Thursday 07th May 2009 • Posted Under Events, Industry Discussion
The first international A4U expo took place last week in the RAI center, Amsterdam and the Optimus Performance Marketing team decided to head over and see how the Europeans do it. So at 4am on the Monday morning our long journey began. Mark, Lorraine (Mark’s wife) and myself headed to Dover to pick up Bruce and catch the ferry over to Dunquerke. After a long drive, the ferry journey consisted of a lot of coffee, some food, work and a last minute run through of presentations.
We finally arrived at the Novotel just over 12 hours later after a great drive through France, Belgium and Holland (with a few stop offs for more sweets and petrol). We headed straight over to the RAI center to set up our stand – see below;
The first night was a casual party where you could register and pick up your wrist band, lanyard and expo brochure whilst saying hi to a few old faces and a few new faces. The venue was great and provided the ideal opportunity to relax into the beginning of the event and begin the week of serious networking!
We were all up bright and early the next morning to finish off the stand and catch the opening speech. Mark gave yet another well received presentation ‘Affiliate Managers Toolkit‘ then headed back to the stand to relieve me (Hannah) to go and give my presentation on effective content writing. The rest of the day was spent chatting to various industry people and getting a real insight into the various European markets.
That night provided yet another chance to network with another party! After the football we all headed over to the venue ‘Escape’ and partied the night away!
Day 2 of expo saw a few hung-over faces appearing and lots of coffee being drunk. There was another great day of presentations to attend and we managed some meetings with various merchants, affiliates and leading UK networks. Yet another networking party to round off the expo that evening and a few well deserved drinks later and it was all over! Although we did manage to catch the beginnings of the Queens Day celebrations!
Overall it was a resounding success so a massive thanks to Matt, Claire, Ingrid, Julie, Chris, Pete, Darian, and Nick who all worked so hard to ensure the smooth running of the event. A4U expo Europe was not just a chance to go abroad and see old friends, but it was a great chance to meet key affiliates, merchants and networks from the UK and Europe, helping to get a better understanding of who they are, how they work and the different markets and needs. It was a jam packed few days with lots of hard work, lots of laughs and lots of new friends and contacts. Here is to the next one!
Wednesday 06th May 2009 • Posted Under Events, Industry Discussion
Thanks to all that have entered the competition to win tickets with Optimus Performance Marketing to join us at the a4uawards on June 2nd.
The lucky winners are as follows, we managed to free up another ticket so we have 3 winners:-
Julie Hegarty
Helen Hackwell
Lee McCoy
If the winners can drop me an email I will let you know more details.
You will be joining these people:-
Mark Russell (Managing Director Optimus Performance Marketing)
Lorraine Russell (Mark’s Wife)
Bruce Clayton (Operations Manager Optimus Performance Marketing)
Claire Clayton (Bruce’s Wife)
Hannah Swift (Senior Account Manager Optimus Performance Marketing)
Dan Barker (E-Commerce Manager Baker Ross)
One more Tba
Thanks again for entering.
Cheers
Mark
Friday 30th January 2009 • Posted Under Industry Discussion
One of the most common questions that we are asked is “Why do I need an affiliate network? Can’t we do this ourselves”, which is a fair question and almost always receives the same answer.
In a word “Yes” – Affiliate Networks answer the most fundamental requirements to a successful campaign – an infrastructure that cost-effectively allows a merchant to have multiple relationships with a simple single point of contact for technical, financial and communication. For the vast majority of merchants providing this in-house would be virtually impossible. There are also a few less tangible factors that Networks provide that are crucial to the success of affiliate programmes.
First and foremost , networks are trusted by affiliates. Affiliates become familiar with a networks reporting and infrastructure, and in the same way as a merchant is seeking the most expedient way of dealing with multiple partnerships via the least number of contact points, the affiliate sees the value of having many of their merchant relationships via networks as this minimises their administrative burdens. Commercial considerations aside, affiliates are far more likely to join and promote programmes that are hosted by a major network.
While it is not in the scope of this article to discuss the level of fixed and variable charges some level of charging is justified for the credibility as well as the infrastructural benefits outlined below.
Tracking – The network provide the means of recording sales that take place via affiliates. They provide the required code and guidance as well as testing prior to launch.
Hosting / Creative – The network will host all the required information, creative, CSV or XML feeds as well as providing tools for affiliates to make use of them.
Reporting – The network will provide summary and detailed reports for both merchant and affiliates against defined parameters that enable detailed analysis of results and data.
Payments – The network will summarise all affiliate payments and charges into one invoice, enabling easy accounting for affiliate sales.
Communication – The network will communicate with affiliates about new programmes and initiatives as well as providing the means for merchants to communicate with affiliates via various tools including email.
Account Management – The network will provide a level of support (which varies in accordance with fees or the service level of the network) which at a minimum will help with technical issues and approval of communication and campaign changes.
Training – Some networks will organise merchant training, whereby new merchants will be given an overview in technical and practical aspects of affiliate marketing as well as having the opportunity to meet other merchants and network staff.
In summary, we regard the affiliate network as central to the mainstream of affiliate marketing. We urge our clients to carefully consider the costs of affiliate marketing in the context of their own business. However, we would urge anyone considering an affiliate programme to use a network in preference.
Friday 23rd January 2009 • Posted Under Industry Discussion
Hi
We have just been updating the Voucher Code CSV, I have updated on the old URL, but I have also changed the URL of the feed for future to:-
CSV Voucher Code Feed
Please make sure you bookmark this as the new location of the feed, you will also find at the top the last update date, so you can make sure you always have the latest information.
The CSV will be updated when new codes go live and old codes will be removed when they expire.
Please feel free to send any comments about this to [email protected]
If you see anything that you would like added please let me know and I will endeavor to make the changes.
Cheers
Mark Russell
Managing Director
www.optimus-pm.com
Wednesday 07th January 2009 • Posted Under Industry Discussion
Optimus Performance Marketing are pleased to announce the winners of the prizes for the Optimus Performance Marketing Xmas incentive draw.
Please find below if you have won:-
£50 voucher for Chocolate Trading Company
Mogga
Revo Blik DAB alarm clock
Ipoints
If your name is here please email me [email protected] and we will organise delivery.
We would also like to congratulate over 20 affiliates that have delivered in excess of £15,000 worth of sales for our clients during December.
We will be contacting these affiliates for their payment details
We would like to thank all affiliates that have supported us during 2008 and look forward to working with you in 2009.
If you have any questions or want any more information please let me know.
Thanks for your support
Mark Russell
Managing Director
[email protected]
Optimus Performance Marketing