Hello folks,

Being the peace loving hippy that I am, I’m keen to spread the love. So, whereas some people only ususal voice their dissatisfaction with things, I’m hoping to do the opposite and voice my satisfaction and my approval.

So, first up on the “they deserve a bit of praise for all the good work they’ve done pedastool” are the team at AWIN.

I need to start however by pointing out that this has not always been the case, as a year ago I wasn’t a happy bunny. 

Prezzybox have been with AWIN since the year dot, and in my opinion they were not doing a great deal to earn their monthly management fee. However, this all changed during a drunkern, rain sodden Get2gether in Bristol when my good buddy Graham of Buyagift fame introduced me to Julia (Goolia) and Sarah “the table football deviant” Warlock  (a.k.a. QOTF) from AWIN.

Untypically I’d had one or two drinks, which meant that I’d been released from the shackles of my usual shy and retiring demeanour. Consequently, I proceeded to professed my dissatisfaction with all things AWIN and how I felt they could offer Prezzybox a better service. Rather than ignore my alcohol fuelled ramblings Julia and Sarah took everything on board and I have to say the last 9 months have been simply splendid.

So, with the help of Sarah, Julie, Claire and Julia, as well as Sam and Chris (techy) AWIN have - in my opinion - gone from near zero’s to absolute heros.

So what have AWIN done that many don’t?

• Firstly, they are all great people. I know this may sound a bit ‘cliched’ but to me this is important if you’re looking to build a long term working relationship. I get on very well with all of them.
• They are also extremely proactive, working hard to promote Prezzybox amongst suitable Affiliates. For years I’ve been asking for a “match-making” service pairing merchants with suitable affiliates as this would be mutually beneficial. AWIN are now delivering this with their team of account managers.
• A willingness to listen. Again, it’s not rocket science but I’m a big believer in the old addage “you’ve got 2 ears and one mouth - use them in that proportion”. AWIN have demonstrated this on a number of occassions. They ask for and are happy to act upon suggestions.
• Communication. This business is all about networking and the team at AWIN are really accessable - be it over the phone or via messenger.
• Bigger partners. AWIN are now getting some really impressive partners on board. As a merchant this is fantastic as it opens up a whole raft of promotional opportunities which would ordinarily be available to us.
• Professionalism. Everything from their plush new offices, through to the way the team conducts itself is very professional indeed.

So, hats off to the good peeps at AWIN. They’ve done a cracking job over the last year or so and long may it continue. To me, it really is no suprise that they scooped all the awards at the A4U Expo and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them as a network.

Anyway - that’s my ramblings done for tonight. I’m off for my tea.

Ten ten. Over and out.

TBW.

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 Hello good people of blogsville. Hope you are well.

I just wanted to write a short post to see how prepared affiliates are for Mothers Day. On the whole I’m reckoning not very!

This isn’t me having a dig, moreover, I think a lot of merchants and affiliates have been caught out by the close proximity of Mothers Day to that commercial bastian of an event which is Valentines Day. Really however this is no excuse, as Mothers Day is one of the big retail occassions of the year and if marketed correctly will, in my opinion,  only be eclipsed by Christmas and Valentines Day in terms of sales.

Is this the fault of the Affiliate? Or should we, as Affiliate Managers, be doing more to help get our affiliates promotions and time table organised? I reckon it’s a combination of the both, but I certainly think there’s more Merchants can do to encourage their affiliates to launch promotions in plenty of time.

So this then leads to the next question - when should merchants launch their promotions?

Well, in my role as an affiliate manager, I try and pre-determine what I would be doing were I an affiliate. Using Christmas as an  example, if I were an affiliate I’d want to start my Christmas promotion in October at the latest, so this would give me time to optimise my pages, promote the years hot selling products, update creative etc.

Then I work backwards. If the affiliates need the creative/promotion in October and it’s going to take us a month to put together the creative/competition prizes/product sales reports etc, then we need to start the work at the beginning of September to make sure the affiliate gets their sales tools in time.

I then give myself and our designers and techies a couple of ‘extra’ weeks grace just in case something happens which delays you a wee while.

…now, I know this isn’t rocket science but it amazes me to see how many merchants and agencies actually launch their promotion a matter of days before the actual event. One of our competitors (via an agency) launched their Fathers Day promotion last year on the Friday before Fathers Day. Now, even if some affiliates had bothered to promote the merchant at the 11th hour, any customer who purchased products wouldn’t have got them prior to fathers day because the postal service/couriers don’t collect and deliver on a Saturday. In short therefore a complete waste of time, effort and dosh.

So, to conclude this, now not so short post, I think we, as merchants need to be doing more to drive promotions forward with our affiliates. Lets provide them with tools, nice and early and work with them to promote the best products for the specific occasion.

(blatant sales pitch…) and if you still havn’t put together a Mothers Day promotion then you need to be quick. Mothers Day is on the 2nd March (less than 2 weeks) and you can find details of our creative by clicking here.

Ten ten. Over and out.

 Zak.

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Hello folks,

I’ve been meaning to do a personal blog for chuffin ages and thankfully (with a LOT of help from Bianca, Tony and Craig) I’ve now done it. Hurrah for father.

I’ve been doing posts for quite a while now on Prezzyblog.com, but that’s for every man and his dog to read - including our much loved customers - so I have to maintain a modicum of decency. The Bearded Warrior on the other hand is my own personal marketing blog, so basically anything goes…

Look forward to blogging with you.

Ten ten. Over and out.

Zak.

5 Comments »