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LinkConnector is Kicking of 2024 at Affiliate Summit West

Las Vegas, Here We Come – LinkConnector is ASW24 Bound!

Excitement is in the air as LinkConnector gears up to attend one of the performance marketing industry’s premier events, Affiliate Summit West, taking place at Caesars Forum from January 15–17, 2024. For nearly 2 decades, Affiliate Summit West has been one of our favorite annual conference stops, and we can’t wait to share our latest advancements, connect with industry experts and explore collaborative opportunities under the bright lights of Las Vegas once again. Read More

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LinkConnector Bound for Affiliate Summit East 2023

Times Square Here We Come

On the heels of our recent adventure to New York City for CommerceNext, LinkConnector is excited to announce that our team will be back in the Big Apple for one of our favorite annual events, Affiliate Summit East (ASE), taking place from July 31st to August 1st at the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square. Read More

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Meet The LinkConnector Team at Affiliate Summit West

Will you be at the world’s biggest affiliate marketing event?

The new year is almost here, and with it comes the excitement of knowing that one of our most anticipated annual conferences is upon us. In just a few short weeks, LinkConnector will be heading to Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West, which takes place from Monday January 23rd through Wednesday January 25th at Caesars Forum. Read More

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AM Days Punctuates Another Successful Trip to Affiliate Summit East

AM Days Punctuates Another Successful Trip to Affiliate Summit East

Last week Affiliate Summit East (ASE) wrapped up their 2022 installment in New York City, and the LinkConnector team was on hand once again to take in the in-person networking and connect with both existing and new affiliate, merchant and agency partners. As part of this year’s event, LinkConnector’s Choots Humphries (Co-Founder and Co-President) and Tara McCommons (VP of Sales and Marketing) were invited to present one of six AM Days workshops that took place at ASE over the course of two days.  Read More

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On the Road Again: First Stop, ASE21

LinkConnector is New York Bound

In just over a month, Affiliate Summit East kicks off in New York City on July 19 – 20, 2021, live and in-person.

As a premier performance marketing event, ASE is host to thousands of affiliates, advertisers, networks and agencies from all over the world, and LinkConnector is excited to announce that we will be there. Read More

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AM Days Workshops Are a Hit at Affiliate Summit West

Wade Tonkin of Fanatics leads a LinkConnector sponsored AM Days

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!”  Read More

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5 Benefits and 5 Techniques that Add Value to Affiliate Networks

#AffiliateTracking

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. Read More

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Coupon Affiliates Speak Out About Incremental Value

Coupon Affiliates Add 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. Read More

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Leveraging Influencers in a Performance Marketing Arena

Affiliate Summit West 2019 - Influencer Marketing

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. Read More

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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!” Read More