From the crowded halls at the Manhattan Hilton to the spacious grounds of the San Francisco Moscone Center, ad:tech is one of the leading national digital marketing conferences. Whether you exhibited or took a guerilla marketing approach and plowed your way through the multiple floors, you got first-hand experience in the value of human interaction. In a world of multiple communications tools, it is more imperative than ever to place a face with the voice on the other end of the line. But in reality, it is a combination your polished soft skills and a diligent follow up that will turn all those handshakes into dollars and cents. 

Proactive Preparation:  Know Your Audience

1. Review your inactive Rolodex and scrub it against the exhibitor list. There is no better time to revisit all those contacts whose ventures never made it to fusion.

2. Assess the speaker list and proactively arrange to meet with potential individuals/firms. The majority of speakers are the decision makers of an organization so take advantage of the potential opportunity to open up a dialogue.

Qualifying New Leads: Listen Twice as Much as You Speak

1. Always initiate an introduction with an open-ended question:

-Passionate individuals enjoy speaking about their business (and themselves). Encourage it and you will quickly note whether there is a potential for a lucrative partnership.

2. Receive a pitch before proceeding with yours:

-You have a window of forty-five seconds to certify if the individual(s) before you are a fit for your business model. 

-Time is of the essence thus give the curtsey of listening to a thirty second elevator pitch and follow up with a validating question.

- This tactic will ensure you are fully capitalizing on your time (during the conference), proactively qualifying your prospects (shorten your follow up time) and may present innovative business ideas which you may not have otherwise incorporated. 

Capitalizing During Primetime: Hustle While You Wait

1. Schedule new prospect “meet & greets” during breakout sessions.

-Save thirty minutes plus meetings for individuals whom you have an active pipeline of business with.

-New prospects/projects only require two to five minutes (tops) to qualify any potential business and further action steps should be ironed out in the follow up call.

2. Spend any down time in a public gathering area (i.e. hotel lobby).

-Public spaces receive the highest enter and exit traffic therefore there is a 90% probability you will reconnect with an old associate or potential prospect.

Follow Up: Three Day Window to Close the Sale

1. Jot footnotes on the back of all business cards exchanged (in real-time). 

-This will ensure you can pick up right where you left off and secure the next course of action.

2. Swift and immediate follow up will ensure your correspondence is received first and most likely addressed first.

-You truly have a two to three day window to effectively follow up and make certain that your message is conveyed most efficiently.

-As correspondence begins to flood your prospect , and playing the game of catch up absorbs their next week , a swift turnover will guarantee that you/your firm are kept top of mind.

Happy networking!

Chantelle S.  White

MediaTrust

Business Development & Partnerships 

The fourth quarter is nationally renowned as the gravy quarter, so it is only fitting that we capitalize on that. There are many factors that influence success, so it is vital as an affiliate marketer to plan your end of year strategically and thoroughly. Previous quarterly marketing tactics will not necessarily triumph in Q4, so here are some tips to incorporate in your gravy quarter planning!

Identify With and Become the Brand

Take the time to assess the active marketing initiatives of the brand you are looking to promote:

- What mediums is the brand actively using to market its product? (online, radio, etc)

- Current SEM promotion: is the brand marketing on all tier 1-3 search engines?

- Note the verbiage and graphics used in all of the promotions (is the message clear and marketable?)

- What is the value proposition to the user and is there a sense of urgency (seasonality/limited time offer)?

Determine the core demographic of the brand and identify who the online target audience is:

- Is there a similarity (brand demo and online target audience)?

- If so, draw the parallels and note the similarities. This will assist you with marketing to the most  conversion-prone audience.

- If not, be sure to target both audiences, as there may be an opportunity to capitalize on a new (unsaturated) market share.

Competitive Landscape Analysis

Conduct an extensive search to determine who the brands’ offline/online competitors are:

- Analyze each competitor’s campaigns by taking note of the features/benefits of the product and the value proposition to the user. Note the distribution channels that your competition is using to promote their campaigns (IE: SEM and social media, etc).

- Diversifying distribution channels allows for extensive reach, building brand awareness, and increasing your conversion rates. (e.g. SEM targets real-time purchasers while social media provides brand engagement/awareness).

- Do not simply mirror the competition but trump it through creative and savvy innovation!

- Identify what is marketable about the competitor’s campaign and finesse it, i.e. the value proposition to the customer must be unique and enticing.

Distribution Channel: En Route to Conversions

- Establish a marketing budget, which is flexible for the emerging media landscapes: SEM distribution: Be clear with what your ceiling and floor spends are but ensure you have the ability to inflate/deflate daily. Make sure you manage your spend as these costs inflate quickly.

- Institute a monthly test budget: If you’re monthly marketing budget is $1000 (SEM distribution), allocate $200 of that to test distribution via an alternative channel.

- Marketing your campaign through more than one distribution channel will assist with stabilizing your revenue streams and building your portfolio. Just like your investments in equities, diversification is critical to long-term success in online marketing.

Happy Marketing!

Chantelle S. White
MediaTrust – Business Development & Partnerships

The Digital Media Evolution: A birds-eye view of Affiliate Marketing 2004 - 2008

It is hard to not to distinguish the stages of evolution which have taken place over the period of 2004 to 2008.  I have noted these changes first hand and often gasp at the rapid growth of our space.  The online marketing realm was built on innovation and it is for this very reason it will continue to progress at a staggering rate.

The affiliate marketing community is comprised of varied distribution methods and unique business models. The common denominator, is our end goal to successfully monetize the traffic we are receiving or in some case acquiring. So where were affiliate marketers in 2004 and what has changed today?

E-mail Marketing – Inbox Gold

During 2002 to the mid/end of 2005 e-mail marketers dominated the space as a lucrative distribution channel. The creation of the CanSpam Act assisted with enhancing the user experience and establishing provisions and guidelines for affiliate marketers to adhere to. Today e-mail marketing continues to evolve as a brand centric distribution channel with solid reach.

Display Marketing and the Pop Up Ad Bust

Simple display marketing was, and will remain, the pillar of CPM media buys. This platform will continue to be used as a method to drive brand awareness however ROI has vastly shifted due to contextual/behavioral technologies moving to the forefront during 2007.  Late 2005 and early 2006 brought forth the regulation of adware programs which was very much spearheaded by the work of Mr. Benjamin Edelman. Many affiliate networks moved to cease any/all association with organizations deemed as adware networks and affiliate marketers were forced to seek new distribution channels.

Search Engine Marketing [SEM] – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The affiliate community shifted their marketing spend during 2006 and thus began the pay-per-click revolution. Many publishers tested multiple platforms simultaneously [Google, Yahoo etc] in order to gage their ROI, learn the platforms and test all possibilities. Late 2006- early 2007 the tipping point occurred and PPC soon became the distribution channel of choice regardless of grave competition.

Social Media Extravaganza

Search engine marketing spearheaded a new level of reach/audience targeting and then, welcome the explosion of social networking sites. Although Friendster and MySpace were first to launch, it wasn’t until Facebook opened its API [mid 2007] that affiliate marketers could capitalize on sites of this nature. Today publishers can select from a number of metrics and creative outlets which best meet their unique marketing needs and business models.

Today a distribution channel is classified as any of the above platforms however there are many others bubbling to the surface [IE mobile]. Regulation will dictate the next course of action for all marketing platforms but technological advances will indulge the savvy affiliate marketer throughout the evolution of digital media.

As an affiliate marketer, you have embarked on a journey that provides you with the entrepreneurial freedom to choose a business model that caters to your professional strengths and personal interests. All successful conquests begin with a clear and concise roadmap and as an affiliate marketer yours must be transferrable and innovative! Your marketing strategy should be as dynamic as the landscape is, and by incorporating these points to each of your initiatives, you will be well on your way to a successful campaign launch!

Identify and Become the Brand

• Take the time to assess the active marketing initiatives of the brand you are looking to promote.
  -What mediums is the brand actively using to market its product? (online, radio etc)
  -Current SEM promotion: is the brand marketing on all tier 1-3 engines?
  -Note the verbiage and graphics used in all of the promotions (is the message clear and marketable?)
  -What is the value proposition to the user and is there a sense of urgency (seasonality/limited time offer)?
• Determine the core demographic of the brand and identify who the online target audience is.
  -Is there a similarity (brand demo and online target audience)?
  -If so, draw the parallels and note the similarities. This will assist you with marketing to the most conversion prone audience.
  -If not, be sure to target both audiences as there may be an opportunity to capitalize on a new (unsaturated) market share.

Competitive Landscape Analysis

• Conduct an extensive search to determine who the brands offline/online competitors are.
  -Analyze each competitors campaigns by taking note of the features/benefits of the product and the value proposition to the user.
• Note the distribution channels that the competition is using to promote their campaign (IE: SEM and Social Media etc).
  -Diversifying distribution channels allows for an extensive reach to multiple market shares. (IE: SEM targets real-time purchasers while social media provides brand engagement/awareness)
• Do not simply mirror the competition but trump it through innovation.
  -Identify what is marketable about the competitor’s campaign and finesse it.

Distribution Channel: En Route to Conversions

• Establish a marketing budget which is flexible to the emerging media landscape.
  -SEM distribution: Be clear with what your ceiling and floor spends are but ensure you have the ability to inflate/deflate daily.
• Institute a monthly TEST budget .
  -If you’re monthly marketing budget is $1000 (SEM distribution), allocate $200 of that to test distribution via an alternative channel.
• Marketing your campaign through more than one distribution channel will assist with stabilizing your revenue streams and building your portfolio. Diversification is the claim to fame!

Happy marketing (and earning)!