Conference Day 1: Tuesday, April 16, 2021

7:30-8:30am • Room: Atrium

Registration & Networking Breakfast


8:30-8:45am • Room: Club

Conference Chair Welcome Remarks

Speaker: Geno Prussakov, Chair, Affiliate Management Days

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 8:45-9:30am • Room: Club

Keynote:
What We Can Learn from Our Affiliates

Your best affiliates live and die by the numbers: cost per click, click through rate, payout and conversion rate. Of these, the one they have no control over is the conversion rate of your pages. Join Brian Massey as he takes a humorous look at our landing pages through our affiliates’ eyes.

Speaker: Brian Massey, Conversion Scientist, Conversion Sciences

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9:30-10:15am • Room: Atrium

Exhibits & Morning Coffee Break

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10:15-11:00am • Track 1 • Room: Club

The Performance Marketing Universe: How Our World Continues to Evolve

Rebecca will present an update on major shifts in our industry, and elements outside the industry that are impacting us and creating opportunities. Rebecca expects there will be relevant information coming from the PMA’s councils, specifically those focused on email, mobile, industry advancement, content monetization, agencies, compliance and tracking - the PMA has all these subject matter experts keeping their hands on the pulse of change, and she will present a macro view looking across all these elements

Speaker: Rebecca Madigan, Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association


10:15-11:00am • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

How to Recruit Better Value Affiliates to Increase Profits

Too many affiliate programs rely on coupon and loyalty affiliates to drive the bulk of their sales. Learn how to identify and recruit new affiliate groups to save money with your existing affiliates while driving higher value incremental sales through others. This session will show where and how to recruit affiliates who can get you that beloved first time customer.

Speaker: Sarah Bundy, CEO, All Inclusive Marketing

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 11:15am-12:00pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

The New Legal Landscape of Affiliate Marketing

The affiliate industry has evolved and faces new challenges as a result of the explosion of social media, FTC enforcement, evolving privacy standards, the concern over “big data” and Do Not Track standards. Affiliate Managers need to know how to properly guide their clients in order to ensure that campaigns are successful and liability is minimized. This session will examine hot issues that all industry participants should keep in mind to limit exposure and ensure success.

Speaker: Gary Kibel, Partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP


 11:15am-12:00pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

3 Solutions to Creating the Right Deal For You and Your Affiliates

The art of creating the right deal - merging the high acquisition cost of affiliate programs with the right payout to both motivate and qualify affiliates, is a continuing challenge to most affiliate programs.

In this case study of affiliate marketing in precious metals, 3 affiliate deals will be shown, from virtual goods delivered as videos and PDFS to 2 online retailers selling physical silver and gold, one driven by phone and the other driven by online subscriptions.

Analysis and comparison of the subscription model, retail percentage model, and how to determine the right payout for your affiliates will be discussed. Sprott Money, Silver Investor, and the Silver Saver affiliate programs will be the focus of this discussion.

Speaker: Declan Dunn, Managing Partner, Dunn Direct Media

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12:00-1:00pm • Room: Atrium

Lunch

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 1:00-1:45pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

Understanding the Value of the Affiliate Channel

Understanding the value of the affiliate channel has never been more vital. As the industry matures, the need for a granular analysis of its constituent parts increases.

Over the past three years, Affiliate Window has been working with a selection of engaged advertisers to appreciate how affiliate marketing fits within the general online mix. Taking their full, multi-channel digital data, we have explored how affiliate interacts with email, search and display.

Going one step further, we have attempted to understand the affiliate customer from initial interaction through to the long-term value they generate for the brands they buy from. In doing so, we have been able to appreciate how different affiliates drive different customers.

Using this client side data we will present some key insight into how incremental the channel is and how to build a ‘value attribution’ model based on multiple metrics, debunking the growing clamor for a move away from last click.

We will also look to offer sector insights, click path analysis and data that proves how every affiliate should be seen as individual affinity partners.

Speaker: Kevin Edwards, Strategy Director, Affiliate Window


 1:00-1:45pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

How to Be Active at Passive Affiliate Recruitment

When publishers seek out affiliate marketing programs to work with, they’re looking for a reputable merchant with a robust program to meet all their needs. They need a program that provides strong marketing support to help their partners promote a product or service they believe their customers will find interesting.

So, how should a merchant present their company in a way that encourages potential affiliates to reach out to them?

From both an “internal” and “agency” perspective, this session will discuss passive means for on-boarding new affiliates, including but not limited to optimization of affiliate signup pages, client testimonials and FAQ sections as well as alignment and consistency with your company blog and social media accounts.

Speaker: Brian Schwartz, Affiliate Manager, LivePerson, Inc.
Roger Snow, Founder & CEO, Snow Consulting

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 2:00–2:45pm • Room: Club

GENERAL SESSION - PANEL DISCUSSION
Inside the Mind of the Super Affiliate

Moderated by Angel Djambazov, Owner, Custom Tailored Marketing

Every merchant and affiliate manager wants to know what’s inside the mind of the super affiliates. This is your chance! The panel discussion will have three accomplished affiliates (a datafeed one, a coupon & deals one, and a paid search one) share their thoughts on multiple burning issues, as well as answer audience’s questions.

Speakers: Tony Pantano, CEO, Imwave
Siva Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, The Find
Mike Allen, Founder, Shopping-Bargains.com


2:45–3:15pm • Room: Atrium

Exhibits & Afternoon Coffee Break

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 3:15-4:00pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

Rapid Fire - Live Landing Page Critiques

Stop repelling your super-affiliates. Bring your most valuable pages to conversion rate optimization expert Tim Ash for a brutally-honest rapid-fire review (or simply watch as others get their pages critiqued). Tim will give you some quick and actionable tips to immediately improve performance. Guaranteed to be an educational and entertaining session.

Speaker: Tim Ash, CEO, SiteTuners


 3:15-4:00pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

Coupon Code Compliance: Protecting Channel-Specific Coupons

We’ll discuss the different approaches that advertisers take to coupons and discuss scenarios where coupon code leakage threatens couponing strategies. We’ll review simple approaches for setting up coupon strategies for successful compliance and discuss techniques for quickly identifying leakage.

Speaker: David Naffziger, CEO, BrandVerity

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 4:15-5:00pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

The Extremely Monetizable Mobile Market

Over half of all mobile device owners use their devices to surf the Internet, according to the Pew Internet & American Life project release this summer. Unfortunately, performance advertising campaigns are constantly accessed by mobile devices whether they’re optimized for those purchase experiences or not, but new forms of purchases and buying funnels are making it easier than ever for users to make buying decisions on their mobile devices and complete transactions, opening a world of monetization avenues for performance marketers. Major advertisers and fortune 500 players remain shy on CPM and CPC advertising on mobile devices for fear of wasted ad spend, leaving an enormous opportunity for performance marketers to be the first to drive real results.

This presentation will cover the best performing offers on mobile devices and provide tips on matching up traffic and user experience for creating the most profitable outcomes.

Speaker: Peter Hamilton, CEO, HasOffers


 4:15-5:00pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

5 Ways To Get Things Moving With Latent Affiliates

See some of the actions merchants take in order to activate their idle affiliates and get them to start selling their products. Also, see some optimization techniques for your long tail affiliates.

Speaker: Michael Ni, CMO & SVP of Marketing & Products, Avangate

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5:05-5:15pm • Room: Club

Sponsor Lightning Round
   


 5:20-6:05pm • Room: Club

KEYNOTE
Pay-Per-Call Wake-Up Call: 3 Reasons You Need To Be Doing It

If you’re not doing pay-per-call yet, and your merchants accept phone calls, you should be. This session takes a practical look at the compelling reasons you need to be offering pay-per-call, and the simple and quick steps to getting started.

Including phone numbers in your marketing campaigns (this means anywhere - online, offline or mobile) improves your conversion rates, while technology such as RingRevenue’s helps you to optimize for better quality leads. Did we mention that pay-per-call also enables you to properly leverage the mobile market? It’s no secret that mobile has gone completely mainstream, and in order to stay competitive you need to incorporate it into your marketing mix. There’s also the not so small, nagging issue that your competitors are doing pay-per-call, and they are having lots of success doing it. If you haven’t joined them yet, you’re leaving money on the table.

Still hesitant to get started? Worried about the technical integration? We’ll explain how pay-per-call involves zero IT or technical integrations. Affiliate managers will walk away from this session having learned how they can set up new campaigns in literally just minutes, and help their affiliates get set started just as easily.

Speaker: Jason Spievak, CEO, RingRevenue


6:05-7:30pm • Room: Atrium

Networking Reception

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Conference Day 2: Wednesday, April 17, 2021

7:30-8:25am • Room: Atrium

Registration & Networking Breakfast


8:25-8:30am • Room: Club

Conference Chair Morning Remarks

Speaker: Geno Prussakov, Chair, Affiliate Management Days

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 8:30-10:00am • Room: Club

GENERAL SESSION - PANEL DISCUSSION
The Role of the Affiliate Network

Moderated by Robert Glazer, Founder and Managing Director, Acceleration Partners

Affiliate networks have evolved to play many different roles over the years and are a key partner for both merchants and affiliates. Panelists from different networks will discuss what role the network should play in areas such as affiliate screening, fraud monitoring, program management and more.

Speakers: Todd Crawford, Co-Founder, Impact Radius
Brian Littleton, Founder & CEO, ShareASale
Gary Marcoccia, Co-Founder, Publisher Development, AvantLink
Kerri Pollard, President, Commission Junction
Amber Melhouse, Director Business Development, Publisher Focus, Rakuten LinkShare

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10:00-10:30am • Room: Atrium

Exhibits & Morning Coffee Break


 10:30-11:15am • Track 1 • Room: Club

Why Your Affiliate Revenue May Not Be Real & What You Can Do About It

Today’s affiliate programs are getting a second look as companies get smarter about attribution. Successful affiliate programs require specific skills, consistent oversight and a revisit of the value certain types of partners bring to the table. How does a manager determine if their affiliate programs are driving incremental revenue? What new strategies can be implemented to optimize a retailer’s affiliate base? This session will outline the often-overlooked nuances of today’s affiliate marketing industry and address the following:

  • Why data and research must guide your affiliate program
  • Double-counting, and why it’s killing your affiliate program
  • How to identify low performing affiliates and fraud
  • What is a value-add affiliate, and how to find them
  • Creating incentives that empower strong affiliates to perform even better

Speaker: Robert Glazer, Founder & Managing Partner, Acceleration Partners


 10:30-11:15am • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

Affiliate Marketing Solutions, Brand Alignment and Consumer Behavior

Affiliate Marketing continues to be a top acquisition channel for retailers yet some still question the value of the channel. What has changed in this growing industry in terms of technology and service that make this vibrant channel more relevant than ever? Learn how this channel is aligned with consumer behavior and how today’s Affiliate Marketing solutions can help leverage investments in social marketing, mobile commerce and international e-commerce and how your affiliate channel can offer the widest reach and the best testing ground for your most innovative marketing campaigns.

Speaker: Amber Melhouse, Director Business Development, Publisher Focus, Rakuten LinkShare

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 11:30am-12:15pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

7 Proven Ways to Maximize Affiliate Relationships with Email

Are affiliates starting to ignore your messages? Opens, clicks, and conversion rates flat or declining? You’re not alone - but you could be doing better. Email is still a powerful relationship tool, and even minor changes in approach can dramatically increase response.

In this session, you’ll learn 7 proven ways to tackle decreasing engagement. We’ll explore case studies with gains of up to 551%, and emphasize budget-friendly ideas you can execute quickly. If you want to breathe new life into your email newsletters, promos, surveys and more, and get real feedback on your own initiatives, this interactive session is one you don’t want to miss!

Speaker: Hunter Boyle, Senior Business Development Manager, Aweber


 11:30am-12:15pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

Developing and Implementing an Affiliate Marketing Calendar

While social media, mobile marketing and the latest and greatest got-to-have-it tools often steal the spotlight, a cohesive marketing calendar is critical to the foundation of an affiliate marketing program. In this session, you’ll learn the basics of starting your own affiliate marketing calendar, tips for tailoring it to your own program, and ways you can leverage your calendar to stay proactive with your affiliates…even when you get thrown a last minute curveball.

Speaker: Karen Garcia, CEO, GTO Management

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 12:15-1:00pm • Room: Atrium

Lunch


 1:00-1:45pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

Proven Conversion Optimization Techniques for Affiliate Programs

Successful affiliate managers maximize profit for both their company and affiliates. To do that requires maximizing revenue from every click. That means each step of your conversion funnel must be optimized—landing pages, content pages, product pages, signup forms and checkout funnels.

Join Chris Goward, Founder of WiderFunnel, to learn proven methodologies that successful companies with affiliate programs such as Electronic Arts, Hair Club, AllPopArt.com and Singular Software use to maximize leads, sales and profits.

In this session, you’ll learn

  • Which words and images will always lift your conversion rate
  • Proven conversion techniques for every stage in your conversion path
  • Why your website is confusing visitors and decreasing your sales

Speaker: Chris Goward, CEO, WiderFunnel Marketing


 1:00-1:45pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

Managing Risk: Legal Issues for Merchants & Affiliate Managers

Affiliate marketing is one of the most cost-effective techniques for monetizing web site traffic and driving sales. Unfortunately, it has a reputation for high risk. While the industry is unlikely to ever be risk-free, it is possible to manage risk by: (1) understanding how techniques like behavioral and contextual targeting affect consumers, affiliates and merchants, (2) understanding the legal and regulatory environment, (3) understating risks involved with prospective marketing partners, (4) using and maintaining proper contracts that allocate risk and provide appropriate indemnifications, and (5) keeping informed about the changes in technology, marketing practices and the regulatory environment. Attendees will learn how to identify these issues and develop policies and procedures to keep informed about the current technology, marketing strategies and regulatory compliance.

Topics covered include:

  • Behavioral/Contextual Advertising
  • Regulatory/Industry Compliance : FTC Guides & Enforcement Actions
  • CAN-SPAM compliance
  • IP Law: Rules governing use of others™ Trademarks/Keywords, Right of Publicity/Endorsement Issues.
  • Identifying, protecting against, and disputing accusations of Click-Fraud

Speaker: David Adler, Partner, Leavens, Strand, Glover & Adler, LLC

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 2:00-2:45pm • Room: Club

KEYNOTE
The Human Side of Analytics

Social, Mobile, Affiliate, Online, Offline, Integrated Marketing — it all adds up to Big Data. Jim offers a quick look at Big Data as a concept and the technology that is driving it and then looks hard at the piece that has seen no tangible improvements for hundreds of years: the art of analysis. Given petabytes of data and the power to manipulate it at will, how do you go about asking the questions and solving the problems that face merchants and affiliate mangers on a daily basis? Jim offers some thinking about thinking, some insights into the creation of insights and some practical advice about applying yourself and managing others in this data-driven but highly creative world.

Speaker: Jim Sterne, Founder, eMetrics Summit

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2:45-3:15pm • Room: Atrium

Break / Exhibit Hall

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 3:15-4:00pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

Customer-Centricity in a Publisher-Centric Channel

In an industry where brands and networks compete fervently for the attention and loyalty of the world’s top publishers, it’s often the customer who gets overlooked. Is it possible to create an affiliate program that provides substantial opportunities for publishers while also bringing about a first-rate experience for your, and their, customers? Brian Marcus, Director, Global eBay Partner Network, and former head of the Google Affiliate Network, believes so.

In this session, Brian will talk about what it takes to maintain a thriving affiliate network that takes into account publishers and customers, in today’s ever-evolving shopping environment. He’ll talk about what eBay is doing to earn publisher VOTES, and how brands can leverage new consumer shopping trends – personalization, curation, new technologies, etc. – to help publishers take advantage of the growing online shopping opportunity while preserving a great experience for your customers.

Speaker: Brian Marcus, Director, Global eBay Partner Network


 3:15-4:00pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

The Pros & Cons of Migrating Your Affiliate Programs In-House

As Affiliate Manager at Deluxe Corp, Martin has worked with two different OPM agencies over the course of 2 years all in the process of migrating program management in-house and building our in-house team. He will share that evolution but in a way that does not undermine the OPM.

Speaker: Martin Marion, Affiliate Manager, Deluxe Corp.

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 4:15-5:00pm • Track 1 • Room: Club

Leveraging Trends in Technology, the Industry and Pop Culture

Keeping up with rapid changes is challenging. But there are easy ways to spot trends, jump on them quickly and work with the right affiliates to achieve those goals. Whether it’s adopting new technologies or social media platforms; or spotting the next big consumer area of interest and making it applicable to your brand, being relevant and leveraging affiliates is crucial. This presentation will outline how to spot all types of emerging trends, put plans in place for leveraging them, communicate your vision to the right affiliates and measure for ROI.

Speaker: Lisa Picarille, Content Director, Performance Marketing Association


 4:15-5:00pm • Track 2 • Room: Foothill F

Multi-Channel Attribution Strategy and Considerations

Today, there is more pressure on affiliate managers to deal with cross channel attribution, multiple touch-points, Return on Ad Spend, new versus returning customers and tag management. This session will explore the questions affiliate managers face with these issues.

Speaker: Greg Shepard, CEO, AffiliateTraction

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5:10-5:55pm • Room: Club

KEYNOTE
Brainy Ways to Boost Conversion and Affiliate Loyalty

What’s the last frontier for marketers? Appealing directly to the customer’s brain. Roger Dooley, author of Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing, will illustrate multiple practical ways to boost conversion using our knowledge of how our brains are wired. In addition, he’ll show how to maximize affiliate loyalty in a competitive market.

Speaker: Roger Dooley, Author, “Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade & Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing”

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5:55-6:00pm • Room: Club

Conference Chair Closing Remarks

Speaker: Geno Prussakov, Chair, Affiliate Management Days

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