Performance Marketing News

We have had many new affiliate programs sign up and start posting news about their company and their programs this month. Companies like OlindaRidge.com, BackCountryStore.com, Retail Concepts, Crazy for Bargains, Jesus Branded and more.

Are you adding value to your customers and to your merchant patners? This is a short video shot from my favorite office, Calypsos' Coffee in Coeur d'Alene Idaho. They offer business owners a great room to either host a meeting or to work from at any time of the day. The room provies a quite place that is comfortable and has all the necessities to work day to day. It's a great place and the room is an unexpected value add that keeps us coming back and sets them apart from their competition.

The information you put in your affiliate account is represented in your application to each program.  As I laid out in the previous posts in this series, you need to apply to each affiliate program in order to promote them.  But before I show you how to evaluate which affiliate programs to work with, we […]

The main thing isn't so much the networks, and maybe that is what I'm trying to get across to you. The main thing will be the partnerships you form with merchants and selecting the right ones to work with. One of the most important things to do right when you are looking for these successful partnerships is your affiliate account. Without the right information in your account, merchants won't be able to effectively evaluate your application. That is what I'll cover in my next episode.

Affiliates - there are a lot of great and respectable coupon sites that I have not only been fortunate and blessed to work with, but to also call close friends. For those of you that fall into that category, you are doing all the right things. For others who don't think it's that big of a deal, let me stress that this is a big issue for merchants. It is casting a shadow on our industry and I encourage you to reach out to these merchants and truly partner with them. When you look out for them, they really begin to look out for you.

I was sure they said Jamie Birch, but alas, Scott won the award. It was well deserved and now it seems that I may have slipped into the "Susan Lucci" role of Pinnacle Award nominees. Two nominations and two, well, nominations. I searched forever for that video as I promised many I would try to tie in Susan Lucci not winning into this blog post.

There has been one wide gaping hole in affiliate marketing since I can remember, I've been involved in the space for almost ten years. That hole is the offline/online bridge in respect to multi channel merchants. From an affiliate manager perspective, we know that sales are being influenced, at the very least, and and at the most being placed directly resulting from affiliate online relationships.

We are very excited to announce the launch of NewsForAffiliates.com.  NewsForAffiliates.com provides a venue for all merchants to communicate news about their affiliate programs to affiliates. All for free, all the time. The intent is to allow merchants to keep their affiliates, and any prospective affiliates, educated on what is going on with their programs. […]

Internet Retailer released post Q4 information that I think adds even more food for thought for companies thinking of working with coupon sites and coupons in general. Fromtheir article: "21% of Top 500 e-retailers added coupons and rebates in 2008, according to data published in Internet Retailer’s 2009 Guide to Retail Web Site Design & Usability. Of the Top 500 retailers, 335 said they deployed coupons and rebates in 2008, up from 278 in 2007." More retailers are using coupons and discounts, not only out of necessity but out of the need to stand out.

Will you be in Las Vegas next week? Will you be attending the Affiliate Summit? If you answered yest to either of those, I'd love to meet with you. I've attended more affiliate summits than I can remember and each one has been stellar. The network is amazing and it is always one of my best trips of the year.