Bryant Garvin, a 20-year veteran of the digital marketing world, announced his new position as Operator in Residence at Triple Whale. This role leverages Triple Whale's massive data set (35,000+ stores, $55B+ GMP annually) to build better products for marketers and e-commerce operators. Garvin discussed his evolved perspective on attribution, emphasizing Triple Whale's holistic approach using AI and data integration beyond simple dashboards. He highlighted the power of MOBI, Triple Whale's platform, in providing data-driven insights for strategic planning, such as Prime Day optimization. The conversation also touched upon the importance of humanizing data, considering the broader context of marketing beyond immediate clicks, and the crucial role of product quality in marketing success. Garvin shared successful marketing strategies from his past, including adding value instead of discounting and leveraging Kickstarter for product launches. He championed YouTube as an underutilized e-commerce channel and cautioned against relying solely on quick wins, advocating for long-term brand building. Finally, he emphasized the importance of authenticity and human connection in marketing, even in the age of AI, and shared a personal anecdote about his childhood dream of becoming a paleontologist.
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#92 Scaling Sales the Smart Way with Sam McKenna | Founder of SamSales
Sales expert Sam McKenna, Founder of Sam Sales, shares her journey from solo consultant to a thriving 20-person team with 250+ clients. The podcast discusses her unique sales strategies, including the "Expand the Sandbox" method for LinkedIn prospecting, which landed her a deal with Equifax. Key takeaways include the importance of building genuine rapport with clients (even discussing breakfast!), prioritizing consistent outreach, and investing in employee growth. McKenna emphasizes the critical need for sales leadership training and highlights the detrimental effects of slow responses in communication, advocating for a "give a shit" (GAS) approach that prioritizes human connection over automation. She also shares a surprising personal anecdote about her father's grave and recommends the book "Unreasonable Hospitality." The conversation underscores the transferable nature of sales skills across various business functions and the power of human interaction in building lasting relationships.
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#91 From Startup Servers to Global Scale: The Top CashBack Story with James Little | Group Commercial Director
This Always Be Testing podcast features James Little, a UK affiliate marketing legend and key figure at TopCashback. The episode covers TopCashback's 20-year history, its unique 100% cashback model, and its global success without venture capital. Little discusses the challenges and rewards of operating in various markets, the importance of clear customer education around cashback, and the evolving relationship between cashback sites and brands. He highlights the crucial role of accurate tracking and the positive impact of AWIN's move towards server-to-server tracking. The conversation also touches upon the impact of AI on affiliate marketing, the importance of mental health awareness, and Little's personal experiences.
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#90 Affiliate Marketing: New Technologies & Shifting Trends | Tricia Meyer - Executive Director, Performance Marketing Association
The Performance Marketing Association (PMA) released its third triennial affiliate marketing survey, revealing a booming industry. Data from eight networks, 53 publishers, and over 20,000 brands showed ad spend skyrocketing from $6 billion to $13.63 billion (a 14.42% CAGR), exceeding e-commerce growth and contributing 10% to overall US e-commerce revenue. While cashback and coupon sites remain significant, their market share decreased, likely due to the rise of card-linked offers and buy now, pay later options. These, along with influencer marketing, fueled growth, though the overall increase in market size means some sectors saw proportional decreases in share. The survey also highlighted growth in less directly correlated sectors like finance and telecom, and a slight decrease in ROAS (from 12:1 to 11:1), potentially due to a shift towards top-of-funnel traffic. Publisher sentiment shows concern about Google changes but optimism for the future.
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#89 Beyond Coupon Sites: Diversifying Your Affiliate Marketing Strategy | Ryan Fitzgerald - Head of SME Sales, Awin Global
This podcast features Ryan Fitzgerald, an affiliate industry expert at AWIN, discussing various aspects of affiliate marketing. Key takeaways include the importance of initially working with all publisher types to build brand equity, AWIN's global reach and commitment to a publisher-centric approach, and Fitzgerald's sales leadership focusing on educating and mentoring SMBs. He emphasizes the need for transparency and data-driven decision-making in affiliate marketing, particularly for convincing C-suite executives of its value. Fitzgerald also shares insights into his team's success strategy, focusing on deal closure, self-education, and organization, and offers advice for brands on time commitment and agency utilization. The conversation touches upon AWIN's ShareASale integration, bringing modernized technology to a large existing client base. Finally, Fitzgerald shares personal insights, including book and movie recommendations, and advice for fathers.
Your guided tour of the world of growth, performance marketing, customer acquisition, paid media, and affiliate marketing.
We talk with industry experts and discuss experiments and their learnings in growth, marketing, and life.
Time to nerd out, check your biases at the door, and have some fun talking about data-driven growth and lessons learned!
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