Why we launched PerformanceIN Fashion
- From 04,07,11
- in Events
We’ve been really excited about the launch of our new vertically focused events and they kick off with a rather exquisite day planned at the Hurlingham Club in London on the 6th July 2011.
Over the last couple of years we’ve really put our attention on our flagship events; expanding the a4uexpo successfully into Germany and growing the a4uAwards by around 20% YOY.
Considering we’re not a huge publishing and events company such as Centaur or UBM but a passionate nimble SME, we can I hope be pretty proud of our achievements in helping to grow the Affiliate Marketing industry.
Since then as a company we’ve invested in technology, internal systems and have recruited a number of new key players to the team. This gives us the capacity and the ability to expand with new ventures whilst having the systems in place to ensure we don’t miss the pulse on our existing projects.
What’s unique with PerformanceIN is the fact it gives everyone a platform to connect on a very personal, relevant level. Significantly this is without contractual barriers or politics.
Picking our first vertical was a challenge. You need the big brands but equally you need a decent volume of long-tail publishers and bloggers. Thus Fashion seemed to be the natural choice, historically however difficult to crack (we don’t like to make things easy for ourselves)
The one day conference will have 12 sessions, a keynote by Wayne Hemingway MBE, a rather lovely BBQ lunch with a helping of lobster, networking throughout the day, a fair sprinkling of strawberries and cream, speed networking and finally networking drinks on the lawns of private members club.
In addition a brand showcase which gives around 15 brands an opportunity to engage with delegates.
Our decision no doubt will after the event be how we move forward. We’ve already pre-launched our PerformanceIN Travel event which will take place in November, but I wonder do we concentrate on specialism such as attribution or even something as generic as Mobile?
The jury is out.
If you want to follow our journey you can follow @performanceIN on twitter.
Read full articleM&S lowers commission for SALES again
- From 23,08,10
- in Affiliate Marketing
Not sure what people feel about this. It seems that M&S who have their affiliate programme managed through buy.at are lowering commission from 4% to 3% for all items during an upcoming Sale.
The reason? ‘A substantial increase in their own marketing efforts’ and ‘a significant increase in affiliate traffic and conversion to occur naturally’
As M&S reside on a network that offers product level commissions, why is this a blanket reduction? I would be more prepared to accept this if it were for sale items only; but everything?
Part of the game, or disrespectful? Would this occur if M&S had a tangible sales force?
Read full articleNominations Open for the Affiliate Marketing Awards
- From 08,02,10
- in Affiliate Marketing, Events, a4uawards
Nominations for the a4uAwards will close on the 19th February, which means you don’t have long to nominate who you think deserves to be short-listed for the 5 community choice awards.
Highly regarded, these awards are decided by the community and therefore mean a great deal to the individuals and companies who win them.
Spending just a few minutes making your nominations now could well make someone’s year!
Community Choice Awards
- Community choice (publisher)
- Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2010
- Publisher’s choice - account manager at a network
- Publisher’s choice - affiliate manager (in-house or at an agency)
- Publisher’s choice - affiliate network
Don’t forget we also have awards you can enter as an affiliate, agency, advertiser or network. As these are more complex by nature they are judged by a panel from within and outside the industry.
Nominations close 19th February. The deadline for written submissions this year is the 1st March.
Good Luck and make your vote count!
Other blogs about the awards
Lammo
This year we’ll be giving huge amounts of exposure all year round on a4uawards.com and the new to be launched affiliates4u.com.
Read full articleSpeaking at SES London on Affiliate Marketing
- From 08,02,10
- in Affiliate Marketing, Events, General
On the 17th February I’ll be speaking for the first time at Search Engine Strategies (SES) on ‘New Affiliate Opportunities & Strategies’ we all know that even some of the best search gurus secretly subsidise their income with affiliate activity and I hope we’ll be able to help bring you up to date with the latest strategy, opportunities and thinking within affiliate marketing.
New Affiliate Opportunities & Strategies
If you are looking to get in to the world of affiliate marketing and become an affiliate for the first time, then you can’t afford to miss the tips, tricks and techniques specifically focused on affiliate marketing revealed by our experts. Designed to help you navigate through all the various affiliate programs and the inherent difficulties of being an affiliate, this session will cover everything from commissioned-based “click-through” programs to managing product feeds, how to choose a niche and optimising someone else’s content. Part art and part science, with affiliate marketing there are no products to develop, warehouse or ship; and no orders to process or refund. Sound too good to be true? Join us a learn what it takes to become a successful affiliate!
Moderator:
Dixon Jones, Managing Director, Receptional LTD
Speakers:
Judith Lewis, Search Director, i-level
Paul Reilly, Head of Search, Stickyeyes
Matthew Wood, Founder, a4uexpo
If you’re attending and would like the panel to cover something specific, just drop me a line or reply to the thread.
If you’ve not yet registered but are tempted, you can use the SES Discount Code SPG for 20% off the delegate rate; that might just convince you.
Read full articleVoucher Cloud – Mobile Voucher Application Launches
- From 01,02,10
- in Affiliate Marketing, General
- ❛ 1 Comment
Today, will see the launch of Voucher Cloud within the apple app store. Its a project I’ve been involved in for a while and it’s fantastic to see the fruits of many, many months of hard work by the team come to fruition.
What is Voucher Cloud?
In short it will give consumers the ability to download digital vouchers onto their mobile phone to redeem at restaurants, cinemas, bars and at their favourite high street stores. Using GPS technology it will direct you to savings via map or category.
Thousands of outlets will be available on the app on launch including Majestic Wine, Bowlpex, Hotel Chocolat, Perfect Pizza and Dorothy Perkins.
The power of Voucher Cloud, what I’m going to call the paper voucher killer -is it’s direct marketing ability for local and national retailers to add discounts via the online interface and for them to be instantly pushed to consumers who have downloaded the app nationally.
With Voucher Cloud gone are the days of remembering to tear out and indeed bring along a paper voucher, you simply show your mobile to the server and you’ll bag your discount; and the best bit? It’s totally free for the majority of offers.
To aid the transition, a new voucher portal vouchercloud.com will also launch bridging affiliate marketing, the online voucher code, and printable voucher space with that of the future - the mobile.
I’ll keep you updated with progress on the blog; if you’re interested follow the teams progress on twitter.
Read full articleImpact Radius to Cause a Wave in the UK Affiliate Market?
- From 11,01,10
- in Affiliate Marketing
- ❛ 6 Comments
Today, Impact Radius launched simultaneously in the UK and USA - Believe me, it’s an important day for those involved in Affiliate Marketing.
Why? well it changes the way that advertisers and publishers can connect and enables advertisers to track sales through off-line and online media; including TV, radio, print and other off-line distribution channels.
This is something that’s been discussed at a4uexpo in recent years.
For high volume advertisers there could well be potential savings on override and gives an alternative to working with a traditional network. Especially if advertisers divided activity by channel i.e for paid search or voucher code activity using one solution, effectively taking the crème of current volume at low cost and then relying on other networks who offer value add solutions such as data feeds for other affiliate activity; this could be problematic!
This cost issue is compounded with networks who continue to have high account management or override fees. This naturally depends on individual circumstances.
On the flip side I would imagine due to the competitiveness of the market some advertisers are already on surprisingly low overrides and Advertisers may continue to prefer the account management and safety belt a traditional network provides on such issues as brand management.
The decision however may well rest with the agency and whether they use the product as a tool to increase their margin, the affiliates or reduce the advertisers cost from Affiliate Marketing.
It’s a very interesting model which has a respected founding team including Per Petterson (founder of Commission Junction before selling out), Todd Crawford and Lisa Riolo.
The UK office will be headed up by Ricki Jones.
The big question is yet to be answered - Will this innovation be a network killer to those networks who have failed to innovate over the last couple of years, or will the two solutions live happily side by side? Interesting times ahead.
Read full article