Featured Image

Shopify Workshop for Women at SheCommerce Asia the First of It's Kind

Working from Bangkok, Thailand, last month, I got to attend and speak at Affiliate World Asia about International Affiliate Growth Trends going into 2018. As a pre-conference workshop, SheCommerce (created by Shopify and Women in AdTech), celebrated a day where female ecommerce leaders and entrepreneurs could set up, create and design their first ever ecommerce store. The room was a fabulous mix of successful affiliates and new to market female powerhouses learning and driving business growth together.

   

The content from the day focused on the strategy, scalability and fulfillment of business tasks, such as distribution drop shipped products,

  • Physical owned products
  • White labeled products
  • Digital goods
  • Tickets
  • Time
  • Charity
  • Rental products
  • Experiences (such as travel or entertainment related products)

Shopify worked to inspire women to:

  1. Create a business that matters
  2. Earn money from a side hustle or launch their first full time business
  3. Monetize their passions
  4. Be their own boss
  5. Become industry leaders

We learned what the biggest challenges that business owners / ecommerce leaders face? (more…)

How To Improve Your Affiliate Marketing by Attending Affiliate Summit

affiliate marketing podcastIf you want to improve your digital strategy as an affiliate marketer, exponentially grow your profits for you and your business, then this podcast is for you. Learn from the online marketing elite to reach your growth goals.

Welcome to the Digital Strategy Insights podcast with your host Sarah Bundy, founder and CEO of All Inclusive Marketing. The landscape of affiliate marketing has rapidly changed, which has been trying for some, but beneficial for those who have stuck to their guns.

Listen as this week’s guest Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit answers in depth questions on the ins and outs of his business. Collins has been in the business for nearly two decades and is also the founder of GeekCast.fm, co-editor in chief at FeedFront Magazine and a blogger and author in his own right. Affiliate Summit is at the top of their game when it comes to providing exceptional events for performance marketing.

Sit back and relax as Bundy and Collins take you through Affiliate Summit’s journey, how they’ve triumphed over the tough times, and how they envision the next five years.

Learn From the Best

Affiliate Summit is a name you need to know if you want to learn from the best. As a company they pride themselves on being able to provide a community of education and respect. This is why they are leading the industry in elite marketing conferences.

There is a simple formula to their success, according to Collins it is a case of trying things out, seeing what sticks and being open to collaboration. Before they founded Affiliate Summit, Collins and his co-founder felt something was missing from the events they were attending. There was too much focus on networking and not enough education. So they decided to satiate their thirst for knowledge by creating a place that could mix both.

An Affiliate Summit event is a conference open to all affiliate marketers with all budgets. Hosting the infamous ‘Meet Market’ as well as the traditional ‘Exhibition Hall’ means those who vend and those who attend are getting enough bang for their buck. Creating this alternative space gives Affiliate Summit their edge against other run of the mill trade shows and job fairs.

Increase Your Performance Marketing the Easy Way

Increasing your affiliate marketing performance could not be easier with the help of Affiliate Summit. Attending one of their shows is the easiest way to maximise your networking potential whilst educating yourself from the best. Having a focus on improving your digital strategy means their shows help you grow as an affiliate marketer. Listen the this episode to find out:

  • How have the Affiliate Summit events changed over the years?
  • Why are these shows so important in the industry?
  • What makes the ‘Meet Market’ unique?
  • How do I know if I should attend, or vend?
  • What do I need to do to become an MC?
  • What differentiates a West coast show from an East Coast show?
  • Where is Affiliate Summit going as a company?

Take 20 minutes out of your day as Collins answers all these questions, and more. This is a snippet of all the benefits you will find from attending an Affiliate Summit show and starting your journey to improving your social and digital strategies. An Affiliate Summit show is for you if you strive to give your customers the best quality marketing possible.

Want to get your hands on one of 50 scholarship VIP passes to the next Affiliate Summit event? To find out how, get in touch with Collins via email at shawn@affiliatesummit.com, on facebook.com/shawncollins, or Twitter @affiliatetip.

Want to go to the next show? It will be at the New York Marriott Marquis on August 2nd to 4th, 2015.

If you want a bite-size look into how you can improve your affiliate marketing performance and digital strategy, take a moment to listen to the Digital Strategy Insights podcast. Then feel free to reach out to us at All Inclusive Marketing (www.allinclusivemarketing.com) by visiting the website, via Facebook at Facebook.com/trusttheexperts or on Twitter @trusttheexperts.

Featured Image

Look for These People at Affiliate Summit West 2015

Meet Us at Affiliate Summit With Affiliate Summit* only three sleeps away, the All Inclusive Marketing team is getting really pumped to meet, network and engage with existing and new affiliates, partners and clients.

Also, with four new team members joining the AIM team over the last month, and with both Jon Levine and Carolyn Kmet making guest appearances at the show as Emcee and Panel Speaker, here are 10 people to keep you eye out for representing AIM this year. But first!

Top 5 Reasons To Meet With Us at Affiliate Summit West: 

  1. You are an affiliate looking to join great programs with solid content and products that will engage with your audience and help you drive your affiliate revenue and profitability.
  2. You are a merchant / advertiser looking for marketing help or advice with your program, either to grow it through new channels, optimize it for higher profitability and new customer acquisitions, or get strategic guidance and insight.
  3. You are an industry partner or service provider looking for a strong strategic partner to help you grow your business, brand and customer base. (more…)
Featured Image

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Best One To Date

Earlier this month All Inclusive Marketing attended Affiliate Summit West where we had some awesome successes and experiences. In fact, this past summit was our best one yet. Affiliate Summit is the largest and most comprehensive performance marketing conference in North America, with over 5400 attendees this year at the West show alone. Seven of AIM's team members experienced the fun, education and networking opportunities Affiliate Summit brought together this year. Here are the major highlights from this year's Affiliate Summit West for our team:

1. Pinnacle Awards: OPM / Agency of the Year

Photo Credit: Affiliate Summit

A major highlight for me personally was sitting amongst my friends and colleagues at the Pinnacle Awards, the most competitive and prestigious awards in North America within the Performance Marketing Industry, watching people I love and admire win awards. Two of our team members have already won awards in past years for "Affiliate Manager of the Year" and "Affiliate Marketing Advocate of the Year" and we were honored and thrilled to be listed in the top three Performance Marketing Agencies of the Year. Thank you you to Shawn, Missy and those who were rooting for us for that amazing opportunity!

2. Speaking to the Crowd

I had the  pleasure of taking a fun topic and brining it to life in 18 minutes or less in my session "How to Diversify Your Affiliate Portfolio for Better Results!". I had Amazon, Identity Guard and other big brands in my session, all of whom approached me after to discuss their program growth opportunities. Ashley Coombe, our social media strategist, also got to speak on a panel about How to Market your Business with Data, Not Feelings, which looked at "tips, tricks, and hacks to use data to drive efforts in your marketing processes, on site optimization, and social media." The questions in that session were plentiful and they got some great interaction from the audience.

3. Meeting New People

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Newcomers

Photo Credit: Affiliate Summit

If you have never been to an affiliate summit, or you've been to 20 and know a ton of people already, one of the best things about it is you get to meet awesome new people. This industry is entirely built upon relationships and even 10 years after my first summit, I'm still meeting people who've been in the industry as long as I have (or longer) that I hadn't had the pleasure of crossing paths with yet. This summit I walked away with a handful of really great new friends and partners that have already improved the quality of my life and my business entirely.

4. Closing New Business

As an agency we speak to many prospective clients throughout the year. At times, it's hard to feel comfortable moving forward without having that handshake or face to face eye contact, which Affiliate Summit creates in a comfortable and relevant environment. We were able to move forward with some business we have been exploring with prospects as a result of several face to face meetings, and I imagine many more companies, retailers, affiliates, networks and service providers were able to do the same.

5. Fostering Closer Relationships with Strategic Partners

All Inclusive Marketing Strategic Partners For those of us who have been  in the industry for a long time, one of the greatest values of Affiliate Summit is being able to foster closer working relationships with strategic partners. Every company we speak to and engage with throughout the year related to affiliate marketing is at this show, and it's awesome to spend one on one time with people we work with to get updates, negotiate terms, learn more about and grow with.

 

 

6. Spoiling Clients

Diana and Jon of AIM enjoying some quiet time with our client Jason from Julep.com

We had several clients attend the show, both whom we represented and who came to learn, network and engage with us. We had the pleasure of spoiling them for breakfast, lunch and / or dinner and give them a quiet place to sit and relax during the day. We also enjoyed watching our clients engage with affiliates and partners directly and see the excitement build as they learned more about each person and how they could work together.

 

7. AIM's Affiliate Brunch

 All Inclusive Marketing held a private invite-only brunch with 20 special guests - affiliates and bloggers who chatted and networked for several hours over fantastic food, product discussions and in great company at Mon Ami Gabi. The feedback was solid and more than one affiliate said it was their favorite privately held event of the week.

8. ShareASale's Superhero & Villain Party

ShareASale Superhero Party

And last but not least, not to forget a great bit of fun, ShareASale hosted their famous party under the Eiffel Tower - this year's theme was Superheros and Villains. Not much to say about this awesome event other than I haven't seen that many supermen and women in one place at one time, who really are, in real life, exceptionally super!

 

What was your favorite memory of Affiliate Summit West this year?

Featured Image

Affiliate Summit West 2013 Recap

Affiliate Summit West 2013 was by far the best Affiliate Summit to date. A fabulous crowd of affiliate marketing enthusiasts and newbies gathered together to network, learn, grow and create new opportunities for each other like no other event I've ever been to. All 5200+ attendees were buzzing with excitement, and I was no exception.

This was my first year attending with three of my team members: Carolyn Kmet, our VP of Performance Marketing, Greg White and Frank Ravanelli, two of our fantastic account managers. We sponsored a room for AIM to represent our clients, our team and meet with anyone who wanted to spend time with us, which turned out to be a fabulous experience for us. We look forward to sponsoring a room again next year.

I also had the opportunity to speak at this show for the first time (thanks again to Shawn and Missy) with my friend Kush A from VMInnovations. We spoke about Affiliate Strategies for a Post Penguin World, which highlighted the importance of building communities, owning your audience to extend the lifetime value of your users, embracing social media, having authentic content, staying relevant and diversifying marketing efforts (such as introducing video) - as well as diversifying your anchor text and back linking campaigns to thrive in a post  penguin world. We had a great turnout (about 100 people in the room) and I thank everyone who came to listen to us speak and learn with us.

Other highlights for me personally included:

  • Attending the Miss America Finally with Liz Fogg, Shannon Weidemann, and Deb Carney on Sunday night
  • Enjoying the ShareaSale Masquerade Ball with great people I haven't seen in a year
  • Meeting great friends of mine for the first time in person - especially Pat Grady, Jennifer Ward and Kevin Wetherby
  • Watching my friends and people I admire win awards for their hard work and contribution to this industry
  • Spend a hilarious fun filled night out with my team at the CSI Experience, a delicious dinner and bonding till 3:30am
  • Meeting with some fabulous prospective clients and affiliates
  • The incredible excitement, interest and contributor response rate with Affiligate.org 
  • Hanging with the entire ShareASale team for some belgium beers before my flight home
  • Catching up with old friends and respected colleagues every day
  • Getting tackle hugged by Jennifer Ward and Tim Ash in the Meet Market on Sunday
  • Representing All Inclusive Marketing in a way that made me so proud. In the words of Carolyn Kmet "We exhibited knowledge and class, kindness and cohesiveness.  These are qualities that were very apparent to our clients, our affiliates and our competitors.  I cannot express how proud I am to be working alongside you to grow this company."
To Shawn and Missy, thanks for giving us something that allows us all to enjoy our industry so much. We look forward to many more Affiliate Summits to come.

What to Pack For Affiliate Summit West

Whether you're heading there for the first time or are enjoying your 10th Affiliate Summit, here is a list of things to remember to pack, and a few tips that have worked well for me at past events:

 

What to Pack

Here are  my essentials:

  1. List of names, phone numbers and email addresses of people I am meeting with (if you come from other country, check to make sure your phone plan works were you are - or get a temporary phone while you're there - personal lesson learned from last year).
  2. 3 sets of business / business casual clothes, two dresses, pajamas, and three casual outfits for evenings out
  3. One pair of dress shoes and one pair of casual walking shoes
  4. Makeup, toiletries and personal items to make me look and smell pretty
  5. Notes for my speech
  6. Client and AIM promotional materials for our sponsored meeting room
  7. Gift bags for our affiliates to enjoy
  8. 200 business cards
  9. Laptop
  10. Money (Credit Cards and Cash)
  11. Passport
  12. Refillable filtered water bottle
  13. Halls / throat drops (lots of talking)
  14. Snacks for plane and the conference - it will be super busy and fast paced and you will need your energy
  15. Camera, lip balm, and your dignity!

 

If you miss anything else,  you can buy it there.

 

Additional Tips

1. Be yourself. Say Hi, smile, ask questions of other people and show genuine interest. My first summit was a huge success because I did this and people who were more veteran than I adopted me because I genuinely wanted to learn more about them and how this all worked.

2. If you have meetings, be on time or make sure you have the person's number so you can text them if you're running late. Sometimes meetings run longer than you think and you have to consider travel time. This happened to me at my last show and I couldn't text the person because my Canadian roaming wasn't letting me get texts out. She never got the message and thought I just left her sitting there. Be sure you check your numbers and plans.

3. If you're new, check out the newcomers program. They have some awesome Affiliate Summit veterans there to help guide you and make your time there as successful and useful as possible.

4. If you've been to summit many times before and you find yourself meeting with the same people in the same crowds, I encourage you to break out and choose five random people to introduce yourself to. I ended up consulting for two different billionaires last year because I did this.

5. Have your goals set before you get there. Know which sessions will interest you most and that you plan to attend before the show. That way you will be organized and get what you need to out of it. Anything after that is just a bonus!

6. Go to the Shareasale party. Its always amazing 🙂

Happy Summit!

Featured Image

Top 10 Affiliate Marketing Conferences of 2013

Affiliate Marketing Conferences Events Expos and ShowsWith Affiliate Summit West just around the corner, I was inspired to write a post about some of the top affiliate and internet marketing conferences to attend this year. There are more than the list below, such as LeadsGen, the Performance Marketing Summit, LinkShare Symposium, and so on, however here are the Top 10 "must attend" conferences on my list for this year:

 

1. Affiliate Summit

Affiliate Summit West, East and Central are THE hottest affiliate marketing conferences in North America. With over 5000 attendees at both the East and West shows, with the latter next weekend in Las Vegas, attendees will get an incredible taste of the excitement of affiliate marketing through educational sessions, meet markets, networking events, an exhibitor hall, new comers program and more. I will be speaking at Affiliate Summit West at 12:30 Sunday about Affiliate Strategies for a Post Penguin World.

 

2. ShareASale Think Tank

One of my favorite affiliate networks holds their annual Shareasale Think Tank once a year and although in the past this has been an invitation only event for top tier affiliates and merchants to meet (very exclusive with about 100-200 attendees), last year this event opened to the public and was a great success. We will absolutely be attending this show this year.

 

3. Pubcon

One of North America's largest Digital, Search and Social conference with several thousand attendees, Pubcon also boasts a strong affiliate presence. I haven't personally attended a Pubcon event, however it is on my list for this year as I've always heard positive reviews about it. This conferences is supposed to be especially good for those interested in both affiliate marketing and other channels, as the caliber of speakers on various digital topics is great.

 

4. A4U

Europe's largest affiliate event, A4U is like the European version of Affiliate Summit. This year they will make their debut in North America.

 

5. AdTech

One of the largest digital marketing shows of the year, AdTech will be hosted in New Delhi in February, San Francisco in April, Sydney in March, Singapore in June, London in September and New York in November. Be sure to check out their website for a full list of dates and locations.

 

6. Internet Retailer

Host of the Internet Marketing Top 500 Guide and all Internet Retailer Conferences, Internet Retailer is the largest e-commerce show in the world. If you're going to attend this event, but sure to pack some solid walking shoes and some Halls, because you will be walking for days and speaking non stop.

 

7. Affiliate Management Days

One of the new kids on the block,  Affiliate Management Days debuted last year to help affiliate managers and merchants interested in the performance marketing space to be trained by some of the top affiliate marketing experts in the world. Having several shows per year, merchants and affiliate managers alike can travel to the destination closest to them for easy access to experts and high level learning opportunities.

 

8. CJU

Commission Junction University is an affiliate marketing website and event designed to help affiliates and merchants involved in Commission Junction (and the affiliate marketing space in general) succeed. It has been running since 1998 and showcases useful networking , educational and growth opportunities.

 

9. Online Marketing Summit

One of the fastest growing shows in North America is the Online Marketing Summit. This three day event showcases in depth educational workshops, speaking sessions and networking opportunities with leaders in the digital marketing space. Though mainly focused on mobile, social and search marketing, in 2012 they introduced an affiliate marketing workshop (taught by yours truly) and have now expended to welcome several speakers in the affiliate marketing space. I will be speaking at their show in San Diego next month.

 

10. BlogHer

From their site "In 2005, BlogHer Co-founders Elisa Camahort Page, Jory Des Jardins and Lisa Stone held a conference to answer the question, "where are all the women who blog?" Today, BlogHer conferences bring together thousands of these women from around the world to discuss, inspire and connect with each other." BlogHer has become a must attend phenomenon that cannot be overlooked.

Which are your favorite and "must attend" events of 2013?

Affiliate Management Days Ft Lauderdale Ticket Sales

It's the last two days to get the early bird pricing on the Affiliate Management Days conference for Affiliate Managers in Ft Lauderdale this year. The conference will be held October 9th and 10th at the

Whether your company already has an affiliate program, or you're just starting out with affiliate marketing as a merchant, AM Days offers you the most valuable insight into how other online retailers are successfully implementing and managing their affiliate programs.

The conference will cover such topics as:

  • Affiliate program set up
  • Affiliate recruitment techniques
  • Communication with affiliates
  • Affiliate marketing fraud
  • Role of affiliate network(s)
  • Affiliate automation tools
  • Landing page & conversion optimization
  • Compliance policing & enforcement
  • Legislative issues & challenges
  • Innovations in affiliate marketing
  • Tracking & multi-touchpoint attributon
  • M-commerce in affiliate marketing

I asked the conference founder, Geno Prussakov some questions today to help understand why one should attend this event.

 

1. What can people expect to get out of Affiliate Management Days?

Three things: (1) practically applicable knowledge, (2) unparalleled professional networking (and new connections), and (3) motivation.

 

2. Who would be the perfect attendees for such an event?

AM Days is the conference for digital marketing managers, consultants, affiliate program managers (both those who work inside advertisers' companies, and OPMs), researchers, affiliate network reps, and affiliate management tool providers. It is also a perfect conference for those merchants who are just looking to get their feet wet in affiliate marketing.

 

3. Why did you start such a niche conference?

While there is no lack of quality affiliate marketing conference content, we've never really had a affiliate management-focused professional forum. The industry is growing, and with it the need for an affiliate management-specific conference has evolved. At Affiliate Management Days we seek to address the real issues, threats, and opportunities that affiliate managers deal on a daily basis. Our speakers dissect and analyze a variety of situations (from affiliate fraud to competitive intelligence, and from legislative challenges to emerging trends), and then we collaboratively (speakers together with attendees) come up with solutions to problems and challenges.

 

4. How many attendees do you expect at this show compared to 5 years from now?

I expect the Florida show to gather between 150 and 200 attendees. Five years from now we hope to be gathering 500-600 professionals semiannually.

 

5. Who are some of the big brands who've attended your show in the past that you've received positive reviews from?

Amazon, eBay, Best Buy, Experian, JCPenney, Kohl's, Zappos, Sandals, the list can go on and on. You can check out the website for testimonials from some of these great companies.

I personally have attended and spoken at the first AM Days show earlier this year and highly recommend it. If you haven't registered yet for the Ft Lauderdale show, you can do so now to still get your early bird pricing (two days only!)

Vancouver Affiliate Marketers Give Back

Vancouver Affiliate Marketers Give BackLast night we held our first first annual Vancouver Affiliate Marketers Give Back event. It was a huge success and we were able to collect a variety of household and personal items for those in need in Vancouver.

This year, because it was a fairly small group (10 of us in total), we held the event at my home near White Rock, BC. James and Arlene Martell (affiliates), Leanne and Peter Tremblay (affiliates), Jaxon Lam (Hootsuite affiliate manager), and half the AIM team came out to collect, sort and count donations for the Union Gospel Mission.

 

In all we collected:

Vancouver Affiliate Marketing Sorts Clothes for Donation

  • 79 Toys
  • 261 Kids/Baby Items
  • 43 Food Items
  • 91 Pieces of Men's Clothing
  • 64 Pieces of Women's Clothing
  • 29 Pairs of Shoes
  • 70 Books
  • 5 Bedding Items
  • 11 Handbags / Backpacks

Our total donations came to 653 items for those in need. Really fantastic!

 

James Martell and Hailey Bundy

James Martell and Hailey Bundy

Not only did we have a great time networking while doing something to make a difference, we also enjoyed some great wine and a comfortable laid back environment to enjoy each others company, ideas and conversation.

I really want to thank all those who came out and contributed to such a great event! I also want to thanks Missy Ward for letting us use her Affiliate Marketers Give Back t-shirts for a more unified look. The money we spent buying the shirts also went towards raising money for Breast Cancer which helped towards another cause as well.

 

Ray Wang and Leanne Tremblay

We encourage other affiliate markers to enjoy events such as this in their local cities. It was a ton of fun and contributes to the betterment of this industry, our surroundings and each other.

I look forward to seeing everyone again in about 6 weeks for out next local Affiliate Marketing Meet-up!

Featured Image

Recap of the New Affiliate Management Days Conference 2012 #AMDays

Sarah Bundy Speaking at Affiliate Management Days ConferenceToday is my first day back after attending the first Affiliate Management Days conference inSan Francisco, which I believed to be a great success for Geno Prussakov's first show ever. #AMDays is a conference dedicated solely to the education and advancement of affiliate managers from around the world. I had the privilege (and challenge) of live blogging the entire conference for SarahBundy.com, Small Business Trends and the AMDays Blog itself. Here is a quick access list to the sessions I live blogged during the show:

Sarah Bundy blogging at the first annual Affiliate Management Days show

Sarah Bundy live blogging at Affiliate Management Days show

 

  1. The Science of Influence And Persuasion by John Greathouse, a partner at Rincon Venture Partners, a venture capital firm investing in early stage web-based businesses.
  2. Newest Adware and Affiliate Marketing Abuses by Ben Edelman, Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School
  3. Using Web Analytics to Grow Your Affiliate by Kevin Webster, Internet Marketing Manager at Forbes Custom Products
  4. Panel: Inside the Mind of a Super Affiliate featuring Super Affiliates Tony Pantano of IMWave (search publisher), Kim Rowley of KIMarketing (super blogger) and Kiva Kumar of TheFind.com (shopping engine).
  5. Maximize Your Affiliate ROI with Checkout Optimization by Linda Bustos from Elastic Path Software
  6. Educating Internal Business Teams About Affiliate Marketing by Ryan Diehl of Best Buy
  7. Affiliate Marketing for Facebook by by Marc Phillips of Skumatic
  8. Leveraging Online Video for Affiliate Programs by John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners
  9. How to Effectively Reach & Engage Bloggers by Jenny Williams of Skimlinks
  10. Leveraging the “Offline” Channels by Keynote Jason Spievak, CEO of Ring Revenue
  11. Trends & Innovations in the Affiliate Marketplace by Google’s Ali Pasha
  12. Types and Value of Affiliates – Keys to Running a Healthy, Profitable Affiliate Program by Kush Abdulloev of VMInnovations
Sarah Bundy speaking at the affiliate management days show

Sarah Bundy speaking at AMDAYS

All in all I was very impressed by the caliber of speakers and appreciated the intimate setting of about 100 attendees. This gave me the greatest opportunity to network with high caliber people in the industry.

I also got to speak at the show on How to Recruit Super Affiliates - and several people approached me after including the affiliate managers from Best Buy, Ancestry.com and Sandals Resorts (who won our free affiliate program audit worth $500) to name a few.

It was great to meet such fun and interesting people. I will definitely be back next year. This is the perfect show for those interested in furthering their affiliate management expertise, professional development and connections with respected colleagues.

Archives

Categories

Latest Tweets

Favicon-White

 

Interested in our AIM Newsletter?
Yes Please

Contact Info

Unit 238 – 11180 Coppersmith Place, Richmond, BC, V7A 5G8

Copyright 2019 Sarah Bundy © All Rights Reserved