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

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Archives for April 2018

Reputation Management and Affiliate Programs at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 30, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Reputation Management and Affiliate Programs at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Tony Wright at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Tony Wright, CEO & Founder, WrightIMC

Session description:
In this session we will discuss how a company’s reputation can affect it’s affiliate program. Using references from WrightIMC’s comprehensive survey “Should Your Brand Take a Stand”.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: ORM

Slides: Reputation Management and Affiliate Programs

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

Darren Blatt on the Halal Guys, His Nickname, and Why He Moved to LA

April 26, 2018 by Shawn Collins

Darren Blatt, CEO of Affiliate Ball, joined me to chat on my podcast, This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins.

Darren Blatt

I wanted to learn more about the real Darren, so I asked him a variety of questions I figured he had not been asked in previous interviews.

We discussed…

Topics included…

  • The last movie he watched
  • How he got the nickname D-Money
  • Perry Farrell
  • His days at Ohio State
  • When he was a Greek in college
  • Why he moved from Ohio to Los Angeles
  • Halal Guys – red or white sauce?

Links from this episode

  • Darren on Facebook
  • Darren on Instagram
  • Darren on LinkedIn
  • Affiliate Ball

If you enjoyed this episode of This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins, please share it.

This is Affiliate Marketing with Shawn Collins is focused on the people behind the affiliate management/OPM companies, advertisers/merchants, affiliates/publishers, and affiliate networks.

On each episode, Shawn interviews a new guest related to the industry, so you can learn more about the people of affiliate marketing.

After all, affiliate marketing is about the people; not the companies.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

A How to Guide to Avoid Becoming an Attribution Bully at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 25, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled A How to Guide to Avoid Becoming an Attribution Bully at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Sarah Beeskow Blay at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Sarah Beeskow Blay, Director of Client Services, ShareASale.com, Inc

Session description:
Are you using attribution for good vs. power? In this presentation, learn how to solidify your business partnerships and increase ROI. With the right attribution strategy, everyone comes out a winner!

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: Attribution

Slides: A How to Guide to Avoid Becoming an Attribution Bully

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

Advanced Keyword Research to Uncover Content Opportunities at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 23, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Advanced Keyword Research to Uncover Content Opportunities at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Dan Shure at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Dan Shure, Founder, Evolving SEO

Session description:
This session will reveal advanced ways to find keywords/topics with enormous SEO opportunity. You’ll learn uncommon tactics for using tools like SEM Rush, Authority Labs, Search Console & more!

Experience Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher
Niche/Vertical: Keyword Research

Slides: Advanced Keyword Research to Uncover Content Opportunities

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

If You Track It, They Will Come: Tracking Multi-Device Users at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 19, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled If You Track It, They Will Come: Tracking Multi-Device Users at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Ernie St. Gelais at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Ernie St. Gelais, CTO, LinkConnector

Session description:
4 in 10 purchases involve multiple devices or channels. Is your program/network equipped to track affiliate conversions in a rapidly evolving, multi-device era? Turn this challenge into opportunity.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher
Niche/Vertical: Multi-Device

Slides: If You Track It, They Will Come: Tracking Multi-Device Users

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

10 Ways to Make Your Affiliate Program Stand Out at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 16, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled 10 Ways to Make Your Affiliate Program Stand Out at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Geno Prussakov at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Geno Prussakov, CEO & Founder, AM Navigator

Session description:
Get ready to take home 10 practical tips to pull ahead of your competitors in marketing to affiliates and through them. Examples-packed presentation. Q&A at the end.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: Affiliate Management

Slides: 10 Ways to Make Your Affiliate Program Stand Out

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

Don’t Try to Be Them, Beat Them

April 14, 2018 by Shawn Collins

Back when we started Affiliate Summit in 2003, we didn’t have money or experience in running conferences. But we had an even more valuable asset, the desire to be better than the other options out there.

Shawn Collins at the first Affiliate Summit

At the time, the standard for affiliate marketing conferences was an event called Affiliate Force. There were positives to it, but Missy Ward and I saw lots of areas for improvement, and we wanted to create something we would want to attend.

A lot of the early feedback was focused on what we were doing “wrong”. Well, the perception from some people that we were doing things wrong was because it was different from what they were used to.

We had no plans to emulate what we saw as a broken model. Sure, it was the most successful of the affiliate marketing events out there at the time, but that wasn’t saying much.

This was a passion project that we had to squeeze in on evenings and weekends while we paid the bills with our day jobs. There was no way we were going to sacrifice our time and opportunities to champion mediocrity and be another Affiliate Force.

No, we were going to be Affiliate Summit.

One important lesson we learned was that we didn’t know how to do it the “right way”, so we just did it the way we thought it should be done.

Based on our own experiences and tapping into our friends in affiliate marketing, we worked up a list of the problems with conferences and figured out solutions. That made more sense to us.

We employed a five-step process: listen, adapt, pivot, rinse, repeat.

Simply by asking people what they wanted and giving it to them (within reason) became our secret sauce. And people liked the taste from the start because it was literally what they wanted in a conference and tradeshow.

We still focus on feedback to evolve, and it’s genuinely odd to me that people are surprised that we ask for feedback and then follow-up with more questions to double down on the good stuff and fix the bad stuff.

Missy and I had frustrations with the tunnel vision of Affiliate Force, and that led to more of a crowdsourced approach for Affiliate Summit. Despite being admonished by people for doing things differently, we continued on our path. We didn’t want to be them, we wanted to beat them.

And it’s a good thing because by the time Affiliate Summit was a year old, Affiliate Force ceased to exist.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

Your Prejudice is Holding Back Your Business

April 11, 2018 by Shawn Collins

Over the years I’ve heard from lots of people at Affiliate Summit that they only want to meet certain types of attendees.

Pi Kappa Alpha at University of Maryland 1993

People focused on sales of products and services in a revenue share arrangement want to stay with their tribe and the same with lead generation folks. The belief that the other side has nothing to offer them is ingrained in a lot of people, and that’s a shame.

When you’re dismissing a whole group like that, you’re diminishing your own opportunities.

At Affiliate Summit East 2017, 58% of attendees self-identified as focusing on Sales of Products or Services. The remaining 42% chose Lead Generation. Those people painting the other side with a broad brush are missing out on around half of the crowd, and that’s a mistake.

Come back with me for a minute to the spring of 1992 at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC.

U2 was going to be in the stadium in the late summer, and a bunch of us in my fraternity went to wait out for tickets for days before they went on sale. Frat boys from the University of Maryland working for a ticket broker.

After we arrived and took our place in line, another group of guys came up and said they were going to be first. They looked to be homeless, and I was thinking we were in for an ugly few days.

Soon after, a burgundy and gold custom van rolled up. It was covered in a mix of Washington Redskins player names and numbers, as well as Bible verses. In big letters on the side it read “Redskin Rob”.

This guy, Rob, gets out of the van and approaches the group that just arrived and tells them the plan for getting all of the best tickets. Our crew approaches to say we were there first. And in that moment, I thought we were headed for a fight. That would have sucked because I am a bad fighter and all I wanted to do was chill out and drink cheap beer.

But a funny thing happened. We decided to work together — unlikely allies ended up alternating spots in line to take over the top twenty spots. A unified group to keep back any new people who wanted to overrun the line.

We became fast friends. We drank, ate, talked, played football, and laughed with each other for three days. When it was all done, I genuinely missed these guys. Strangers who I looked at with disdain days before.

In the end, we were just a bunch of people looking to earn some money and get by.

Innovation is happening in all corners of the industry, and in many cases, you don’t know who you don’t know. Change that up and reach out to some strangers. You could learn a thing or two.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Resources

Negotiation Tactics for Affiliates and Affiliate Managers at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 10, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Negotiation Tactics for Affiliates and Affiliate Managers at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Tricia Meyer at Affiliate Summit East 2016

Session speakers:

  • Tricia Meyer, Owner, Sunshine Rewards

Session description:
Learn how to apply general negotiation tactics specifically to affiliate relationships regarding placements, commissions, and promotions so that both sides come out happy.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: Negotiation

Slides: Negotiation Tactics for Affiliates and Affiliate Managers

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

Recognizing Performance Occurring Higher in the Funnel at Affiliate Summit East 2016

April 3, 2018 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Recognizing Performance Occurring Higher in the Funnel at Affiliate Summit East 2016, which took place July 31st through August 2nd, 2016 at the New York Marriott Marquis.

Session speakers:

  • Rachel Honoway, CEO, FMTC

Session description:
Performance events are happening higher in the funnel than the sale and lead activities that most affiliate marketers focus on. Learn the trickle-down value of these early-funnel activities.

Experience Level: Advanced
Target Audience: Merchant/Advertiser, Network
Niche/Vertical: Influencers

Slides: Recognizing Performance Occurring Higher in the Funnel

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

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Filed Under: Affiliate Summit

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