Last week, I traveled to Boston to sample Affiliate Summit East and in the process, the New England Clam Chowda’. “Summit” was good, but the chowda’ was great!
Affiliate Summit provides updated educational sessions and networking for professionals in the affiliate marketing business. When I entered Summit’s signature networking session — the Meet Market – my jaw hit the floor. Can you say, “baptism by fire”? Wow! Affiliates walk from table to table in a fury to strike deals with individual merchants and networks. It looked and sounded like the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. In many cases, you had to almost scream to be heard! The interaction between merchants to find affiliates willing to market their products was a feeding frenzy. The Meet Market was an impressive introduction to the aggressive nature of the business, as well as the thriving heartbeat of affiliate marketing.
Educational sessions were packed with topics such as incorporating more video into affiliate sites, how social marketing is impacting the industry, and what the increase in mobile ecommerce means to the business. A majority of the topics were a bit recycled from “how-to” lists posted daily on industry blogs, but I guess you can never be reminded enough about the fundamental building blocks of SEO, analytic tracking, and quality networking.
Many thanks to Carolyn Tang from ShareASale for volunteering to serve as my mentor. It was obvious from the swarm of people surrounding her that she is a respected expert, well networked and attuned to the industry. Hats off to Affiliate Summit for having the foresight to incorporate a mentorship program into the event planning and choosing Texas-based affiliate Teresa Caldwell – the friendliest affiliate in the business — to marry mentors with “newbies.”
I look forward to introducing 2Checkout’s affiliated brands to the industry and carving a unique niche of our own. Based upon the hot verticals promoted at Summit, I am confident a number of 2Checkout merchant products will raise eyebrows and pique the interest of affiliates. See you in Vegas at Affiliate Summit West!
