Emily Fisher

I started out of college, I was working for a newspaper selling ad spaces. I always had some sort of spark in marketing, where we are interacting with potential customers, and trying to sell them either marketing space or some sort of solution. So that kind of evolved to work for a couple of different businesses, a top marketing class, and that transitioned to foreign education software, and a lot more. From there, I heard about affiliate marketing. I wasn't familiar with this kind of marketing, but once I saw how partnerships and communications might have the potential in the future, I continued to work on that and have been there ever since. Transitioning from mainstream marketing into more partnerships marketing has been kind of my overall story.

When I was starting off in affiliate marketing, it was more focused on leveraging networks to get new partnerships. And for the last couple of years, it's now more of having conversations of what success means to them as a partner, and what success means to you as a marketer. What is the benefit for both, is that it is less likely for partners to grab every single campaign they can get, but more focused on genuine partnership.

I worked for a lot of different brands, from B2B to B2C. It really depends where you think about the success from the client's standpoint. Right now I'm working for a B2B firm where we focus on partnership that is meaningful and continues to drive revenues. When I think about B2C relationships and successful campaigns, I can dial it back to a puzzle houseware company I've worked with. As we were thinking about a campaign that we could run, we had to focus on how a product would fit into a partner's voice. We didn't have much budget, and we were thinking of a way where this product will be delivered to the hands of people who are really enjoying it. We were using exclusive codes, and other additional offers to release an incredible boost. Again, even when we didn't really have the budget, we saw a two-times lift in terms of revenue that we are able to generate in the same period, compared to last year by placing the products in the hands of the correct people.

I think it obviously depends on what goals the companies have. For B2C, if the clients are focusing on returning ads spend, how the conversion rate looks like, how many percent are your affiliates going to be involved. For B2B, it's a little bit different. Although conversion rate is still important, but I think it will be based on Return on Investment. Getting the biggest bank for your book, and it might just be from your top performing affiliates who know the space best. It really differs when we're talking about consumer and business products.

Networks have been extremely helpful in tracking. ShareASale is a top of mind network that does a lot of great tracking and makes the most sense if your business is starting off with not a lot of time and money to invest. Generally, tracking inside of the network but also having internal records that you can update and keep track of– sheets that have contact information and recruitment expectations. Tracking those, organizing everything, and having them communicated with the partner works the best.

There's a new era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and User Voices. One pain point is definitely going to be the sound of voice that doesn't sound genuine and sounds like another ads. People are going to consider. They don't want something like it's obviously created by a robot. Genuine voice is needed to support campaigns , you just need to sound like yourself. Second one, not understanding the typical FTC rules and regulations. You need a certain amount of hashtags, you need to make a campaign abundantly clear. Lastly, having an ease at which a potential purchaser is going to flow from wherever you are posting this ad to the consumer's side and being attached to what products you are promoting.

I really think it's going to take more of a covergirl approach. It's where you see one singular influencer really promoting and aligning what the brand goals are. As we're entering this new territory of AI voices and AI tools, I think people are going to really stop looking at ads that feel ingenuine and start gravitating more towards singular campaigns that are really strong in their messages and approaches. Both the influencers and brands are going to be more selective on what approach they're going to do with their campaigns. They're going to have to be more unique and less generic in terms of conveying the messages.