This year Search Engine Journal will be attending Geno Prussakov’s Affiliate Manager Days in San Francisco on April 16-17. I would love to meetup with any Online Marketing gurus out there in the affiliate world. I had the chance to sit down with the founder of AMDays, Geno. We were able talk about what’s going on with Affiliate Management Days as well as the affiliate world and the top digital experts in the World. Here is the interview:
What is Affiliate Management Days?
AM Days is a unique conference geared towards companies’ CMOs, digital marketing practitioners, and everyone who either already has an affiliate program to manage, or is contemplating starting one. Whether you are looking for new sales, leads, memberships or subscriptions, affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-efficient ways to land these. However, unless your program is diligently managed, it can get you into all sorts of trouble: from brand hi-jacking, to brand misrepresentation, to outright fraud, and problems with the FTC. To help advertisers steer clear of the potential troubles, and to equip them with the tools and knowledge they need to build truly profitable affiliate marketing campaigns I have started Affiliate Management Days.
What are the most common causes of channel conflict between affiliate programs and companies’ own SEM efforts?
I always says that your affiliate program is not a “channel” but a context which encompasses multiple marketing channels, which other marketers can use to promote your business, being paid only when the desired performance occurs. And precisely because of the fact affiliate marketing exists on the crossroads of all other types of online marketing out there (including SEO and PPC) an affiliate program may indeed easily conflict with your own marketing efforts. To avoid channel cannibalization, and to ensure that your affiliate program brings you incremental business, the program must be closely managed and measured. In the world of multi-touchpoint ecommerce that we live in, no marketing channel exists in isolation. They are all intertwined and interrelated. The most common reason for misattribution of conversions (including affiliate-generated referrals) is lousy marketing management in general, and mismanagement of affiliate programs in particular. Whether it is a trademark violator, or a cookie stuffer that you have in your affiliate program, or a toolbar that isn’t adding value, all of these are directly caused by lack of proper attention to your affiliate marketing efforts. These and many other related problems are what we’re discussing at AM Days.
What top digital marketing experts will be in San Francisco in April and what are they teaching?
Besides a plethora of affiliate marketing experts we’ll have a number of names that every digital marketer is familiar with. The conference will be opened with a keynote by Brian Massey where he will delve into the lessons we can learn from our best affiliates, while on day two we’ll have a keynote presentation by the godfather of web analytics, Jim Sterne who will speak on big data and how we can read and interpret it in the most meaningful way. We will also have Tim Ash hold his already-traditional “Live Landing Page Critiques” session, while Roger Dooley will share with the audience “Brainy Ways to Boost Conversion and Affiliate Loyalty.” Besides these, we’ll have digital marketing practitioners from such companies as Google Affiliate Network, Commission Junction, eBay Partner Network, AWeber, Deluxe, LivePerson and many others share their knowledge, case studies and practical lessons to improve the performance of our affiliate programs [full agenda here].
All SEJ readers are cordially invited to join me! Use discount code SEJ to receive 15% off registration.
If you’re attending please hit me up! I’d like to meet and chat PPC & SEO 🙂
