The countdown is on for LinkConnector to mingle virtually with thousands of changemakers at two upcoming digital events: Shoptalk Meetup & PI LIVE Global. Will you, or anyone from your team be attending? If so, let’s meet!
AM Days Workshops Are a Hit at Affiliate Summit West
Wade Tonkin of Fanatics leads a LinkConnector sponsored AM Days workshop.
Affiliate Summit West 2020 (#ASW20) just wrapped in Las Vegas, with over 6,000 affiliate marketers in attendance. One of the outstanding additions to this year’s conference was a series of AM Days (@AMDays) workshops which proved to be an exceptionally valuable experience for everyone involved. On day one, LinkConnector sponsored the session Identifying and Recruiting Targeted Content Partners – a hands-on, interactive session targeted toward affiliate managers, brands, and advertisers.
Wade Tonkin, Senior Affiliate Manager at Fanatics, led the training, sharing tools and tips to help advertisers identify the right partners for their brand. He also covered effective outreach strategies to engage and recruit content partners who can drive significant incremental sales. Attendees left the session ready to map out successful recruiting campaigns that will have an immediate impact on ROI.
AM Days events never disappoint. Founded by acclaimed marketing guru Geno Prussakov, these workshops and conferences consistently feature the most knowledgeable experts in our industry. The events provide invaluable networking opportunities and take the audience, step-by-step, through useful tools, tips, and techniques that they can readily bring home and put into action. The AM Days events attract big brands like Zappos and Shutterfly, providing affiliate marketers with unique access to high potential partners.
LinkConnector is proud to be a longstanding AM Days supporter. After this amazing series of workshops at #ASW20, we can’t wait to see what Geno has up his sleeve next.
“LinkConnector has been heralding AM Days as a ‘must-attend’ conference to our merchants since its inception 10+ years ago. Geno’s workshops deliver education and training for affiliate marketing managers to grow and sharpen skillsets needed to launch or advance their company’s affiliate program. This hands-on education plus the in-person networking with peers and industry trailblazers continue to make AM Days a conference we are proud to support and sponsor!”
LinkConnector is Las Vegas Bound!
LinkConnector will be heading to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel on January 27-29 for Affiliate Summit West, the leading performance marketing event in the world. Are you planning to attend? Let's meet!
5 Benefits and 5 Techniques that Add Value to Affiliate Networks
On the closing day of Affiliate Summit East (#ASE19) in New York City, LinkConnector’s Co-Founder and Co-President, Choots Humphries, presented on the topic of 5 Benefits and 5 Techniques that Add Value to Affiliate Networks. We are excited to recap actionable takeaways from this presentation.
Choots opened by making the point that all Affiliate Networks are not created equally and there are many types of networks. There are affiliate networks, like LinkConnector, offering a full range of technology and tracking solutions along with management services and program optimization. There are Ad Networks (or CPA Networks) which generally act without transparency to promote an advertiser’s offer based usually on an insertion order. And, there are networks which would be better classified as a pure tracking solution which offer advertisers tracking solutions for all forms of online advertising and aren’t exclusively geared towards an affiliate program. Choots further elaborated that the contents of this presentation were going to be focused around traditional affiliate networks.
Choots kicked off the presentation by listing five benefits of Affiliate Networks and announced he would be offering five techniques or considerations for each to extract value from network relationships. Here are the five benefits…
Proper Tracking and Crediting
Proper tracking and crediting for merchant and affiliate customers is one of the most critical functions of a network. Here are five consideration points shared to demonstrate such:
ITP 2.2 Compliant and Supports Parallel Tracking
Make sure your network is ITP 2.2 compliant, if not Apple’s changes to Safari’s privacy policy will increasingly erode at your ability to track sales or receive credit from Apple devices. Also, if you are a Search affiliate or work with search affiliates, ensure your network supports Google’s new requirement for Parallel Tracking.
Coupon Affiliates Speak Out About Incremental Value
On the opening day of the Affiliate Summit West conference (#ASW19), LinkConnector’s Co-President, Choots Humphries, moderated the panel discussion, Coupon Affiliates Speak Out About Incremental Value. The room was packed with attendees; a testament to the strong interest and chance to learn from three Coupon affiliate experts.
On the panel were representatives from three industry-leading coupon affiliates, Jacob Huang of Slickdeals, Jasmine McCoy of Coupons.com, and Paul Snyder of Offers.com.
The cardinal question the panel tackled: Can coupon affiliates add value to a merchant’s Affiliate Marketing program? The panel shared insights and strategies as to why and how the answer is a resounding YES. Beyond success stories and challenges, the panelists also explained how merchant brands could empower their coupon affiliates with data and tools to better reach a brand’s Performance Marketing goals.
Here are just a few of the topics discussed with wisdom shared from each influential panelist.
CH: Describe the value proposition representative of Coupon Affiliates.
JM: Coupon affiliates earn the trust of users. Consumers seek out the best deal or coupon offer; they often don’t trust that the merchant’s deal is the best attainable.
PS: User experience is enhanced through the cost-savings gained from storefront pages on Coupon sites resulting in a happy customer for the merchant.
JH: The forums available to users of Slickdeals enables users to engage others and help to highlight what they have found to be the best coupon offer.
Leveraging Influencers in a Performance Marketing Arena
The Affiliate Summit West conference (#ASW19) wrapped last week where over 6,000 digital marketers from over 70 countries gathered at Paris Las Vegas Hotel for all things #performancemarketing. LinkConnector was honored to once again exhibit and be a part of this must-attend industry conference.
On day one of the conference, LinkConnector’s Tara McCommons moderated the panel session, Leveraging Influencers in a Performance Marketing Arena to a packed room of attendees. On the panel were affiliate managers Nick Goodling of Bollman Hat, Charity Gerke of U.S. Elite; and Kimberly Cashwell, marketing manager of FMTC.
These three affiliate marketing leaders shared misconceptions, strategies and tactical advice on how they’ve leveraged the power of social media influencers to drive revenue and elevate brand reputation.
Tara: I see influencers as telling a story; they seem intimately in touch with a brand’s products. What do you see as the main differences between an affiliate and an influencer?
NG: Influencers are an extension of a brand’s marketing arm. Affiliates concentrate their efforts more on ROI, traffic and conversions.
CG: Influencers have a positive impact on a merchant’s brand. Affiliates are less concerned with the intangibles.
Affiliates – What Powers Their Growth?
Inspiring the excitement, energy and engagement from affiliates is one of the many coveted skill-sets affiliate managers proudly possess. And, it’s one that can be the most challenging.
LinkConnector’s Tara McCommons took the stage at Affiliate Summit in NYC last month to speak about ways affiliate managers can gain attention from affiliates; she also shared difference makers to spark affiliate growth.
Tara started with underscoring the importance of understanding what may motivate one type of affiliate, may not work for another. Whether it be a Google AdWords affiliate, a blogger or a social media influencer, each type of affiliate has different needs at different times. Techniques to find out what those needs may be and glean the needed ingredients that will boost growth include:
Ask Questions
Questions aren’t only important when you are unsure of something or trying to figure out something new–they are a catalyst to deepening discussions. Harvard Business Review published a study noting how “asking questions unlocks learning and improves personal bonding”. An example of one powerful question to ask of affiliates is “What can I do to make our brand’s promotion better for you?”
To demonstrate value learned from asking thought provoking questions of affiliates, Tara spotlighted award-winning blogger, social media influencer and LinkConnector affiliate partner, Kim Rowley of ShoppingKim.com who shared the following as items that empower her to thrive when promoting merchant partners:
“120 x 60 banners, and images sized for social media,
True top selling products – not simply those showcased on merchant homepages,
Vanity coupon codes tracked exclusively to me,
Higher payouts attainable for bloggers and not solely available as a bonus to the top-selling affiliate,
Unique content from merchants,
And, Sharing my posts is so appreciated!”
Values, Predictions & Strategies from OPM Heavyweights
The Affiliate Summit West conference (#ASW18) kicked off Sunday morning where over 6,000 digital marketers from over 70 countries gathered at Paris Las Vegas Hotel to talk #performancemarketing. At 4:00 pm, LinkConnector’s VP of Sales and Marketing, Tara McCommons (@TaraMcCommons), moderated the panel session, Values, Predictions & Strategies from OPM Heavyweights. Four industry-acclaimed OPMs shared the floor: Sarah Bundy of All Inclusive Marketing; Jennifer Ward of ebove & beyond; Mike Nunez of AffiliateManager.com and Jamie Birch of JEBCommerce.
These award-winning Founders & CEOs shared challenges, lessons and rich insights into how they’ve pushed the boundaries in an ever-evolving performance marketing industry. Below are a few Q & A highlights.
Tara: What is one of your core principles that has helped your employees to bring more of themselves to their role and feel pride in being a part of your company?
Technology Insights from Industry Leaders at ASE17 Panel Session
LinkConnector’s CTO, Ernie St. Gelais was one of 5 industry executive panelists in an Affiliate Summit East session moderated this week by industry expert Jamie Birch, Founder of JEBCommerce a leading affiliate marketing agency, and titled Technology Will Save Us from All Our Affiliate Ills. In addition to Ernie, the panelists included Scott Chaplin of AvantLink, Todd Crawford of Impact Radius, Michael Jones of Pepperjam and Brian Littleton of ShareASale.
Jamie drove the narrative to focus dialogue around affiliate marketing technology features available via each of the panelists’ platforms, how these technologies are used and critical considerations (e.g., data and program goals) merchants must recognize when deciding which tools to utilize and how to correctly apply them.
Here are just a few of the valuable perspectives voiced by these industry stalwarts.
Each of the panelists underlined the importance of their platforms in providing the data to empower merchants to make educated decisions on which technologies to leverage to best accomplish their specific program goals.
Marketing to Millennials
Kerri Pollard, Chief Revenue Officer of Honey, a valued LinkConnector affiliate partner, delivered an outstanding keynote during AM Days last month. The session was focused on the data Honey collects on an aggregate basis on millennials and their shopping patterns. This resulted in actionable takeaways for merchants to attract and acquire millennial shoppers.
2017 Affiliate State of the Union
The Affiliate Management Days Keynote panel, the 2017 Affiliate State of the Union, debated a diverse set of issues ranging from attribution and commission splitting to the globalization of the industry.
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5 Steps to Improving Your Affiliate Program
Tara McCommons took the stage on day one of Affiliate Management Days, to ignite conversation around key strategies that have fueled affiliate program growth for online retailers of all shapes and sizes. Tara illustrated her five-step approach using key stats and live examples—ultimately guiding her audience of affiliate managers and digital strategists down the path to a better affiliate program. Here’s a quick recap.
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