were given a time to check back to see if one of her staff members had a small window of time to talk.

So we went on to the office of Senator Robert Dutton, who we’d heard was on our side.  We spoke with a nice staffer in his office who was very well versed on the affiliate nexus issue and assured us that Sen. Dutton opposed the language and that most the Republicans were probably on our side as well.  It was very nice to meet with someone who actually knew what we were talking about and understood the issue.  In the two previous times I’ve gone to Sacramento, we had uphill battles trying to explain affiliate marketing to blank-faced staffers, so his knowledge about the issue definitely allowed us to cut right to the chase.  He suggested some other people we talk to, some influential to the budget committee and subcommittee, and some already on our side that might be able to help in other ways.

Lisa and I then set out for Senator Alex Padilla’s office as it wasn’t yet time to check back in to see if Sen. Ducheny’s staff could talk to us.  We were unable to speak to the people Sen. Dutton’s office had recommended, but we spoke to the legislative director who was very interested in learning more and very interactive.  He asked us a lot of questions to better understand the issue, and was very interested in the information about Rhode Island not realizing the projected revenue from their version of the advertising tax and their consideration of repeal.  Rhode Island actually has a bill in play now, H 7071, set to repeal the “Amazon Tax” but it looks to be stalled and waiting for a proper hearing.  So as not to lose time, we quickly had the information emailed to him as we went about to other offices.

tax formsThat’s kind of where the magic ended.  I have to say, I was feeling okay at that point that people were hearing us out.  I didn’t feel that any overly appreciated us being there as private citizens just wanting to spread some education and counter some mis-information being spread by the opposition, but they seemed willing to listen and comprehend.  We went to the budget committee office, and they weren’t that helpful.  The person we were looking for wasn’t there, and the people who were there told us we were pretty much crazy to attempt to see anyone without an appointment at this time of year.  What happened to PUBLIC SERVANTS making themselves available to the PUBLIC, hmm?  This served as a harsh reality (to me anyway) that our system is generally broken. We took a break, and after refreshing ourselves with some lunch, we headed back to Sen. Ducheny’s office to check in.

We arrived earlier than the time we were asked to come back, but since we had no one else to see it was worth a shot.  We were ushered into the office of a staffer who was, unarguably, the worst attitude and most combative of all the people we talked to that day.  She made me very glad I do not live in Sen. Ducheny’s district (40th District).  The staffer kept attacking affiliates for working with out-of-state retailers in the first place.  I tried to explain to her that, California being just one of 50 states, the “Buy Californian” attitude wasn’t a viable business option, but I got the distinct impression that she didn’t care.  She checked her cell phone multiple times while Lisa and I were trying to pleasantly and professional counter her unprofessional combative questions, which is just plain rude no matter what the situation is.  She kept asking us what we proposed the state do instead to fix the budget.  I wanted to tell her that it’s THEIR job to figure that out, not ours, but instead Lisa suggested some alternatives and tried to focus on the argument that the retailers will just drop CA affiliates, and the state won’t make this money they think they’re going to make.

That being our last meeting of the day, it did leave a bad taste in my mouth about Sacramento and state politics and government in general.  I hope I can be of service throughout this fight until we’ve successfully killed the advertising tax, in all forms, here in California.  Until then… anyone have a million bucks we can hire a full time lobbyist with? 🙂

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Performance Marketing Leadership Summit

Posted on May 7, 2010 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking | 1 comment

On April 19th, the day before ad:tech SF 2010, OfferVault presented their Performance Marketing Leadership Summit, a half-day event featuring discussions on compliance, fraud, and transparency. This was one in a series of events presented by OfferVault focusing on improving the performance marketing industry. Big thanks to Jim Lilig and the folks at OfferValut for putting this event on for free, allowing anyone interested in joining the discussion to attend.  This event was also co-sponsored by AffCon, OfferMobi, and DirectTrack.

I headed over to the city to go, and I’m glad I did. The afternoon was divided between two singular speakers and two panel discussions, end capped by lunch to start, drinks to end, and a break in the middle. Here are some highlights of information I took from the day’s thought leaders:

E.J Hilbert
President of Online Intelligence, Epic Advertising

  • Compliance is a dirty word, some people think it always equals loss.  Truth is, there is no true definition.
  • Compliant traffic is actually a 15% increase in profit in the long run.
  • Margins decrease initially because of the bad traffic.
  • Whether or not we see what we do as spam, the rest of the world does – it’s due to a lack of understanding.
  • Remember, to the general public, we’re guilty by association.
  • Compliance seems to be a catch-all, referring to legal, network, advertiser, corporate, affiliates, etc.  Perhaps it should just be legal and corporate and we can call everything else fraud.
  • More traffic = more money.
  • The most profitable cybercrime is spam.
  • We can’t because they don’t – there’s not enough enforcement in the industry.  We need to crack down.
  • Many top media outlets are developing their own advertising platforms they can trust instead of utilizing the existing platforms we use.
  • Partner with the advertisers, that’s where the money is, not with super affiliate A or B.
  • There are 4 ways to deal with fraud: accept it, insure against it, mitigate against it, not accept it at all.  We should not accept it at all.
  • Top advertisers are the ones calling the shots, because they have the money.
  • Watchdog groups are paying attention.  If we don’t do something soon, others will.  We don’t want that.
  • Online advertising is mainstream.
  • Sometimes the way we have to go isn’t the popular way, but it’s the right way.

Panel 1: What We Need To Do to Combat Fraud
Jason Spievak (RingRevenue), Brandon McDonald (Product2Web), Chris Graham (Atrinsic), Tom Cohn (Venable), & Carrie Birkner (Lashback)

  • How often does a company do something when one of these outside agencies tells them about a problem?  Fairly often, actually.  They gets lots of flack from publishers if they don’t take action.
  • A lot of the responsibility in combating fraud comes from the technologies, the networks.
  • Many networks and managers are now taking the stance that if an affiliate isn’t going to be forthright about their methods, they’re out.
  • In the industry, we don’t trust each other.
  • Product2Web stops fraud at the cart level.  Networks should force their advertisers to utilize this kind of tool.
  • Longevity planning should be the new term for compliance.
  • Most affiliates live in this world of cloak & dagger, so where’s the incentive to be transparent?  They incentive should be in taking the high road.
  • Part of a network or merchants positioning & branding should be that they watch things & enforce their guidelines.
  • Affiliates are black hat or gray hat because it works.  They’re looking at the short term money makers, not long term business planning.

Peter Borders
Founder & CEO, MediaTrust

  • We have the chance to seize a tremendous long-term opportunity.
  • Affiliate marketing harnesses the best of the best, and we continue to harness new channels.
  • Direct response television (infomercial) industry is trying to get into affiliate marketing.
  • Evolution from Mass Media to Me Media.  The consumer used to be at the bottom of the funnel, and now they’re at the top.
  • Consumer is king, and we need to empower them.  The market should be driven by quality and lifetime value.
  • Right now there is little innovation, minimal brand presence, and an “all for me, more for me” mentality.  We need to evolve.
  • What do we need to do?  Share information and data, innovate, move up-market, and collaborate.
  • We have to think holistically for the sake of the industry.
  • We should help each other to set standards.
  • We have to be an industry of problem solvers.
  • If the whole industry goes up-market, we ALL win.
  • It’s time to build collaboration and trust, and support agents of change.

Panel 2: The Road to Tier 1 Advertisers
Rebecca Madigan (Performance Marketing Association), Todd Crawford (Impact Radius), Theresa Farmer (UnsubCentral), Peter Klein (MediaWhiz), & Liz Wasserman (Mate 1)

  • Big advertising agencies still don’t understand affiliate marketing.
  • What do we need to do for tier 1?  Educate – be transparent.
  • Big brands, this should be sales.  Agencies can’t guarantee the spend of budget in terms of performance marketing.
  • It’s a much longer sales cycle with large agencies.
  • People want stability and consistency, which is tricky with performance marketing.
  • Is it possible, technologically’?  There’s efficiencies when you automate that always allow you to make more money.
  • Big brands don’t understand that with “performance” you’re getting branding for free.
  • Brand reputation is a concern for big brands, so performance seems scary.  But it goes both ways, you can also build a brand using performance marketing like Mate 1 did.
  • We need to do a better job explaining the metrics to agencies.  They need to understand that there’s two types of advertising – performance and branding.  And often there is some overlap.
  • There’s a kind of lethal nihilism.  Outside impressions of the industry is that we’re “a little shady & quasi criminal” and people don’t want to get involved (great quote by Liz there!)
  • This gets perpetuated by smaller, CPA type folks that are looking for short term gains and give the rest of us a bad rap.
  • Self-regulating isn’t going to work because there’s always a few folks willing to break the rules for a quick buck.
  • Advertisers worry about negative brand impact and are worried about consumer respect.
  • We don’t bring the consumer into the equation enough.
  • Merchants need to focus on moving up-stream.
  • It should be a goal to really be able to understand the lifetime value of a customer.
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Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 20: Fly, Fat A**, Fly (But not on Southwest)

Posted on Feb 17, 2010 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!

We’re a little late this week but got going relatively quick.  We chat a bit about social media and taxes in this episode, and have a good time doing it.  I think we were keeping Mike warm with our banter!  The episode comes in at a chunky, too-fat-to-fly 32:30. In in this episode we discuss:

  • Google Buzz is a Buzz Kill
  • Audience Conference 2010 is now open for registration.  This year’s theme is Comedy.
  • Kevin Smith’s Social Media battle with Southwest Airlines
  • Follow hashtag #noadtax on Twitter for updates on the fights against the advertising tax in multiple states
  • More information on the tax issues going on in various states can be found at:
  • EDIT: The Sacramento and San Diego trips we talk about were canceled late tonight.  The CA bill will be heard in the morning and we may make a trip on Monday for the house hearing.  Stay tuned!

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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Affiliate Marketing Fanatics 19: It’s a Search Tool!

Posted on Feb 3, 2010 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!

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:
  • The launch of Impact Radius – more of an exchange than a network.
  • 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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