Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

Archives for October 2014

Was the Latest FeedFront Cover the Worst One Ever?

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I thought the Captain Obvious thing would be a cute way to remind people about Affiliate Summit West 2015 on the cover of the October 2014 issue of FeedFront.

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But it wasn’t so well received by @TheJayWest on Twitter, as he Tweeted: @feedfront who’s in charge of your front covers over there? Zero influence on making me want to register for #ASW15

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As I said in my response on Twitter, I gave the art and copy to the designer – it was not meant to persuade, but to remind.

In that respect, I think it did the job. The ads inside the magazine are meant to help close the deals with more information and a discount code.

So far, our tracking indicates the ad on the inside cover is working.

You Should Read Buyer Legends: The Executive Storyteller’s Guide

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I’ve been a fan of the work of Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg for a long time, and their books are among my favorites in business, so I had high expectations for their new one, Buyer Legends.

Cover of Buyer LegendsThey managed to exceed them.

As a small business owner, I’ve always paid a lot of attention to relationships with our customers, but Buyer Legends provided me with clarity through the storytelling process they shared, and this is something I will implement in the future.

Our Affiliate Summit customers are very diverse by location, background, job level, and socioeconomic status, so having a story that resonates is a challenge.

But the Buyer Legends process has helped me in how we should be crafting our own Buyer Legend.

It was a big bonus that the book was a quick read, so I can get right into applying it.

Affiliate Summit West 2015 Has Raised $8,712 So Far to Fight Breast Cancer

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The Race to Affiliate Summit West 2015, a dailymile challenge where Affiliate Summit will donate $1 to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in support of Affiliate Marketers Give Back team for each mile exercised through the challenge, is going through 12/31/2014.

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer 2014 in NYC

There are currently 51 folks involved in the challenge, and the top 10 competitors have already accumulated 6,321 miles.

Overall, there have been 8,712 miles tallied by all of the participants, so it’s $8,712 raised (so far).

I am currently at #6 (see my dailymile profile) with my 330 miles. I walked 39.3 miles in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC last week, and that helped move me up a spot. But I’m not taking it easy now – I’ve signed up for the 2015 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC.

Here are the top 10 affiliate marketing exercisers, as of October 26, 2014.

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dailymile syncs with a number of iPhone and Android apps.

You can also manually enter your exercising efforts.

In order to participate in dailymile activities, you will need to friend me on dailymile and I will invite you to the challenge.

Affiliate Summit West 2015 is taking place January 18-20, 2015 at Paris Las Vegas in Las Vegas, NV.

The participant with the most total miles at the end of the challenge will receive a VIP Pass to Affiliate Summit East 2015. 2nd to 5th place finishers will each receive a Networking Plus Pass to Affiliate Summit East 2015, and 6th to 10th place finishers will each receive a Networking Pass to Affiliate Summit East 2015.

Please note that all information you provide as part of the contest is public and may be used by Affiliate Summit in our marketing efforts for this event.

I Took Payola in the Summer of 1988

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I’m not proud to admit this, but in the summer of 1988 I accepted payola.

church-albums

The whole thing reminds me of a dramatization I’d once seen on TV.

A record executive tried to coerce a DJ into playing a record. After he refused, they started playing hardball with Johnny Fever, a popular disc jockey at the Cincinnati radio station, WKRP.

Johnny Fever was the logical choice to break in the new music to his listeners.

He continually refused their payola: money, coke, hookers, candy. Fever was the epitome of radio ethics and the record company heavies could not break him. There was no way that Johnny was going to spin their records.

Years later, after the payola episode had long since retreated to the back of my memory, I was working at the Sam Goody record store in the local mall. 17-years old, a poor high-school punk always looking for an angle.

Then, one day at work, the phone rang.

“Thank you for calling Sam Goody at the Laurel Center! This week, the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing is on sale, album or cassette, for $7.99. Goody Got It! This is sales associate, Shawn Collins, how may I help you?”

“Hi, this is Brad* from Arista Records. How are you doing today, Shawn? Is it busy down there at Sam Goody?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess it’s sorta busy.”

“Well Shawn, I get the impression that you know what’s HOT in music. You’ve heard of Taylor Dayne, right?”

“No, I don’t know that one. Is that, like, classical music, or something?”

“Ha! Ha! Anyway Shawn, I was wondering if you could do me a little favor. Would you be the person that reports the Top 20 album sales to Q107 and WKYS?”

“Uh, yeah. Usually that’s me.”

“Great! Say Shawn, what type of music do you listen to… R&B, Hard Rock, Country?”

“No, I don’t really like that kind of stuff. I’m into the new stuff, like Siouxsie & the Banshees, Psychedelic Furs, you know?” I had no idea where this was leading, clueless about what was going on.

“How about I send you a package with the new Church tape and some other promos?”

“Uh, that would be great.”

“Okay Shawn, and then maybe you can do that little favor for me,” his voice sounding more serious. “When the guys from the radio station call for the Top 20, why don’t you replace #17 with the Taylor Dayne record. Then, move it up a couple of spots each week until it gets to the top.”

That week, when the radio stations called, I planted the Taylor Dayne record at #17. Nobody questioned a thing. The folowing Saturday, my first package showed up. I got my Church tape, plus the new Patti Smith tape.

Eventually, Taylor Dayne did reach the top of the charts. If you bought some of her music back then, I helped trick you into it.

The whole experience provided me with cynicism and music. I still have some of the vinyl I got during that summer, but the tapes are long gone.

*I don’t remember what the name of the guy from Arista was.

Recap of ShareASale ThinkTank 2014 in Charlotte, NC #ThinkTank14

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I just got back from ShareASale ThinkTank 2014, which took place October 19-21, 2014 at the Ballantyne Hotel & Lodge in Charlotte, NC.

shareasale-thinktankShareASale ThinkTank is the annual conference for ShareASale affiliates, merchants, and vendors.

The first day started with a golf tournament at the Golf Club at Ballantyne, followed by a Scotch, Wine & Cheese get together for the attendees.

I got in late and missed this one, because I was finishing up the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in NYC, but I made it in for the Welcome Reception.

Day two started with some breakfast and a series of breakout sessions, followed by a merchant hotseat and then a networking lunch.

Lunch was followed by a series of Private Affiliate-Merchant Meetings, where dozens of companies got face time with a bunch of current and future affiliates.

I liked how they incorporated signs this time around to indicate whether a merchant was available to chat.

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After the meetings wrapped up, we had some free time to explore Charlotte, and I headed out with a group to try some local BBQ. Verdict: Texas > North Carolina.

Everybody got back together for a Game Night, where we all played industry trivia, pool, ping pong, slot car racing, and more.

This was followed by a piano singalong and more networking into the night. Some of us got so caught up in the fun that we celebrated with a human pyramid.

Human Pyramid #thinktank14

A photo posted by Kim Rowley (@shoppingkim) on

The final day kicked off with yet another tasty networking breakfast, as well as an entertaining and informative keynote from Missy Ward, Co-Founder of Affiliate Summit.

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And then there was the closing ShareASale “Things We Need to Fix” session. This is an open forum, hosted by Brian Littleton, President and CEO of ShareASale, where attendees are able to share their thoughts on improvements and changes.

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I’d like to give a big thanks to Brian Littleton and his team for a top notch event that was filled with productive business, some really useful tips, new friends, and good times.

Check out the Tweets from ThinkTank with hashtag #thinktank14.

Why Don’t Affiliate Networks Have App Stores?

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I’ve been thinking a lot about a presentation Justin Ball, CTO of AtomicJolt, gave last month at the Performance Marketing Summit in Salt Lake City. His talk was titled “Affiliate Networks: The Next Big Platform“.

Man Clueless or Perplexed About Something

Justin discussed the flourishing ecosystems for developing apps or plugins for WordPress, iOS and Facebook.

These platforms were made stronger by nurturing a community of developers.

So, why can’t or won’t affiliate networks do the same thing? I bet affiliates and merchants would love it.

I purchase plenty of WordPress plugins that help me as an affiliate. It would be great to have more free and premium tools right in the affiliate networks, and it could lighten the pressure on the networks to innovate tools, too.

Online Retail Audit for Christmas 2014

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eBay Enterprise recently announced their findings from a survey of more than 1,000 U.S.-based retailers.

Christmas presents

The survey evaluated technological readiness of the retailers in advance of the 2014 holiday season.

Retailers revealed consumer data capture, mobile commerce, local fulfillment, and global expansion as untapped opportunities for competitive differentiation this holiday season.

Get more details: 2014 Holiday Retail Audit: Untapped Opportunities Revealed for Competitive Differentiation in Time for Holiday

Join Me at the Book Marketing Summit

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I am participating as a speaker at the Author’s Catapult Book Marketing Summit, hosted by Ryan Mendenhall, this month.

Summit Ad Shawn CollinsOver 21 days, I will join other book marketers to explore a variety of ways to promote your book.

Some of the things you can learn at the Book Marketing Summit include…

  • How to get traditional media outlets to interview you
  • How to work with influencers in your field to promote your book
  • How to sell books without having returns
  • When and how to start marketing your book for the greatest success
  • Methods for getting reader reviews and testimonials

As a participating author, I have a guest pass to share for free – get your Book Marketing Summit guest pass.

Performance Marketing Summit Salt Lake City 2014 Recap

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The Performance Marketing Summit took place this past Tuesday at The City Library in Salt Lake City, and it was a lot of fun to hold the first Affiliate Summit event in Utah.

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The Performance Marketing Summit was limited to 50 people and one sponsor (thanks ShareASale!), and we fit in an agenda with lots of networking and sessions into the half day event.

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There was a networking breakfast during check-in for attendees to get energized and talk shop.

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Then I kicked things off as the emcee, followed by a series of 18 minute solo sessions.

Morning topics covered included trends in sales and marketing at tradeshows, overlooked management tools and strategies, and cart abandonment.

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The early sessions were followed by a networking luncheon.

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The afternoon featured another series of educational sessions on whether your site is chasing away customers, inbox zero, the prospect of app stores for affiliate networks, and working with affiliates to protect brand standards.

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We also brought back speed networking at this Performance Marketing Summit, and the crowd got to do some fast, intense networking.

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The day wrapped with a networking cocktail hour. It was great to see all of the vibrant conversations going on among the attendees, as well as sampling some of the local fare.

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Check out the slides from Performance Marketing Summit Salt Lake City 2014.

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Thank you to everybody who came out, the speakers, the sponsor, and The City Library for a fun and productive day.