1. Performance Marketing. At my old agency, we had a mantra of “Keep the best, discard the rest.” Problem was, we couldn’t always tell what was actually working and what wasn’t, and the client ended up loosing quite a bit of money trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Not to mention, the client essentially had to pay to play regardless of whether or not the campaign actually worked. That may have flied last year, but in today’s tight economy, advertisers need to show results to prove they are spending marketing budget wisely. Hence today’s ad agency layoff frenzy. What a fabulous time to be in the CPA world, i.e. one in which clients to only pay for new sales or leads generated. Don’t get me wrong, I heart branding and creativity and advertising award shows along with the best of them, but Cost-per-action is money better spent, pure and simple.

2. Time is money. In my previous life working on direct mail and radio and TV, analyzing results took months post facto. With campaigns always over budget and projections always overly optimistic, we rarely had the resources to implement our learnings! It was a tragic, yet common story. The beauty of affiliate marketing and online media is  real time tracking. You can make tweaks and instantaneously see improvements - for minimal costs! Moreover, we don’t have to wonder if it was the testing we did in the TV campaign or different efforts of the client’s thousand other agencies effecting our campaigns. My clients’ return-on-investment is as clear as day.

3. Put in more effort than your competitors and you will be handsomely rewarded. You want to go the extra mile researching your competition? You want to spend more time split testing and carefully gauging results to optimize your page? You will be smiled upon by the revenue gods. In the agency world, you have to pay your dues to get ahead. At networks you earn your keep and get rewarded accordingly. So while my offline peers are waiting for their annual review to get a pat on the back for the work they did months ago, I’ll raise a glass and toast to getting out what you put in…

4. Politics. I <3 Obama (and as a Chitown Chica, I voted for him to be Senator before I voted for him to be President!). I love debating current events over wine and laughing at the Daily Show. But I don’t love office politics. And in the rapid-fire pace of the affiliate marketing world, there simply is no time and no need for office formalities. I take pride in the fact that I work for such a forward-thinking company with a genuine open-door policy. I don’t have to submit a proposal, pitch it to my boss to pitch to her boss without telling so-and-so to avoid hurt feelings and hope I get a meeting by next quarter. I can simply send an email, or dare I say it, walk into the President or CEOs office and state my case. Done and done.

5. The fountain of youth. We work in a young, hip industry. Age ain’t nothing but a number, but ambition is timeless. We work hard and play hard. And you gotta love the dress code. The last day I wore a collared button up to work was…my interview?

Comments? Fan mail? Death threats? Send em my way! eleah@akmg.com

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This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Eleah's Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.