Affiliate Summit Recap - Day 2
August 12th, 2008
Day 2 started off strong with some Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and breakfast sandwiches, plus munchkins for the team. The booth was looking good and our staff was looking better, we were all ready for the exhibit hall stampede. Unfortunately, the morning had less traffic than I hoped for in the exhibit hall area. I quickly realized this was because Newark mayor Corey Booker was giving his keynote address. While not providing much affiliate marketing insight, I heard his speech was extremely inspiring. I chose to bang out a few emails during this quiet period at the booth and catch up on work. (as you saw from my last post)
It wasn’t until noon that the exhibit hall began to drive some good traffic. The NETexponent folks were all chipping in to build and strengthen relationships with key affiliates on behalf of our clients. Everywhere I looked I saw folks talking about promotional opportunities, commission structures, consumer offers, creative selling ideas…etc. We get asked a lot about the value of a booth at Affiliate Summit and the answer is easy. Affiliate marketing is all about relationships. We have an advantage since we have been in the game longer than other agencies so our relationships are wide and deep. However, we actively nurture those relationships on a regular basis. There is no better way to build strong bonds with people than through face-to-face meetings and Affiliate Summit is one of the best ways to access the best and brightest in our industry. Many folks think we have a booth to promote NETexponent and while that is partially true, the main focus of our booth is to promote our clients. We don’t even have our own business cards on the booth, rather we opt for business cards that promote our clients’ programs. I highly recommend this event for anyone looking to strengthen their affiliate marketing relationships.
Many of our clients also attended the conference so that they could strengthen their own relationships with affiliates and I applaud them for it. Among our clients in attendance were
- Seema from Audible
- Alyssa from Cardscan
- Megan from MyVu
- Kassie from Britannica
- David from Advanta
- TJ from Advanta
- Jarrett from Advanta
- Samia from Advanta
- Kelly from Advanta
(phew those Advanta folks almost outnumbered the NETexponent team)
It is very refreshing to see our clients take an active interest in these affiliate events.
So I stopped in and out of the booth and had several meetings throughout the day with partners, clients, affiliates, and friends of NETexponent. I certainly realized the value of comfortable shoes. Frankly I don’t know how women wear high heels to conferences.
After a long and very very productive day the team gathered for a nice dinner at the Top of the Hub at the Prudential Center in Boston. But first we said hi to Chris Kramer’s adorable daughters Colvin and Marley.
The restaraunt was great and had a spectacular view of Boston. Everyone was very happy with their meals and I enjoyed our bottle of 2005 Hitching Post Highliner Pinot Noir almost as much as my plate of warm homemade cookies at the end.
A few of us visited the Partner Fusion party for late night networking and while folks like Sal and Lorrenn had the energy to stay out…I hit the bed around midnight and tried to rest up for Day 3.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing by Peter Figueredo | |
