That’s one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed following Everflow’s work. What started as a solution to frustrations with legacy tracking platforms has grown into a broader vision for partnership intelligence: understanding not just who drove a conversion, but what happens afterward, which placements create long-term value, and how teams can turn that information into action.

I recently did a deep dive with Michael Cole from Everflow about the evolution of partnership technology, the role of education through the Resource Hub, and what comes next as AI becomes increasingly embedded in the way partnership teams work.

Here’s what they had to say.

Solving a Problem the Industry Wasn’t Solving

Everflow entered a crowded partnership technology landscape. What was the problem you believed the industry hadn’t solved yet, and how has that mission evolved?

Looking back, the space actually wasn’t as crowded as traditional MarTech, it just felt like it because the available tools weren’t serving people well. Having used some of those legacy solutions ourselves, we knew nobody was totally happy with them. When our founders realized no commercial platform matched the tracking tech they’d built internally for their own network, it was an obvious calling.

“If people are frustrated, you don’t need a fancy trick, you just listen to their pain and build software that genuinely solves it.”

The term “partnerships” means something different to almost everyone today: affiliate, influencer, B2B referrals, media buying, creator commerce, and more. How does Everflow think about the future of partnerships, and how has that influenced the platform you’ve built?

We’ve always viewed partnerships as the broad umbrella housing traditional affiliates, creators, media buyers, strategic tech partners, and referral networks. Looking ahead, AI agents are simply another evolution of performance partners, like third-party entities acting on behalf of a brand.

“Whether managing a super-affiliate or an automated AI agent, the foundational needs of an affiliate manager remain identical: seamless tracking, clear attribution, and granular visibility into true value drivers.”

The Click Isn’t the Whole Story

What are the biggest challenges you’re hearing from brands and publishers today, and where do you think technology can make the greatest impact?

The era of easy paid ad arbitrage, like putting $1 into social ads and automatically getting $1.25 back, is over. Brands can no longer rely on pure paid ad setups as a single growth engine. Instead, growth requires a relentless focus on customer retention, lifetime value, and authentic community. Technology makes the greatest impact by replacing brittle ad setups with deep lifecycle event tracking and placement-level performance data, empowering affiliate managers to recruit and equip specialized partners to drive sustainable, long-term growth.

If someone has only experienced legacy affiliate platforms, what would surprise them most about Everflow?

The biggest shift is looking beyond the initial click or conversion. Legacy platforms stop tracking the moment a primary lead or purchase occurs, missing the vast majority of the story. Everflow tracks the entire downstream journey.

In telehealth, for example, a basic platform stops at the lead, but Everflow reveals whether that lead consulted a doctor, was approved, purchased a subscription, and remained a customer 12 months later.

“When an affiliate manager proves a partner brings in $3,000 in true lifetime value rather than a $200 initial lead, they gain the leverage to offer higher payouts and win top-tier promotional focus.”

My takeaway: This is one of the biggest shifts happening in affiliate marketing: moving the conversation from what did this partner convert? to what is this partner actually worth?

Partnerships have become increasingly data-driven. How are you helping customers move beyond basic tracking to make smarter optimization and growth decisions?

It comes down to uncovering lifetime value at the individual placement level. When affiliate managers know precisely which specific traffic placements generate long-term revenue and which ones fall flat, they gain real operational leverage. They can confidently approach partners to scale high-LTV placements while turning off underperforming traffic, turning static reporting into immediate growth action.

Education as Part of the Ecosystem

One initiative I’ve personally enjoyed is the Everflow Resource Hub. Rather than simply documenting your product, you’ve invested in broader education for the industry. What inspired Everflow to take that approach?

The Resource Hub originated as an internal enablement tool for our sales and customer success teams to share case studies, masterclasses, and other educational materials. We realized we could apply our own performance tracking and attribution principles directly to our content engagement. By measuring which resources help clients and prospects learn and succeed, we can cut out sales fluff and focus purely on producing practical content that serves the industry as a whole.

The Resource Hub features perspectives from personas across the ecosystem including agencies, publishers, creators, and technology partners. Why was it important for Everflow to elevate voices beyond your own team?

Our industry holds two decades of deep, practical wisdom stored in people’s heads, and we wanted a way to tap into and share that knowledge directly with the broader community. We streamlined the process into brief 30-minute chats where we transform raw experiences and expertise into polished, high-impact content.

This gives our partners turnkey thought leadership, boosts their industry visibility, and sparks genuine engagement. Capturing these real-world insights also positions our partners as definitive expert sources cited across AI discovery engines like ChatGPT and Gemini, keeping their knowledge at the center of trending industry conversations.

As someone who contributed a Masterclass, I saw firsthand the emphasis on practical education over sales messaging. How do you measure the success of the Resource Hub, and where do you hope to take it next?

If we try to judge educational content through a strict performance lens, we miss the point entirely. Nobody finishes an expert masterclass and immediately signs a software contract, that’s just not how people learn or build trust.

“For us, success means creating content that actually helps people do their jobs better, elevates the industry as a whole, and connects us with the people doing the work every day.”

Moving forward, we want to double down on that foundation. We’re working to bring in even more front-line perspectives, build out step-by-step tactical playbooks alongside top brands and agencies, and give affiliate managers practical tools they can use to navigate shifts like AI without feeling overwhelmed.

What’s Next for Partnership Technology?

Looking ahead, what trends do you think will define the next few years of partnership marketing, and how is Everflow preparing customers for what’s coming?

The future belongs to teams that can convert complex performance data into immediate action without getting bogged down in busywork. Partnership teams are historically under-resourced, often managing massive channels with minimal headcount.

To solve this, we’re bridging AI and partner data directly into daily workflows, both natively through Ask Everflow AI (our in-platform conversational chat assistant) and through our open MCP Server for teams bringing their own AI tools like Claude.

Instead of spending hours exporting CSVs or navigating deep dashboards, managers can simply ask plain-language questions to check placement trends, spot traffic anomalies, or run instant fraud audits. Offloading that heavy data mechanics frees teams up to focus on what actually moves the needle: building real partner relationships, recruiting creators, and driving strategic growth.

Is there a customer story or use case that perfectly captures what Everflow was built to do?

The story of Unlock and their agency, Vibrant Performance, captures it perfectly.

Unlock is a pioneer in Home Equity Agreements (HEAs), but because HEAs are a novel financial solution with long sales cycles, major financial publishers were miscategorizing them as standard debt-based home loans.

To fix this, Vibrant migrated Unlock’s program to Everflow to unlock full visibility across the entire multi-step lead journey, from initial account creation and application through underwriting. With deep event-level tracking, they provided publishers with complete transparency into traffic quality, aligned payouts to real financing milestones, and activated built-in anti-fraud integrations like Anura to weed out bad placements.

This data-driven clarity allowed publishers to refine their messaging and optimize toward high-converting content, driving a staggering 740% year-over-year increase in qualified leads.

My takeaway: This is where the technology conversation becomes tangible. Better tracking isn’t valuable simply because it produces better reporting. It’s valuable when the data changes how partners are paid, how publishers optimize their content, and ultimately how much qualified business the program generates.

Finally, if you could dispel one misconception people still have about partnership technology, what would it be?

The biggest misconception is viewing partnership technology as just a passive digital ledger that pays out basic commissions. People often fail to realize how advanced partnership platforms actually are, and how significant the delta is between executive perception and what advanced technology can actually accomplish.

“Modern partnership tech isn’t just about recording clicks, it can serve as a central intelligence hub.”

By connecting multi-event lifecycle tracking, deep placement-level analytics, and AI integrations like MCP, the technology automates heavy-lifting tasks like fraud detection and reporting.

Ultimately, it turns a channel that drives tens of billions of dollars into an active growth engine, giving teams the data visibility needed to shape brand messaging, optimize placements, and expand their organic presence.

My final thoughts…

What stood out to me most from this conversation is that the evolution of partnership technology isn’t really about tracking more data. It’s about making that data useful.

For years, affiliate managers have had to piece together the story of a partner’s performance from clicks, conversions, commissions, reports, spreadsheets, and conversations with publishers. The opportunity now is to connect those pieces: to understand what happens after the click, identify which placements actually create value, and turn that information into decisions.

And more importantly, the technology should give partnership teams something they desperately need - more time to actually manage partnerships.

AI may change how we work with data, and partnership technology may change how we measure value, but the fundamentals haven’t changed.

The best partnerships are still built by people.

For more information about Everflow, please contact Michael Cole, CMO: michael@everflow.io

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

What started as another well-funded shopping extension quickly became one of the biggest conversations affiliate marketing has had after investigations alleged that the extension was attributing commissions to itself on purchases it didn’t actually influence. According to reporting and subsequent industry coverage, the extension allegedly inserted affiliate tracking in the background, allowing it to receive commission even when shoppers never intentionally interacted with Phia. Phia has said the behavior stemmed from a code update, that it has since fixed the issue, and that it complies with affiliate network standards.

Whether this ultimately proves to be a bug, negligence, or something more intentional it isn’t for me to decide.

What interests me far more is what this says about our industry.

I’ve spent more than 15 years in affiliate marketing. I’ve worked alongside advertisers, publishers, agencies, and technology partners. I’ve dedicated a significant part of my career to educating people on how this channel works because I genuinely believe affiliate marketing is one of the most measurable, accountable, and relationship-driven marketing channels available.

That’s exactly why stories like this matter.

Before I share my own thoughts, I want to acknowledge the reporting that sparked this article. Mike McNerney’s coverage in Adweek went beyond the headlines, explaining not just what allegedly happened, but why it matters to advertisers, publishers, and the affiliate ecosystem. It’s well worth the read if you’re looking for the investigative details.

My goal here isn’t to re-report his work. It’s to talk about what it means for those of us who work in this industry every day.

This isn’t just a Phia story. It’s an affiliate marketing story.

The headlines focus on Bill Gates’ daughter because that’s what attracts clicks.

The real story is that millions of dollars in advertiser spend depend on one fundamental assumption:

The publisher that gets paid actually influenced the sale.

That’s the social contract our industry has operated under for decades.

Break that trust, and the entire ecosystem feels it.

We have attribution models, reporting, compliance teams, incrementality testing, and measurable ROI. Stories like this risk reducing years of industry progress to another headline about affiliate fraud, and that’s frustrating for those of us who’ve worked hard to elevate the industry’s reputation.

Cookie stuffing isn’t new. If you've worked in affiliate marketing long enough, you've probably heard the term before.

For everyone else, here’s the simplest explanation: Cookie stuffing occurs when affiliate tracking is placed without a genuine consumer action that should have earned attribution.

Instead of a shopper intentionally clicking an affiliate link, software quietly inserts tracking behind the scenes.

No click and no referral, yet somehow a commission appears. And that is not what affiliate marketing was designed to reward.

I also think we need to be honest…

This is where I think our industry needs to look in the mirror.

“Ask for forgiveness later.”

It’s not something many publishers will say out loud, but if you’ve been in this industry long enough, you’ve probably seen versions of that mentality.

Most publishers operate ethically.

Many work incredibly hard to build audiences and earn every commission they generate.

But there have always been players willing to push the limits first and worry about the consequences later. That’s exactly why compliance teams, network policies, and advertiser governance exist. Innovation should challenge what’s possible. It shouldn’t challenge what’s permissible.

But also, we’ve been here before…

And that Phia isn’t the first shopping tool to spark questions about attribution.

Over the years, we’ve seen scrutiny around browser extensions and shopping tools that allegedly employed aggressive commission-claiming tactics. (Anyone remember the great toolbar-gate of 2011?)

Different companies.

Different technologies.

Different circumstances.

The same fundamental question: Who actually influenced the purchase?

The technology evolves but the ethical question doesn’t.

As our industry leans harder into AI agents, autonomous shopping, and browser assistants, compliance can’t become an afterthought. If anything, we should be talking about governance just as much as innovation.

This is a conversation we can’t keep shuffling to the side.

Despite the controversy, I actually think something positive could come from this.

Our industry has matured tremendously over the past decade and maybe this becomes another catalyst that brings:

• Better auditing.

• Greater transparency.

• Clearer browser extension standards.

• More conversations around AI governance.

• More education around ethical attribution.

Because affiliate marketing deserves to be known for the value it creates. Not the shortcuts a handful of companies may choose to take. And that’s a hill I will die on.

My final thoughts…

Whether Phia ultimately becomes a cautionary tale or simply a company that corrected a costly mistake, the conversation it sparked is one our industry needed.

Innovation is exciting. AI is exciting. Shopping assistants are exciting.

But none of those should come at the expense of trust, because trust isn’t just another KPI in affiliate marketing.

It’s the entire business model.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

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New customer acquisition.

As someone new to the field and seeing everything with (literal) green eyes, I couldn’t help but ask why new customers got the flashy offer, while existing customers were… just there?

But with time, I understood the reasoning. New customers accelerated growth, pipeline, and momentum. The fuel to keep brands moving forward.

However, just because I understood the need for new customers, didn’t mean I forgot about existing (or repeat) customers. That may have been the very catalyst why I moved to the publisher side and have spent a majority of my career advocating for this side of the business. Publishers understand their customer base and know how to keep them connected to brands so they continue to come back time and time again.

What I’ve come to appreciate over the years is that acquisition and retention aren’t competing priorities in affiliate marketing. In fact, the best programs build strategies that support both.

Affiliate has historically been viewed as a lower-funnel acquisition channel. A place to find net new customers and hit growth targets efficiently.

But that perspective misses one of the channel’s greatest strengths:

Relationships.

Loyalty, cashback, rewards, card-linked offers, browser extensions, creator communities, and content publishers don’t simply influence a customer’s first purchase. They create reasons for customers to continue engaging with a brand long after checkout.

For consumers, the behavior is natural.

• If I earned cashback on my first purchase, why wouldn’t I return through that same experience the next time I shop?

• If a creator consistently introduces me to products that fit my lifestyle, why wouldn’t I trust their recommendation again?

• If a rewards platform helps me stretch my budget a little further, why wouldn’t that become part of my purchasing habit?

These publishers become part of the customer’s shopping journey, not just the transaction.

And that’s where retention quietly begins to transform into referral marketing.

Because repeat customers don’t keep great experiences to themselves.

The customer who repeatedly earns rewards from their favorite retailer tells a friend about the cashback opportunity.

The shopper who discovered a brand through a trusted creator shares that recommendation with family.

The loyalty member who feels valued by a brand becomes an advocate for both the brand and the partner that introduced them.

Referral marketing isn’t a separate strategy operating in isolation.

It’s often the result of a retention strategy working exactly as intended.

The affiliate channel has always excelled at building these ecosystems of trust, value, and discovery. The challenge for brands is recognizing that not every publisher relationship should be measured exclusively on first-time customer acquisition.

Sometimes the greatest lifetime value comes from the partner that keeps customers coming back.

Because in a world where acquisition costs continue to rise, the brands that win won’t simply be the ones that acquire customers the fastest.

They'll be the ones that give customers a reason to return and eventually, a reason to bring someone else with them.

Perhaps it's time we stop asking whether affiliate drives acquisition or retention, and start recognizing that the best partnerships have always done both.

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So every time influencer marketing gets positioned as a “top of funnel” play, I find myself asking the same question:

Is it actually incapable of driving performance… or have we just accepted a broken model?

After my conversation with Kelly Hagen, a fellow industry veteran and founder of EchoTribe, I’m more convinced it’s the latter.

Because the version of influencer marketing that does drive revenue?

It already exists.

It’s just not how most brands are operating.

First, Some Context Most People Don’t Know

Kelly isn’t new to this. Thirteen years in affiliate and performance marketing — Ebates, Wirecutter, MediaRails, Impact, Dealmoon. (We overlapped and worked together twice! First at CJ and then briefly at Dealmoon!) She’s built partner programs, lifecycle systems, and recruitment workflows long before AI made any of it faster.

So when she talks about the creator economy’s operational gap, she’s not theorizing. She’s pattern-matching against a decade of watching the same problem show up in different clothes.

Before AI, There Was Friction (And We All Felt It)

Kelly’s first attempt at solving this started with her agency, 25th Hour—working directly with creators at a time when affiliate marketing was exploding and everyone was scrambling to figure out what the model should look like.

And on the surface, it looked like it was working.

Creators signed up immediately, even paying a monthly fee. The opportunity felt obvious.

But if you’ve ever actually run these programs at the operational level, you know what comes next.

“Every win was manual — content sourcing, performance tracking, link building, all of it.”

I’ve lived that version too.

The spreadsheets, screenshots, “we think this worked” reporting.

It’s not that the channel doesn’t perform—it’s that it’s painfully inefficient to prove and scale when it does.

The Industry Keeps Solving the Wrong Problem

If you look at where most platforms have invested, it’s obvious what the industry thinks the problem is:

• better creator discovery

• better matching

• better dashboards

But that’s not where things break.

“The gap wasn't just discovery or even measurement—it was operational. Creators are juggling five platforms that don't talk to each other. There's no single system connecting what to promote, where to route the click, and whether to amplify it.”

That’s the part that doesn’t get talked about enough.

Because operational gaps aren’t flashy.

They don’t demo well.

But they’re exactly where performance falls apart.

You can find the right creator.
You can even track a conversion.

But can you:

• act on what’s working in real time?

• scale it without adding headcount?

• turn one win into a repeatable system?

That’s where most programs stall.

And it’s also where affiliate has historically had the edge.

When It Does Work, It Works Really Well

Kelly got a front-row seat to this while at Markable, watching top Amazon creators during Q4.

And if you’ve ever worked adjacent to high-performing affiliates, this will sound familiar.

“They weren’t just creating content—they were driving real, measurable revenue at scale.”

No fluff. No ambiguity.

Just output → optimization → revenue.

What stood out wasn’t just the results—it was how they got there.

“Performance wasn’t coming from the platform itself, but from how creators were leveraging distribution and timing.”

That’s such an important distinction.

Because it shifts the focus away from:
“Which platform should we use?”

To:
“What system are we building behind it?”

The Case Study That Proves the Point

This really came to life in Kelly’s work with Stephanie (Mommy and Me Collective).

Stephanie wasn’t the obvious bet. She wasn’t a polished influencer. But Kelly looked at the data instead of the aesthetic — and the data told a completely different story:

• $1.75M in Walmart GMV — from just $37K of Meta ads.

• ~$170K+ in earned commissions from boosting content

• A system built to work together: organic signal monitoring, ad creation, performance optimization.

But the real takeaway isn’t the revenue.

It’s the repeatability.

“It wasn’t one viral moment—it was consistent.”

That’s the difference between influencer marketing as a campaign…

…and influencer marketing as a channel.

Most brands are still operating in the former.

The Part No One Wants to Admit

Here’s where I think this gets uncomfortable for a lot of teams.

Kelly was able to drive those results because she was the system.

Stephanie didn’t have to be involved. She didn’t pull the data. She didn’t touch the campaigns. The system did.

“I wasn’t managing a creator. I was running a performance marketing operation with a creator as the distribution layer.”

She was: identifying what to promote, creating the content, managing the ads, optimizing in real time.

And if you’ve ever tried to scale something like this, you already know what comes next. Burnout. Bottlenecks. Diminishing returns.

This is the dirty secret of influencer marketing:

The closer you get to performance, the more manual it becomes.

And most organizations aren’t structured to support that.

AI Isn’t the Headline—It’s the Unlock

What I appreciate about Kelly’s approach is that AI wasn’t the starting point.

It was the response.

“How do I make this faster—and less dependent on me?”

That’s the right question.

Because too many companies are asking:
“Where can we plug in AI?”

Instead of:
“Where are we fundamentally inefficient?”

From there, she built. And kept building. Many, many prototypes later, what she created wasn’t just automation—it was infrastructure:

• pulling in real-time deals

• generating content in a creator’s voice

• tying performance directly to spend

• turning inputs into outputs without lag

“It became less about solving individual tasks and more about building a connected system.”

That’s the shift I think a lot of people are underestimating.

This Is Bigger Than Influencer Marketing

EchoTribe isn’t just an influencer tool.

It’s a system designed to do something we’ve been trying (and failing) to do for years:

Connect signals → decisions → execution → revenue

In real time.

“Right now, valuable signals are fragmented and underutilized.”

And that’s true across every performance channel.

Affiliate. Paid social. Influencer.

We’re all sitting on insights we can’t act on fast enough.

Why This Doesn’t Scale at the Creator Level

One of the more interesting shifts Kelly made was stepping away from working directly with individual creators.

Not because it doesn’t work.

But because it only works at a certain scale.

“Working one-on-one with creators is impactful, but it doesn’t scale the way the opportunity demands.”

This is where I think a lot of brands are still misaligned.

They’re trying to scale performance through more creators…

…instead of better systems.

And those are very different strategies.

Where This Gets Interesting (For All of Us)

Kelly is now at the point where a lot of founders either double down—or zoom out.

She’s choosing to zoom out.

Looking at how this technology and way of thinking can plug into a larger ecosystem:

• platforms

• publishers

• affiliate networks

Most creators don't fully understand what shifted yet. Kelly built her attribution model for exactly this scenario.

“The goal is to help shape how the creator economy evolves into a performance-driven ecosystem.”

And that’s the part I keep coming back to.

Because this isn’t just her next step.

It’s where the industry is headed.

My Take

If you work in affiliate, partnerships, or performance marketing, this shouldn’t feel like a new conversation.

It should feel like a familiar one—just applied to a different channel.

We’ve already seen what happens when:

• incentives align

• tracking improves

• systems scale

Influencer marketing is just… behind.

Not because it lacks potential.

But because it hasn’t had the infrastructure.

Until now.

Final Thought

For years, we’ve treated influencer marketing, affiliate, and paid media as separate strategies.

They’re not.

They’re converging into the same thing:

Performance, powered by systems—not people.

“The future isn’t more content—it’s better coordination.”

And if that’s true, then the real question isn’t:

“How do we do influencer marketing better?”

It’s:

“Are we ready to operate differently?”

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

To fully understand how affiliate partnerships contribute to growth, brands also need to understand incrementality.

These two concepts are related, but they measure very different things.

What Is Attribution?

Attribution is the process of assigning credit for a conversion or sale.

In affiliate marketing, attribution determines which partner receives credit (aka commission) when a customer completes a purchase or action.

The most common model is last-click attribution, meaning:

The final affiliate link clicked before a purchase receives 100% of the credit for the conversion.

Example

A customer journey might look like this:

1. A creator shares a product on social media

2. The customer researches the product later through a review site

3. Before purchasing, the customer searches for a promo code

4. They click a coupon partner and complete the purchase

Under a last-click attribution model, the coupon partner receives full credit for the sale because they were the final tracked click before conversion.

This model is simple and operationally efficient, which is one reason it became widely adopted across affiliate programs.

However, it does not account for every partner that influenced the customer journey.

Understanding the Affiliate Marketing Funnel

Affiliate partnerships exist across different stages of the customer journey.

Not all partners are designed to drive immediate conversions. Some create awareness, while others help consumers evaluate options or complete purchases.

Understanding where partners sit in the funnel helps explain why attribution alone does not always reflect true impact.

Top-of-Funnel Partners: Awareness and Discovery

These partners help introduce consumers to brands and products.

Examples

• Influencers and creators

• Editorial and commerce content publishers

• YouTubers

• Media partners

Their Role

• Generate awareness

• Educate audiences

• Build trust

• Introduce new products or brands

Top-of-funnel partners often influence purchasing decisions early in the journey. Because customers may not convert immediately, these partners do not always receive last-click attribution credit.

Mid-Funnel Partners: Research and Consideration

These partners help consumers evaluate products before purchasing.

Examples

• Review sites

• Comparison platforms

• Shopping tools

• Product recommendation content

Their Role

• Help consumers compare options

• Answer product questions

• Reduce uncertainty

• Strengthen purchase intent

These partners can play a significant role in moving customers closer to conversion.

Bottom-of-Funnel Partners: Conversion and Purchase

These partners typically engage consumers closest to the point of sale.

Examples

• Coupon and promo code sites

• Cashback partners

• Loyalty and rewards programs

• Retargeting affiliates

Their Role

• Increase conversion rates

• Reduce cart abandonment

• Encourage purchase completion

Because these partners interact with customers near checkout, they often receive the majority of attribution credit in last-click models.

What Is Incrementality?

Incrementality measures whether a partner generated value that would not have happened otherwise.

Instead of asking:

“Who received the last click?”

Incrementality asks:

“Did this partner create additional growth?”

This growth can include:

• New customer acquisition

• Increased conversion rates

• Higher average order value

• Expanded audience reach

• Faster purchasing decisions

• Incremental revenue

Incrementality focuses on the actual contribution a partner makes to business growth, rather than simply where they appeared in the conversion path.

Examples of Incrementality in Affiliate Marketing

Example 1: Creator-Driven Discovery

A creator shares a skincare brand with their audience.

A consumer becomes interested but does not purchase immediately. A week later, they visit the brand directly and complete a purchase.

The creator may not receive attribution credit under a last-click model.

However, without the creator:

• the customer may never have discovered the brand

This is an example of incremental value through awareness and demand creation.

Example 2: Coupon Partner Conversion Support

A shopper already intends to purchase and searches for a discount code before checkout.

A coupon site receives the final click and earns attribution credit.

In this case, the key question becomes:

Would the customer have purchased anyway?

If the answer is yes, the incremental impact may be smaller than the attribution credit suggests.

Example 3: Review Content Influencing Decision-Making

A customer compares multiple software platforms using a review publisher.

The review content helps the customer choose a solution and move forward with a purchase.

Even if another partner receives the final click, the review site may still have played a critical role in influencing the decision.

Why the Difference Matters

When brands rely only on last-click attribution, they often overvalue partners closest to conversion while undervaluing partners responsible for:

• awareness

• education

• consideration

• demand creation

This can lead to:

• underinvestment in creators and content partners

• overreliance on bottom-of-funnel tactics

• limited long-term program growth

A well-balanced affiliate strategy recognizes that different partners contribute value in different ways.

The Future of Affiliate Measurement

Many brands are now expanding beyond last-click attribution to better understand partner impact.

Additional measurement approaches may include:

• Multi-touch attribution

• Incrementality testing

• Assisted conversion reporting

• New customer analysis

• Lifetime value measurement

• Cohort analysis

Last-click attribution still serves an important operational purpose, especially for tracking and commission payouts.

But incrementality provides a broader view of how affiliate partnerships contribute to sustainable growth.

Understanding both concepts is becoming increasingly important as the industry continues to expand beyond traditional models into creator partnerships, commerce content, media, and technology ecosystems.

Final Thoughts…

If you run a program, take advantages of the reporting options your partnerships platform has to offer, so you can dig into the customer journey and all the touchpoints along the way. It will help you determine if a new strategy is in order, and better yet, optimize some partners that weren’t on your radar before!

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

Rakuten + impact.com responded with a strategic alliance to build a full-stack partnership ecosystem.

On the surface, these are product and partnership updates.

In reality, they reveal something much bigger:

The partnership economy is no longer evolving in one direction - it’s splitting into two.

Two Announcements, Two Signals

First, the ecosystem play: Rakuten + impact.com alliance

Rakuten and impact are collapsing what were once separate layers:

• Consumer data (Rakuten Rewards)

• Managed services (Rakuten Advertising)

• Technology infrastructure (impact.com)

The result is a unified system where discovery, measurement, and execution live together.

This signals a clear shift:

• The “network vs. platform” debate is ending

• Scale will come from connecting data + distribution + execution

• Partnerships are being repositioned as a primary growth channel

This is an offensive move built around expansion, ownership, and long-term upside.

Second, the infrastructure play: AWIN

AWIN’s announcement takes a different approach. One grounded in what’s breaking today.

It focuses on:

• Revenue leakage

• Misattribution

• The growing impact of AI and privacy changes on tracking

The message is simple:

Before you scale, make sure what you have actually works.

This signals a different kind of shift:

• Attribution is no longer stable - it’s a moving target

• AI-driven discovery is making performance harder to measure

• Trust and accuracy are becoming competitive advantages

This is a defensive move, but a necessary one. It’s about stabilizing a system under pressure.

The Real Shift: Growth vs. Protection

These aren’t just different strategies - they’re different beliefs about where value lives.

• Ecosystem players are optimizing for growth

• Infrastructure players are optimizing for accuracy and resilience

Both are right. But they solve different problems.

And increasingly, they will be bought for different reasons.

Pros, Cons, and Tradeoffs

The Ecosystem Model:

Pros

• Unlocks new growth channels and partner types

• Reduces fragmentation across tools and workflows

• Leverages first-party data for smarter optimization

Cons

• Introduces complexity across systems and ownership

• Requires more internal maturity to fully leverage

• Raises questions around control (data, relationships, strategy)

Infrastructure Model:

Pros

• Addresses immediate pain points in tracking and attribution

• Builds trust in performance outcomes

• Future-proofs against privacy and AI disruption

Cons

• Doesn’t inherently create new growth, only protects it

• Less compelling as a forward-looking narrative

• Risks being seen as reactive rather than expansive

The Winning Outcomes

impact.com
Moves from platform to ecosystem backbone - gaining scale, services, and differentiated data access.

Rakuten
Repositions from legacy network to modern, multi-layered player.

AWIN
Carves out a clear role as the “trust layer” in an increasingly unstable ecosystem.

The Quiet Question I Haven’t Heard Yet… Where Do Agencies Fit Now?

For years, agencies have operated in a very specific lane within the partnership ecosystem:

• Leveraging platforms like impact.com to manage programs at scale

• Acting as the strategy and execution layer on top of the technology

• Bridging the gap between brands, platforms, and partners

That model worked because the ecosystem was fragmented:

• Platforms handled infrastructure

• Networks provided access

• Agencies stitched everything together

What Changes With This Alliance?

The Rakuten + impact partnership starts to compress that model.

• Agencies have long relied on impact for technology and program management workflows

• Rakuten already offers managed services and strategic support

• Now, Rakuten’s clients are expected to migrate onto impact’s platform starting in June

Which raises a real question:

If the platform and the service layer are merging… where does that leave the agency?

The Risk: Disintermediation

At its most extreme, this model could:

• Reduce the need for agencies as intermediaries

• Shift more strategy and execution into platform-led or network-led services

• Position ecosystems as end-to-end solutions

In other words:

What agencies once coordinated, platforms may now natively provide.

That doesn’t eliminate agencies, but it does challenge their default value proposition.

The Reality: Agencies Aren’t Going Away, But They Do Need to Evolve

Because while platforms are getting smarter, they’re not:

• Channel-agnostic

• Business-strategy-first

• Or accountable across a brand’s entire marketing mix

That’s still where agencies win.

But the bar is moving.

What Agencies Need To Do Next

1) Move up the value chain
Strategy, integration, and cross-channel thinking.

2) Become ecosystem translators
Navigating and owning the complexity of ecosystem, infrastructure, and emerging models.

3) Stay platform-agnostic (and prove it)
If you’re too tightly tied to one platform, you risk becoming replaceable.

4) Prove incrementality, not just management
The question is no longer:

“Can you run the program?”
It’s: “Can you prove it’s driving real business impact?”

A Bigger Question to Consider

This alliance doesn’t push agencies out, but it does force a reset.

As platforms expand and ecosystems consolidate, agencies have to decide:
Are they operators… or strategic partners?

The ones who answer that clearly and evolve accordingly, won’t be left behind.

The rest might be.

**I have yet to chat with agency owners, but plan to get their take in the coming days. If you want to share your thoughts, please reach out!

What Brands Should Do Now

The biggest mistake brands can make is treating this like a vendor decision.

It’s not.

It’s a strategic one.

1) Start with the problem, not the platform

• Need growth? Lean into ecosystem models

• Need efficiency and accuracy? Prioritize infrastructure

2) Rethink your stack
Fragmentation is no longer just inefficient - it’s a liability.

3) Expand your definition of partnerships
Creators, B2B, apps, and integrations have moved from the sidelines and are now at the center of opportunity.

4) Demand proof of value
Incrementality and measurement aren’t “nice to have” anymore - they’re budget gatekeepers.

Final Thoughts…

These announcements don’t just reflect where the industry is - they point to where it’s going.

One side is building the future of growth.
The other is reinforcing the foundation it depends on.

The winners won’t be the ones who choose between them.

They’ll be the ones who understand when they need each and how to use both together.

And Lastly…

Will this alliance between Rakuten and impact bring an acquisition closer to the table (for impact)? My RSUs want to know ;)

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

Not integrated.
Not collaborative.
Not fully understood.

Exclusive even, but not in the way everyone is trying to access.

It’s been siloed off from paid media, kept at arm’s length from brand strategy, measured and managed differently. And even, sometimes viewed suspiciously by other marketing teams.

And yet, affiliate is one of the only channels that sits at the intersection of performance, partnerships, brand influence, creator economy, loyalty, and technology.

We don’t have a channel problem.

I believe we have a structural one.

The Ripple Effect No One Talks About

When disruption hits the affiliate channel, it is rarely isolated.

A network changes attribution rules.
A platform modifies tracking policies.
A large publisher is removed without explanation.
A tech provider shifts measurement logic.

The impact is never singular.

It affects:

• brands

• agencies

• publishers

• creators

• tracking partners

• consumer trust

And yet we often respond as if these disruptions are private matters.

They are not.

Affiliate is an ecosystem. When one part fractures, the ripple spreads across the entire infrastructure.

Just think back to the biggest news that shook the industry at ASW…

Competition From Within

The most interesting dynamic in affiliate is this: we compete against ourselves more than we compete externally.

Each part of the ecosystem is operating with its own priorities.

Networks seek differentiation.
Platforms aim for stability and scale.
Technology providers innovate through proprietary systems.
Publishers safeguard their data and audience relationships.
Agencies manage complexity across it all.

None of this is inherently wrong.

But without shared alignment, even well-intentioned strategies can pull us in adjacent directions rather than forward together.

Growth happens in segments instead of as a unified force. Measurement evolves independently instead of collectively. Innovation advances in silos rather than across the ecosystem.

The fragmentation isn’t loud.
It’s structural.

And over time, structure shapes outcomes.

This lack of collectivism keeps the channel reactive instead of proactive.

It keeps us defending ourselves instead of building something bigger.

The Missing Piece: Unified Standards

Every mature industry has a baseline of expectations.

• Clear attribution transparency

• Defined partnership ethics

• Standardized measurement logic

• Shared terminology

• Minimum compliance benchmarks

Affiliate has pieces of this.

But not universally adopted ones.

And that is the difference.

Without a unified benchmark of expectations, we are constantly negotiating fundamentals instead of innovating at the top.

We are reinventing trust in every contract.
Re-explaining value in every boardroom.
Rebuilding credibility in every budget cycle.

What would happen if we aligned on the baseline?

Not to reduce competition.
But to elevate it.

Enter The Performance Marketing Association

The Performance Marketing Association (PMA) has been working toward this vision for years.

• Education

• Advocacy

• Standards

• Community

They have been building the scaffolding for a more unified industry.

But not every major player participates.

And that hesitation is telling.

Collectivism requires transparency.
It requires compromise.
It requires long-term thinking over short-term advantage.

Unfortunately, not everyone is ready for that.

I’ll dig into the PMA more in an upcoming Substack - stay tuned!

My Vision for the Future of Affiliate & Partnerships Marketing

I do not believe affiliate should remain an “exclusive” channel.

I believe it should become the connective tissue of modern marketing.

• A unified partnership ecosystem.

• Clear standards across networks.

• Shared expectations for attribution and transparency.

• Cross-channel integration as the norm, not the exception.

Imagine if…

• Brands enter the space without fear of hidden mechanics.

• Publishers operate within agreed-upon ethical frameworks.

• Agencies are measured on strategy, not opacity.

• Creators and loyalty platforms are aligned instead of positioned against one another.

• Networks collaborating on foundational standards while competing on innovation.

That future is possible.

But it requires collectivism.

A shared commitment to the health of the entire ecosystem.

Because disruption in affiliate will never belong to just one entity.

It will always ripple outward.

The question is whether we continue to react independently or whether we decide, as an industry, to move forward together.

If affiliate is truly performance-based, then the greatest performance opportunity ahead of us may not be incremental growth. It may be structural unity.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

Which is why I’m so excited to share my recent conversation with HiEnergy co-founders, Jennifer Goodwin and Dexter Dethmers, and their vision to advocate on behalf of all publishers, no matter their shape or size.

This Substack Q&A dives into the origin, philosophy, and long-term vision behind HiEnergy. The company operating at the intersection of AI, data intelligence, and affiliate partnerships.

But more importantly, this is a conversation about power, visibility, and what happens when publishers finally get a platform built for them.

What was the “moment” that made you say, “The affiliate industry needs a different solution,” and ultimately led to the creation of HiEnergy?

There was not just one moment.

It was the accumulation of years of seeing the same pain points over and over again while working on the publisher side.

As veteran affiliate marketers, we kept hearing the same frustrations from publishers:

• Disjointed data across networks

• Manual processes that consumed time

• Real performance buried beneath spreadsheets and network dashboards

The affiliate space is incredibly fragmented. Everything lives on different platforms, different logins, different conversations. No one is stitching it together in a way that truly serves publishers.

We both saw that gap clearly.

Publishers often felt like second-class citizens in an ecosystem built primarily for advertisers and networks.

Many players across the space were operating inside a system that was not designed for how modern partnerships and performance actually work.

HiEnergy sits at the intersection of AI, data, and relationships. Why was it important to you that technology support partnerships rather than replace human connection?

We believe technology should amplify, not replace, meaningful human connections.

The affiliate ecosystem runs on relationships. The best partnerships are driven by trust, understanding, and real dialogue. Data and tools should make those conversations richer and more strategic, not transactional.

AI and data help remove busywork and surface insights that humans can act on. Creative thinking and relationship building still come from people.

That is why HiEnergy combines proprietary technology like Rocket with deep industry relationships. Publishers can move faster without sacrificing the personal touch that drives long-term partnerships.

Brands have historically relied on the same publisher playbooks. What convinced you that new revenue wouldn’t come from optimizing the same partners, but from bringing entirely new publishers onboard?

Affiliate has long been optimized for status quo revenue. The same partners mine the same categories with incremental tweaks.

Real revenue growth happens where diversity and innovation intersect:

• New audiences

• New content formats

• New business models

We saw countless publishers with unique audiences struggle to connect with advertisers that truly appreciated their value because the systems were geared toward older models.

By helping publishers discover new advertiser opportunities, backed by real data intelligence, we unlock fresh revenue streams that are not bound by traditional playbooks.

This expands the ecosystem for everyone.

How does building a platform for publishers change the power dynamics in the affiliate ecosystem?

For too long, affiliate data and tooling power has sat with advertisers, networks, and agencies.

Publishers were left stitching together dashboards and spreadsheets just to understand their own performance.

A dedicated platform shifts that dynamic.

It provides:

• Real-time insights

• Clear visibility

• The ability to discover and activate the right partners with confidence

Instead of reacting to network reports, publishers can proactively drive their own revenue growth.

That’s a fundamental power shift.

From a founder’s perspective, what do you believe is the most misunderstood part of the affiliate industry today?

The biggest misunderstanding is that affiliate success is simple.

That you just need good rates or a strong website.

The reality is that affiliate marketing is a data-driven ecosystem where revenue leaks, tracking errors, silent commission drops, and partnership friction cost real money.

Most publishers still rely on outdated methods. Spreadsheets, manual checks, and dashboards designed for advertisers make optimization reactive instead of strategic.

True success comes from visibility, intelligence, and strategic partnership execution.

What are some of the newest publisher models you’ve worked with that excite you for the future?

What excites us most right now is how much the definition of a “publisher” has evolved.

It’s no longer just content sites or coupon partners. It’s:

• Commerce tools

• Fintech platforms

• Loyalty technology

• Premium editorial

• Sustainability-driven marketplaces

We work with partners like Dupe, PayPal, Western Union, Share-a-Cart, ShopBack, Kudos, Forbes Vetted, Daily Mail, and Trashie. All have very different models.

They are influencing how people shop, pay, save, and discover products.

These partners are not just sending traffic. They are embedded into the shopping journey itself.

That is where real growth is coming from. That is where we are focused.

What’s the number one reason publishers want to work with you?

Publishers partner with us because we give them clarity, confidence, and catalytic growth.

We eliminate the guesswork:

• Consolidating affiliate networks

• Surfacing real performance data

• Enabling direct connections with advertisers that matter

With decades of industry experience and proprietary intelligence tools, we help publishers move faster and smarter than they ever could manually.

When you look five years ahead, what would success for HiEnergy actually mean, not in metrics, but in how the industry operates differently because of what you built?

Success five years from now would not be about growth metrics.

It would be about how the industry operates differently.

It would mean publishers, agencies, advertisers, and networks are no longer operating in silos, each looking at different dashboards and debating different versions of the truth.

It would mean shared visibility.

One reliable source of truth.

Aligned, transparent, actionable data.

Success would look like:

• Smarter partnerships

• Faster decision-making

• Fewer revenue leaks

• Less friction across the board

Publishers of any size could compete.
Agencies could operate strategically instead of manually.
Advertisers could see real performance clearly.
Networks could integrate into a more connected system.

If we have done our job right, affiliate will not feel fragmented or reactive anymore.

It will feel coordinated, transparent, and built for modern growth.

How can publishers contact you about opportunities?

Email at: jen@hienergyagency.com + dexter@hienergyagency.com

You can also sign up for a free rocket account for the platform and the HiEnergy team will follow up!

This was one of my most exciting Q&A’s to date as it shows holistically the scale of how publishers are intertwined within the ecosystem, rather than the silo we’ve lead to believe.

Want to share your affiliate story and the problem you are aiming to solve in the industry? I’d love to talk to you! Email me at pressforwardpartnerships@gmail.com.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

-Laura

I’m talking about loyalty partners. They aren’t obsolete. They aren’t “underperforming.” And they aren’t failing to innovate.

They’re being systematically deprioritized and in some cases, quietly pushed out.

Not with press releases.
Not with policy announcements.
But through a series of decisions that, taken individually, seem reasonable… and collectively feel like a war on the loyalty channel.

Let’s break it down and start with the foundation: tracking.

Loyalty publishers have always played by rules they didn’t write.

• Last-click models.

• Black-box attribution logic.

• Constant “optimization” that somehow always works against them.

What’s changed isn’t attribution itself, but visibility into it.

Next, we move on to the influencer vs. affiliate double standard.

Influencers are increasingly exempt from scrutiny that traditional affiliates face:

• Higher payouts

• Looser compliance

• Preferential attribution logic

• Budget protection when performance dips

Yet many influencers are doing the same work loyalty publishers have done for years, which is driving demand at the point of conversion.

The difference? Optics.

“Influencer” sounds like brand building.
“Affiliate” sounds like arbitrage.
“Loyalty” sounds… expensive.

So the industry quietly reframes value while keeping the outcome the same.

One of the loudest signals in this “war” isn’t what’s said, it’s what isn’t.

We all just witnessed a surplus of publishers removed from networks without:

• Clear violations

• Performance warnings

• Or even a conversation

Accounts paused. Access revoked. Relationships severed. If loyalty publishers are truly partners, why are they treated like liabilities?

Then there’s the part no one wants to speculate on publicly. Affiliate networks, platforms, and large publishers are forming partnerships with AI providers.

It’s no secret that a couple of months ago OpenAI and Paypal announced their partnership to bring shoppable product links to user prompts. Paypal owns honey and I wrote all about it and the benefits of that partnership in this post.

On paper, these types of partnerships do make sense:

• Smarter attribution

• Better fraud detection

• Improved optimization

But AI systems require training data. And loyalty publishers generate some of the richest intent data in the ecosystem:

• Shopping behavior

• Conversion timing

• Consumer decision patterns

That data is being leveraged to build systems, not partnerships we’ve spent the last 20 years finessing.

But… it’s impossible to talk about this entire situation without addressing the elephant in the room.

Rakuten Rewards & Rakuten Advertising Solutions.

When Rakuten Advertising Solutions acquired Ebates in late 2014 (later rebranding as Rakuten Rewards), the industry players definitely grumbled about it, but not loud enough (IMO).

Fast forward a decade plus, and that same scrutiny is back under the microscope. Does it still continue to be a conflict of interest? Most would believe so. Will Rakuten Rewards survive this battle of network vs. loyalty? And if they do, why are they exempt but others are not? Who exactly benefits here when:

• attribution models shift away from competitors?

• certain publisher categories lose visibility?

• loyalty as a channel is rebranded?

Even if everything is done with the best intentions, the incentives are misaligned and loyalty publishers feel it first. Some of us may even remember ShopAtHome from the early 2010’s. What happened to them and where are they now? Acquired by another major publisher, Prodege in 2017, and then absorbed into their shopping matrix.

What does the future look like? Some initial thoughts:

• Loyalty publishers consolidate or go direct-to-brand.

• More migrate toward “influencer” positioning for survival.

• Others disappear entirely. Not because they failed, but because the system no longer had room for them.

• OR, loyalty gets completely absorbed back into the funnel.

So, this isn’t a call to panic. Heed it as a call to pay attention in what we call affiliate and partnerships marketing.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

As a reminder, Keep on Learning (Affiliate) With Laura is a personal opinion Substack. I do my best to educate and inform affiliate marketers, while staying up to date on the latest industry trends. These thought leadership pieces are my own and not a reflection of my employer.

When it comes to personal mobile devices, I wouldn’t call myself a loyalist. I’ve gone through my share of Nokias, Motorolas, Blackberrys, iPhones, and Androids, all over the past 25 years.

But I’m also not someone that races for a new upgrade when that two-year mark hits. Just a few days ago, my iPhone 11 had survived the past five and a half years with me, until it didn’t anymore. I’ve now jumped on the Google Pixel 10 train, and what I’ve learned during the migration of operating systems had me thinking of what it’s like to migrate an affiliate program from one network to another.

It’s all essentially the same. Something “new” that promises excitement and productivity. But when the actual migration sets in, you’re left with the reality of…

• Where did my contacts go?

• Why didn’t that app transfer?

• What settings didn’t survive the jump?

• Why does everything technically work… but not quite the same way?

It turns out, switching phones across operating systems isn’t just a tech challenge. It’s a change-management problem.

Here’s my breakdown of the Phone Migration Problem.

On paper, switching phones should be simple:

• Back up data

• Transfer files

• Log into apps

• Resume life as usual

Easy peasy, right? Not.

In reality, it’s fragmented. (Especially if you’ve been living with a phone for 5.5 years that ran out of iCloud storage halfway through its tenure).

Some things move cleanly. Others partially transfer. A few disappear entirely. And then there’s the hidden work - permissions, settings, preferences, two-factor authentications - things that don’t migrate unless you know to look for them. This alone has been my downfall.

The hardest part isn’t losing data. It’s losing continuity.

You’re operational, but slower. Functional, but frustrated. This has been my life thus far of 2026.

So let’s replace “phone” with “affiliate network”.

Affiliate migrations follow the same pattern. At a high level, the checklist looks manageable:

• Move publishers

• Re-implement tracking / update links

• Align reporting

• Launch

But once you’re in it, the cracks show:

• Publisher relationships don’t automatically transfer

• Historical context gets lost

• Reporting definitions change

• Attribution logic behaves differently

• What “worked” before doesn’t map one-to-one in the new system

Just like a phone OS, every network has its own architecture, assumptions, and defaults. Even when two platforms offer the same features, they rarely behave the same way.

What can we do to make both types of migrations easier?

1. A Pre-Migration Audit (Not Just a Checklist)
Don’t just list what you’re moving. Document how it currently works.

• Which publishers drive incremental value?

• Which apps are mission-critical vs. “nice to have”?

• What settings, exceptions, or workarounds exist today?

If you don’t understand your current state, you’ll never recreate it.

2. Clear Mapping, Not Assumptions
Contacts don’t equal contacts across OSs.
Publishers don’t equal publishers across networks.

Define:

• What transfers automatically

• What needs manual recreation

• What cannot (or should not) be moved

Assuming parity is how things quietly break.

3. Expect a Re-Authentication Phase
On a new phone, you re-log into everything.
On a new network, you re-earn trust.

Publishers need reassurance. Internal teams need clarity. Stakeholders need to see early wins. Migration isn’t just technical - it’s relational.

4. Plan For A Stabilization Period
Productivity dips after any switch. That’s normal.
The mistake is pretending it won’t.

Build in time to:

• QA reporting

• Re-enable optimizations

• Answer questions (internal and external)

• Re-establish muscle memory

What’s the real lesson behind a migration?

Switching systems, whether phones or affiliate networks, forces you to confront how much invisible infrastructure you rely on every day.

The goal isn’t a “perfect” migration. It’s a thoughtful one.

One that respects complexity, plans for friction, and prioritizes continuity over speed.

Because the real cost of a bad migration isn’t lost data or broken links. Although they go hand-in-hand, it comes down to lost momentum.

And that’s much harder to recover than a missing contact.

On the other hand, I know that five and a half years of usage on a single device had its limits. I made due with what I had and that’s scrappiness, my friends.

So if you send me a text, be prepared for a “new phone, who dis?” response. #sorrynotsorry

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

Which is great, until it isn’t…

Enter: The Challenging Partner

At some point, we’ve all met that partner…

The one who:

• wants everything ASAP, but drags their feet on decisions

• questions performance, while clearly ignores data

• emails everyone on your team plus five other [first name.last name@yourcompany] …all individually with the same “urgent” ask.

They demand more than their contract suggests, act as if every request is high priority, and treat your brand like it’s one wrong move away from losing their business forever.

If you work in the business long enough, you’ll recognize this archetype. They’re not villains - they’re just… intense. Usually because their priorities or goals are misaligned with what your brand is prepared to deliver.

OR maybe, just maybe, they are actually crazy?!?

Navigating them isn’t about “fixing” them. It’s about managing the relationship so it doesn’t drain time, revenue, or your sanity.

How to Navigate a Difficult Partner (Without Losing Your Mind)

Here’s what actually works:

1. Re-anchor expectations.
   Don’t revisit deliverables only when there’s conflict. Re-set the terms of success before projects move forward. Always tie back to agreed metrics.

2. Make trade-offs visible.
   If they want more placements, a faster turnaround, higher payouts, better assets - then great. But highlight what has to move or change to make it happen. Visibility = accountability.

3. Use data like a boundary.
   Data isn’t just reporting. It’s protection. The more decisions you connect to actual numbers, the less room there is for emotional responses or subjective “feels.”

4. Don’t feed urgency inflation.
   If every request becomes “urgent” then none actually are. Ask for deadlines and business impact behind each “ASAP.” Most rushes evaporate when impact is questioned.

Plot Twist: You Might Be That Partner

We all like to think we’re the reasonable, collaborative one. But sometimes we’re not.

Here are some clues you might be the partner driving someone up a wall:

• You expect immediate replies but take days to respond.

• You ask for more performance but deny additional resources.

• You talk about goals vaguely instead of defining measurable targets.

• You over-promise internally, then pressure partners to deliver miracles.

• You escalate issues as leverage rather than collaboration.

Most “challenging partners” don’t think they’re challenging though. They think they’re advocating for the bottom line.

How to Fix It (If It’s You)

If reading the list above made you nervous, don’t panic. Partnership work is messy because humans are messy. You can repair a working relationship faster than you think.

1. Normalize transparency: Tell partners what constraints you’re working under. It signals respect and reduces surprises.

2. Be explicit about goals and limits: Say “Here’s what success should look like, and here’s what isn’t possible this quarter.”

3. Create a feedback loop. Ask partners what’s frustrating them. You’ll learn more in 10 minutes of honesty than 6 months of passive-aggressive emailing.

4. Keep receipts, but share them kindly. Document decisions and data, use them to align, not to blame.

The Uncomfortable Truth: Partnerships ARE Personal

Our work lives somewhere between logic and interpersonal chemistry. Metrics matter, but so does tone. Contracts matter, but so does trust.

So if you ever find yourself wondering:

AITA Partner?

Don’t jump to guilt or defensiveness. Ask yourself…

• Where did expectations break down?

• What outcome are we both optimizing for?

• What part of the problem can I actually own?

Partnerships don’t thrive (or fail) based on who’s “right,” but more so on who’s willing to co-create clarity. And if there’s one universal KPI for strong relationships? It’s less guessing. More honest alignment.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

*Employee generated content (EGC)*

Not the official marketing kind with polished scripts and legal vetting, but raw, personable, lifestyle-adjacent snippets from employees themselves. Clips like “my 5-9 before my 9-5” or “as a [enter job level category here] at XYZ”, have made their presence known in my feed. Whether it’s LinkedIn pushing video content or not, there’s no escaping.

It’s charming. It’s humanizing. It feels real.

But it’s also blurring the lines in ways we haven’t fully acknowledged.

Yep, I went there.

The Blurred Line Between Work and Life (and Content)

For many employees, EGC doesn’t happen at work. It happens around work. Posting from your home office before you’ve finished your morning coffee. Filming quick breakroom walkthroughs. Sharing work wins and losses while sitting in your car. (On a personal note, I’ll never understand why content is produced while sitting in the driver’s seat. Feel free to fill me in on that later!)

Is this harmless storytelling?
Or is it a subtle shift in expectations, where authenticity becomes an extension of the job description?

Because once your life is content, and your content supports your employer’s brand, are you ever off the clock?

When Personal Brand Meets Corporate Goals

Most EGC lives in the gray space between:

• personal expression

• professional representation

That’s where conflicts of interest start tiptoeing in.

If an employee posts glowing praise about the company’s tools, culture, or leadership… is it their opinion? A soft-implied requirement? Or a strategic tactic encouraged by leadership? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Employees may not mean to “endorse” anything officially, but audiences rarely separate the person from the employer. And in the age of transparency, or at least the performance of it, that’s a slippery dynamic. Has EGC become another KPI to report back on?

The Collision of Employee Influence and Corporate Interest

Let’s get into the messier part.

A growing number of employees are now building personal followings that surpass their employer’s reach. Noticeable followings come with increased user engagement. This sets the stage for:

• monetizing their platforms

• sharing affiliate links

• earning commissions through content

So what happens when:

Their “day in the life” posts drive signups and conversions, essentially functioning as unpaid (or underpaid 😶) marketing? They post about another product and/or service that may not necessarily compete with their employer, but want to share their experience?

Is that technically influencer marketing?
Is the employer owed something?
Or does the employee actually deserve compensation for the value generated?

At the very least, companies need policies that acknowledge modern realities - because we can’t keep pretending this isn’t happening.

The Quiet Truth: EGC Is Also Employer Branding

But also, let’s be honest. (Most) companies love EGC.

It’s more authentic than a corporate commercial.
It’s more engaging than a press release.
And it’s more believable than a career-page testimonial.

If employees are posting how much they “love working here,” whether spontaneously or encouraged, that is employer branding gold.

It’s also a subtle recruitment tool.

A way to say:
Look how fun, flexible, community-driven, and human we are. You want to be part of this, don’t you?

Fortunately, (most) companies have an internal referral policy, so there is a clear path to some sort of bonus if a referred candidate gets hired. And if your company doesn’t have one, why not? Seriously…WHY NOT?!?

So Is EGC Good? Bad? Something in Between?

EGC isn’t inherently problematic. In fact, it can be:

• empowering

• community-building

• a genuine form of storytelling

But it requires acknowledgment, not assumptions.

We can’t treat employee content as harmless side chatter when it increasingly:

• impacts brand perception

• influences hiring

• generates corporate or personal revenue

• merges personal and professional identity

• creates ethical gray zones

• becomes an unwritten expectation

Companies need clearer guidance, and employees need clearer protections.

Because when the line between employee and influencer gets fuzzy, someone inevitably gets taken advantage of, whether it’s financially, reputationally, or emotionally.

Where Do We Go From Here?

Maybe the real question isn’t whether employees should create content.

It’s whether we’re ready to address:

• compensation

• consent

• boundaries

• transparency

• conflict management

• and the fact that “authenticity” can be orchestrated, too

So in a world where work/life balance was the gold standard, what new bars should we be reaching for?

Closing this out with my own, “these statements are a reflection of my own and not my employer’s” viewpoint.😏

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

Every year, we tell ourselves this Q4 will be different. We’ll plan earlier, delegate more, maybe even take a full weekend off (KIDDING!). But between last-minute creative requests, shifting performance goals, and the constant pressure to “do more,” personal time starts slipping away.

It’s easy to get caught up in the chaos. But this is exactly when we need to double down on calm. Here are four strategies you need to implement.

1. Set Boundaries That Stick

Boundaries aren’t about saying no — they’re about saying yes to sustainability.
If your workday starts to bleed into every evening, set a hard stop. Communicate expectations early with your team and clients: what can be done today, what can wait until tomorrow, and what realistically doesn’t need to happen at all. Not every task is a fire alarm.

Even 30 minutes of unplugged time helps reset your brain. Go for a walk, have a snack (or two) and you’ll return sharper and more creative.

2. Redefine “Winning” This Season

Marketers are wired for metrics: ROAS, CPA, CTR, LTV. It’s pretty much the alphabet soup of performance. But not every victory is in the numbers.

Sometimes the win is launching the campaign without burnout.
Sometimes it’s saying, “We did our best with what we had.”
Sometimes it’s just making it to the end of December with your sense of humor intact.

Your goals should be ambitious but attainable. There’s no glory in being the most exhausted person in the room.

3. Be Where Your Feet Are

When you finally close your laptop for the night, close it.
Be in the moment. Whether that’s with your family, your partner, your friends, or just yourself. The irony of Q4 is that we spend it helping partners create joyful campaigns, yet we forget to make our own moments.

Find a few small rituals that keep you grounded. Mine is a morning coffee on the couch with my dog asking for belly rubs. Other ideas are journaling, a 10-minute meditation or yoga session, basically something that makes you feel calm and at ease. Do this every (work) day.

4. The Work Will Wait, But Life Won’t

Yes, the holidays are the busiest time for D2C brands and anyone working for a business that supports their goals. But they’re also the time for connection, reflection, and slowing down. The clicks, conversions, and campaigns will come and go, but your well-being, creativity, and relationships are the long game. Again, there’s no glory in being the most exhausted person in the room.

You’re working hard and I see you.

Let’s make space for both the hustle and the hush this season.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

Meeting Customers Where They Are

I’m a big fan of customer engagement and generally admire how brands strategically think about where their customers are and how to reach them on their turf.

So, what happens when we start dictating our daily lives and wants/needs to generative AI? We get the new Honey + ChatGPT shopping experience.

Honey steps in behind the curtain to surface links, pricing and deals in response to your very shopping wants/needs.

And that’s exactly meeting customers where they are — in the moment of intent, inside a chat environment, rather than pulling them to a separate site or funnel. It removes some friction, but also changes the dynamics of control and ownership.

How will Honey be compensated?

This is something I’d love to learn more about!

First off, how many programs are out there that don’t currently have Honey at a 1% or (or less) payout? IMO, they are about to flip the script on being that last click referral.

In one of my early PXA courses, we noted that there could be 17 touchpoints from that first click all the way through to conversion. SEVENTEEN! The customer journey is singular and messy all at once. And our friendly browser extensions are typically those very last touchpoints, not only earning credit for the entire conversion but also causing havoc for other eager affiliates that contributed to that journey.

But with Honey integrated within ChatGPT, the number of touchpoints just dropped to a one and done scenario.

Honey has now succeeded for enabling and preserving the user’s path entirely within the chat interface.

How this partnership could model (and usher in) additional partnerships

If you’re thinking bigger (like me) this isn’t just about one integrated shopping experience. This is a blueprint for how many partnerships might evolve with AI platforms.

I have so many ideas that surpass commerce, but I’ll keep those close to my chest for now.

Other related ideas, implications & strategic questions

• User trust and transparency: When the chat recommends a product and a “deal” comes via Honey, how transparent is that to the user? Is the partnership visible or hidden? Will users trust that recommendation when they realize a partner-engine is embedded? What happens if the user isn’t a Honey subscriber? Does that change the opportunity? What if other shopping extensions wanted to integrate? Could ChatGPT recognize which shopping tool the user is active with and put forth the correct one in their results? I seriously have so many more questions on this!

• Data and personalization: ChatGPT knows the user’s context. Honey knows the deals and prices. Combining those two means highly personalized offers and suggestions. That raises privacy, differentiation and competitive concerns. Brands might push exclusive offers via the chat channel + partner engine combo.

• Merchant/brand leverage: Brands could pay premium for favored placement inside chat & affiliate partner ecosystems. That raises the power shift from “search/retail” to “chat/agentic commerce.” Then this just becomes another sponsored placement, rather than purely organic.

• Competitive dynamics: If chat platforms become commerce platforms, and affiliate engines become embedded, the entire payout structure may completely dismantle, OR things don’t change at all, but I’m not betting on that.

• Influencer/creator ecosystem impact: Since Honey has had controversy (cue past legal implications) the shift to chat-based commerce may further disrupt how creators monetize. If the chat + partner combo become the dominant path, will creators still get a slice? Or will their role shrink (or need to adapt)?

• Payment/checkout integration: PayPal is already working to integrate their wallet within ChatGPT, which means the value proposition is becoming more vertically integrated: chat + affiliate partner + payment/wallet + merchant all inside one loop. An all-around controlled shopping environment.

• Data and personalization: Technology partners, loyalty models, and payment providers can capture a ton of first party data. For transactions that take place within ChatGPT, who exactly is owning the customer, their data, and how will it be used/stored?

• Strategic partnerships beyond retail: Think travel, digital services, subscriptions, B2B procurement – anywhere chat can replace search and browsing. My brain can’t fathom all of the possibilities at the moment - please try again later.

My Closing Thoughts: If you can’t beat them, join them

In the evolution of commerce and affiliate marketing, watching from the sidelines is no longer sufficient. The chat + AI + partner + checkout loop is rapidly becoming an architecture not just of user convenience, but of business advantage. For brands, affiliates, platforms and merchants alike: if you can’t beat the power of conversational commerce, it’s time to join it and become a partner inside the journey, rather than watching someone else own it.

Because if the user’s journey now starts and ends inside a chat environment, then the ones who own the discovery, the deal engine and checkout control the value. And to win in that world, you don’t keep business as usual, you integrate.

Further readings for your enjoyment on this:

https://newsroom.paypal-corp.com/2025-10-28-OpenAI-and-PayPal-Team-Up-to-Power-Instant-Checkout-and-Agentic-Commerce-in-ChatGPT

https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/30/paypals-honey-to-integrate-with-chatgpt-and-other-ais-for-shopping-assistance/

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/privacy-alert-paypal-honey-browser-extension-under-investigation-for-allegedly-hijacking-affiliate-referral-links-to-claim-credit-for-influencers-sales-302346482.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

I seriously cannot remember the last time I intentionally went to the mall to buy something — but with a friend’s daughter’s bat mitzvah approaching this weekend, I was out of time for anything online.

So on Thursday afternoon, I braved the mall — a real, full-on physical store experience after what felt like years of couch-commerce. It was an experiment in contrasts: online vs. in-store; algorithmic ease vs. human interaction; familiarity vs. subtle intimidation. And the results were telling.

The Mall, Revisited — Feeling Invisible, Feeling Judged

Stepping into the mall corridor felt… different. Bright lighting, soft music in the background, a rolodex of fragrances — and that was just walking out of the entrance of Neiman Marcus and being surrounded by the storefronts of Saint Laurent, Golden Goose, Balenciaga, and Chanel. Beyond the sensory differences what really stood out was the emotional environment:

• A subtle snap judgement: Strolling by a luxury shop with door greeters/security, ignoring the passive smile I give, making me wonder if I looked like their ideal customer.

• The feeling of being watched or evaluated: an associate glancing across to decide if they should approach, or strolling past while I browsed.

• The opposite of the online world’s freedom: I click at will, abandon things, compare silently, and avoid interaction entirely if I want.

Research backs this. For instance, a survey found that 83% of shoppers believe they know more than store associates, though 79% say engaging with knowledgeable associates is important. Another study found that when store employees are physically too close (or inappropriately proximate) shoppers report higher anxiety and lower loyalty.

In short: the in-store environment still carries emotional friction — from judgement, uncertainty, and feeling out of place. That friction plays heavily into my preference for shopping online.

Different Channels, Different Rules (And Costs)

The mechanics behind online vs in-store shopping are very different — not just in experience, but in how brands think about targeting, acquisition, retention.

Online:

• Each click, page view, and bounce is measurable.

• Personalization, retargeting, abandoned-cart emails are all key tools.

• Customer acquisition costs (CAC) can help determine how customers shop.

• The growth of online is steady: e-commerce sales grew ~ 5.3% year over year in Q2 2025.

In-Store:

• The acquisition dynamic is less visible: store location, ambiance, staff behavior, sight-lines all matter.

• A shopper walking in has overcome friction already, but any negative moment (judgement, feeling ignored, waiting) can kill that conversion.

• One recent study found that 45 % of store employees spend too much time finding answers rather than engaging customers, meaning the experience suffers.

On the cost side: while concrete average CAC for brick-and-mortar is harder to pin down publicly, what is clear is that overhead (rent, staff, displays, utilities) and opportunity cost (a frustrated shopper walks out) matter a lot.

Feeling Seen (or Not) — The Quiet Advantage of Online

One of the biggest reasons I still lean heavy into online shopping is this: I feel seen without being stared at. Reminder: I’m an extroverted introvert.

Online, the algorithm suggests things because it “knows” or infers my preferences. A site routes me to reviews, suggests related items, anticipates what I might abandon. The experience is tailored, low-pressure.

In contrast, the in-store experience too often puts you in a spotlight: sales associates hover, you worry about being judged for browsing too long, for being unsure. That tension reduces the pleasure.

And given the data above, physical stores still dominate share, but online continues growing. My instinct is that brands that succeed will be those who remove the “in-store anxiety” barrier while retaining the advantages of physical presence.

The Future: Hybrid Humanity

There’s a sweet spot ahead: blending online precision with in-store empathy.

Just imagine…
In-store sensors/analytics that trigger personalization discreetly by way of geo-targeting. Just think about how loyalty platforms like Rakuten could help drive further conversions for in-store shopping - by doing a push notification when you enter a store, helping you navigate the floorplan to product you may have previously viewed online. There’s so much cross-channel tracking/analytics that can funnel into this singular shopping experience!

A seamless online-to-offline journey: browse online, try in store, buy where you choose.

Until then, I’ll most likely keep adding to cart from home, where the experience is comfortable, controlled, and free of scrutiny.

And if you’re wondering about my shopping haul at Southpark Mall, I found comfort at H&M and scored a great find on a $25 dress, approved for dancing the hora this Saturday night!

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

At first, I thought it would just be a fun way to unwind and get out of the house. But somewhere between learning the bamboo from the dots to the green (and/or red) dragons, I realized Mahjong was doing something else for me: sharpening my focus, building community, and challenging how I think about patterns.

I learned the ground rules, attempted to memorize the suits, and just when I started to gain confidence someone throws this out:

“Oh, by the way… the winning hands change every year.”

Wait… what?! Same tiles. Same table. Totally new ways to win.

And that’s when it hit me: this is exactly what happens in affiliate and partnership marketing. The fundamentals don’t change - but the winning combinations do.

Let’s break this down.

🎯 1. The Tiles Don’t Change… The Patterns Do

In Mahjong, you’re always working with the same 144 tiles: dots, bamboos, cracks, winds, dragons.

In partnerships, your “tiles” are your partners, platforms, and performance levers. Those don’t change much either. What does? The rules of the game — the algorithms, the attribution logic, the payout models, the data visibility, the platforms that suddenly matter more than they did six months ago.

Winning means re-learning how those same pieces fit together this year, not playing by last year’s logic.

💡 Same tiles. Different wins.

🔄 2. The Annual Reset Keeps Everyone Sharp

Every Mahjong spring brings a new “card”. A tri-fold booklet that’s fresh with list of winning combinations from the National Mah Jongg League. Even the veterans have to start from scratch.

That reset is exactly what keeps the community alive: it forces curiosity, collaboration, and continuous learning.

In partnerships, that kind of reset is healthy too. The best programs regularly pause to reassess:

• Which partnerships are still aligned?

• What offers feel stale?

• Where has performance plateaued?

When you treat each quarter like a “new card,” you stay nimble and energized instead of repeating last year’s plays on autopilot.

🎴 You can’t win the new game with last year’s strategy.

🧮 3. Read the Meta and Then Rewrite It

Every Mahjong season develops a “meta” — a few hands everyone chases because they seem to win easily. Until, of course, the next card drops and that advantage vanishes.

Partnerships have their own meta, too: maybe it’s creators one year, B2B alliances next, or AI stealing the spotlight.

The most strategic partnership leaders don’t just follow the trend, they’re watching for what’s coming next. They’re testing, experimenting, and preparing for the next card drop before it hits.

🧭 You can’t control the tiles you draw, but you can control how you play them.

🪑 4. Community Is the Real Strategy

The beauty of Mahjong is that it’s not really about the tiles — it’s about the table. The laughter, the side conversations, the tips shared across rounds. It’s the same energy that makes partnerships powerful: learning together.

The best partnership ecosystems act like Mahjong tables. They’re small, trusted circles where ideas and insights flow freely. When partners collaborate, share data transparently, and test side-by-side, everyone gets better.

🤝 Partnership isn’t a solo game. It’s a team sport, tile by tile.

🏆 5. The Real Lesson: Stay Curious

Every week I sit down at that table, I remember: complacency kills creativity.

Whether in Mahjong or marketing, the only real constant is change.
The tiles don’t shift, but the winning hands always do.

The players who thrive aren’t the ones who memorize the old rules. They’re the ones who keep asking:

“What’s the new pattern?”

🀄 My Closing Thoughts..

Mahjong reminded me that growth in games, partnerships, or life, comes from staying adaptable and connected.

You don’t have to reinvent your tiles, just your perspective.
The board may look familiar, but the patterns that win are always evolving.

So grab your card, read the table, and play your hand with intention.
Because in both Mahjong and partnerships, the joy is in learning how to win, again and again.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

In the fast-changing world of affiliate and performance marketing, innovation often begins by solving your own problem. That’s exactly how Geniuslink came to life. In this interview, co-founder and CEO Jesse Lakes shares how his early experiences with Apple and Amazon led to a global platform that simplifies monetization, empowers creators, and keeps them ahead in an ever-evolving digital economy.

How did Geniuslink begin?

In my twenties, I built a site that cataloged soundtracks from extreme sports films. It took off, but the affiliate links only worked for U.S. users — meaning international fans couldn’t buy, and I couldn’t earn.

That gap inspired me to call a friend at Microsoft and ask, “Can you build a smart link that knows where someone is and sends them to the right store?” That spark eventually became a book on Apple’s iTunes affiliate program, where a cease-and-desist letter turned into a full time job managing their global program.

While at Apple, I helped scale their program by 10x — but in doing so, I made one big problem even worse: geo-fragmentation. The program grew into nearly 50 different country storefronts across four affiliate networks — a nightmare for both user experience and monetization of the affiliate program.

At the same time, I saw Amazon expanding globally as well with the same challenges.

“My real calling wasn’t managing the problem — it was fixing it.”

If I could fix this for myself, maybe I could fix it for millions of others. And that’s how Geniuslink, originally called GeoRiot, was born.

What key turning points shaped the company’s growth?

Bootstrapping forced discipline — every dollar mattered. Our early reliance on iTunes and Amazon created platform risk, but it also sharpened our focus. When Amazon launched its own competing tool, we doubled down on what we did best: speed, flexibility, and client focus.

That led to innovations like Choice Pages and deep linking, helping creators boost conversions and revenue. Over time, we grew from serving niche bloggers to empowering major publishers and creators across industries — always focused on making links work better.

How do you stay on top of changes in the affiliate and creator space?

By staying connected. The industry moves fast, and relationships are everything. I show up at conferences, talk to clients constantly, and listen more than I speak.

“I don’t claim to be an expert — just a long-time student of this ever-evolving ecosystem.”

What obstacles do you face working with affiliate networks?

The biggest pain points are inconsistency and communication. Every network has its quirks, and major platforms don’t always announce changes until they’re live. We manage that through relationships — staying close to partners, sharing feedback early, and adapting quickly to protect our users.

How do you balance innovation with stability for creators?

Two things: discipline and design. We say no to shiny but unnecessary features and focus on what truly drives creator success. And when we do launch something new, we make sure it’s simple, stable, and reliable — innovation never comes at the expense of trust.

What are the biggest monetization challenges creators face today?

Understanding how affiliate programs work — especially Amazon’s — is a huge hurdle. The rules are dense and easy to misinterpret. Add to that the bandwidth problem: creators wear a dozen hats, and monetization often falls low on the list.

Our goal is to simplify all of it. We want monetization tools that just work, so creators can focus on creating.

How do you engage with your users?

Directly. I’m always available via email or LinkedIn, and I make time to connect at events. Internally, our client success team constantly surfaces feedback so we can stay in sync with what creators need.

“We don’t see users as customers — they’re partners in building what comes next.”

What metrics define success for your users?

It’s simple: if a client earns more with Geniuslink than without, we’ve done our job. We look at conversion rates, revenue growth, and time saved. Success means higher earnings and more creative freedom.

What’s next for Geniuslink?

Amazon’s global expansion continues, and we plan to grow alongside it — while also looking far beyond. With 60% of e-commerce happening outside Amazon, we’re focused on helping creators capture that full ecosystem through smarter localization and product matching.

We’re building toward a world where any creator, anywhere, can earn from the trust they’ve built — regardless of platform or retailer.

What advice would you give new creators?

First, build your audience before you think about monetization. Without genuine engagement, no affiliate strategy will work. Second, learn the rules early — understanding how programs operate saves headaches later.

And finally, stay curious. I’ve been breaking lessons from Mastering Amazon Associates into short-form videos to help creators navigate faster and smarter. Curiosity and community are the best guides in this space.

Ways to connect with Jesse:

LinkedIn or email.

His book Mastering Amazon Associates is also available for purchase here.

My final thoughts…

What stands out most about Geniuslink is how it manages to simplify something that’s become unnecessarily complicated. The affiliate and creator ecosystems are full of tools that promise optimization, but often add friction, complexity, and confusion. Geniuslink does the opposite.

By focusing on clarity, reliability, and ease of use, they’ve built a product that creators actually understand and trust. The best technology doesn’t overwhelm users. It quietly removes barriers so people can focus on what they do best. Geniuslink has mastered that balance.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but my very first steps into affiliate marketing happened during college. Sophomore year, I started working for a spring break travel company called StudentCity as a Campus Rep. The role sounded fun and easy enough. Help promote trips, get students excited, and potentially earn a free trip. Unbeknownst to me, it ended up being my first crash course in partnerships, sales, and marketing.

Here’s how it worked:

• Sell spring break packages to friends and other students on campus.

• For every trip sold, StudentCity paid out a commission.

• If you sell a certain number of trips as a rep, you get promoted to Campus Manager.

Looking back, it was affiliate marketing in its purest form - driving sales through personal networks and incentives.

That first year as a Campus Rep helped me travel to Freeport, Bahamas, by way of a party cruise, for basically nothing. I gathered a group of about 15 friends between my university and another, and enjoyed 5 days on a sunny beach, Bahama Mama in hand, and exclusive parties with the cast of Real World/Road Rules. Mission accomplished.

After a successful spring break season, I was promoted to Campus Manager heading into my Junior year. That landed me an all-expense paid trip to a sales seminar on how to better market various spring break destinations. The icing on the cake was if I hit a specific number of trips sold, I’d earn an additional free trip called Rep Rewards, which took place every June for 5 days at the all-inclusive Oasis Cancún in Mexico.

Being a Campus Manager, also meant I wasn’t just selling trips - I was also recruiting and training other Campus Reps. Suddenly, I was teaching others how to sell, how to build their own pipelines, and how to hit their sales goals. It was my first real taste of leadership and scaling a sales team beyond myself.

Back at school, I took my learnings from the sales retreat strategically to the next level and partnered with the hottest nightclubs in Wilmington, NC, to drive awareness of epic adventures, all-inclusive getaways, and the chance to win a free spring break trip of choice. This doubled as promotion and lead generation.

At the time, I thought I was just hustling for my own free trip and some extra cash. But in reality, I was learning the fundamentals of performance marketing: how to match an audience with an offer, keep people engaged through the buying process, and drive results that were measurable and commission-based.

By the end of my college career, I had sold over 100 spring break trips, had two of my spring break trips comped (Bahamas all-inclusive and a 7-night Western Caribbean cruise), extra cash to road trip with my roomies Junior year SB, and TWO unforgettable (well, debatable) Rep Rewards in Cancún with dozens of other rising sales and marketing professionals.

That experience - though I didn’t know it then, was the spark that eventually grew into a career of affiliate and partnership marketing. Aaaand a little matchmaking recruiter from CJ to help cement that path for me.

So, thanks for the inspiration James! I’m looking forward to hearing more Origin Stories on the Affilifest Podcast!

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

What inspired you to start Coppola Consulting?
Too many brands were weighed down by bloated retainers and one-size-fits-all strategies that didn’t deliver ROI. I saw the need for a more flexible, data-driven partner. Coppola Consulting was born out of my passion for helping brands maximize affiliate through smarter partnerships, analytics, and tailored management.

Can you share a client success story that stands out?
One that comes to mind is Edible Arrangements. Competitors were conquesting their branded search terms, and budget was tight. We partnered with affiliates skilled in branded search and set a clear keyword and bid-cap strategy. The brand secured the #1 SERP position while affiliates held #2 and #3, pushing competitors down at a fraction of the typical cost.

“On a performance basis, we solved what could have been an expensive problem with an efficient, targeted solution.”

Why should brands care about their search rankings?
Because search is where buying journeys start. If you’re not visible on page one, you’re invisible to customers. High rankings build trust and credibility, while neglecting search leaves you vulnerable to competitors.

“Strong search presence means owning your story, driving qualified traffic, and making every marketing dollar work harder.”

How can affiliates influence search results?
Affiliates often dominate high-intent queries - through SEO, paid search, or content. Coupon and loyalty sites block competitors from conquesting. Content partners build trusted guides and reviews that control the narrative. On the paid side, affiliates can bid on branded terms under caps, giving brands more SERP real estate without inflating costs.

Why should brands consider working with these partners?
Affiliates extend brand reach, add credibility, and protect against competitors. SEO-focused affiliates, in particular, shape perception with reviews and buying guides that heavily influence decisions.

As AI transforms search, these partners become even more valuable - they’re already ranking as trusted, authoritative sources. Brands that partner with them stay visible as AI-driven results change the landscape.

Are these partners underutilized?
Definitely. Too many brands still think of affiliates mainly as coupon or cashback sites. But SEO and content-driven affiliates sit at the intersection of performance, credibility, and search. They’re under-supported and overlooked, while budgets are funneled into channels that often deliver lower ROI.

“These partners are an untapped lever for visibility and brand protection.”

What’s one piece of advice you give on optimizing ™+ campaigns?
Treat it like teamwork. Don’t let every affiliate run branded search unchecked. Identify the right partners, align with your search team, and set clear caps. Then monitor results closely. And remember: SEO and content gains take time - you won’t see overnight results, but the long-term payoff is worth it.

What’s the best way to start working with you?
Email me at chris@coppola-consulting.com or visit www.coppola-consulting.com to learn more and instantly schedule a call.

Final thoughts…If you’re looking to strengthen your search presence, scale affiliate intelligently, and protect your brand in an evolving landscape, Chris Coppola is a consultant worth knowing.

Thanks for joining. Keep on learning. And see you soon!

That’s the problem Share-A-Cart set out to solve. What began as a personal workaround for one dad has grown into a platform used by individuals, families, schools, and enterprises around the world. I had the privilege to learn more about this business with Ed Kozek, CEO of Share-A-Cart.

What inspired you to create Share-A-Cart?

It started as a side project for the original founder, who was trying to coordinate family shopping, and there just wasn’t a good way to share lists that someone else would eventually purchase. Many people create lists of things they need but that someone else will buy. Share-A-Cart was built to make that process easy and efficient.

How does the business model work?

We’re built on affiliate relationships. We’re in all the major affiliate networks, so when users create and share carts, we generate revenue from retailers without charging users for the base product.

What’s the process for onboarding new retailers?

Integration is always free. We already support any Shopify, BigCommerce, or Magento storefront automatically. And if we don’t yet, it’s as simple as sending us an email - we’ll evaluate the opportunity.

How do you approach privacy and security?

We don’t require users to create an account, provide an email address, or share personal information to use the base product. Because we don’t collect PII, there’s nothing to expose. For added security, carts can also be password-protected.

What makes Share-A-Cart different from traditional wishlists?

We support nearly any online store and we offer paid versions with approval workflows and auditing tools. We also have deep adoption in schools through Google Classroom, plus iOS and Android apps for mobile use.

Did you know the product is translated into over a dozen languages?

What unique value do schools and enterprises get?

For enterprises, we offer approval workflows, full visibility into carts created or received, and export capabilities for auditing. In schools, teachers can use our Google Classroom integration to share supply lists directly with parents and students - making back-to-school coordination much smoother.

Attention parents of school-aged children - seriously, how much more efficient would this be for preparing for back to school?

What feedback has shaped the product most?

Mobile usability. Users love how seamless Share-A-Cart feels on desktop and want that same ease on mobile. The challenge is that mobile platforms impose restrictions that make integration trickier, but we’re investing heavily in improving that experience.

I’m giving major points for working on ways to meet customers where they are.

Where do you see Share-A-Cart in the future?

About half of our users are already using Share-A-Cart for work, especially in schools, so we’re leaning into supporting larger organizations. Beyond that, we’re expanding tools that help users save money: surfacing discounts and enabling price comparisons.

How can interested brands get in touch?

Just email us at info@share-a-cart.com.

📦 From a dad’s workaround to a global tool for families, schools, and enterprises, Share-A-Cart is redefining how we share what we need.