In this episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, Lee-Ann interviews Max Ciccotosto, Chief Product Officer at Impact.com, about his career in affiliate marketing and the development of Mediarails. Max shares his journey from being a publisher to working on the brand side and eventually developing a product to address the challenges he faced. They discuss the importance of automating partner engagement and onboarding processes, as well as the need for personalized outreach and segmentation. Max also shares his insights on the future of affiliate marketing and the role of technology in driving growth.
Talking points include:
- Personalized outreach and segmentation
- Understanding your risk profile
- Embracing new partners and approaches
Listen in here to this week’s episode of the Affiliate Marketing Podcast…
Mediarails – CRM and Partner Engagement Automation
Lee-Ann asks Max, “Can you give a brief explanation of what Mediarails is and how you came to develop it?”
Max explains, “I think the short story is that Mediarails is a CRM and partner engagement automation tool – mostly designed for brands and agencies to help them scale and better engage their partner growth.
“First and foremost, when I was running Global Growth, I felt a lot of these channels, like: Affiliate, Influencer, Bizdev, were all kind of working the same way. They had similar workflows, similar ways to engage, similar flywheel effects to them. I thought they needed to be managed in the same way, within the same umbrella.”
Top Tips
Max gives lots of tips for people listening to this podcast to really go and have a look at their tech stacks and understand how to harness them in order to grow their programs in the next six months.
Max says, “You know, fundamentally, I think we still have to always think about what are your goals and your culture and what you’re trying to achieve, right? We need to be mindful of that. Are you driving growth? Are you driving efficiency in your program? Sometimes you can strike the balance, but I think fundamentally your main driver should dictate the type of activities that you’re performing. You’ve got your strategy to get there and our technology, or any technology, is there to help you.”
One eye on the future…
Lee-Ann asks Max where he thinks the big trends are moving to and how he sees the future of affiliate marketing and tech.
Max replies, “Generally speaking, I continue to be very bullish on the growth of the partnership channel. Finding more and more ways to activate those partnership channels, you know, an example for us was acquiring SaaSquatch and thinking about your customers as partners, right? If you’re doing great service, they may now drive referrals for you and it’s a partnership that continues.
“So, we keep that ever-growing partnership channel and the right tools that are consistent on workflows. You have to find the right partners. You need to automate – are you engaged with them? You need insights into the flow. You need brand safety.”
Listen to find out more about:
- Optimizing outreach and onboarding
- Setting clear goals and understanding risk
- The future of affiliate marketing lies in the continued growth of partnership channels and the development of technology to support them.
Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:
[04:30] Mediarails: Automating partner engagement
[21:09] The Future of Affiliate Marketing and Technology
[24:11] Top tips for growing Affiliate Programs
Coming up on next week’s episode of The Affiliate Marketing Podcast: Marthe Berlin, Regional Vice President, Publisher Development EMEA, impact.com
Advertise on our Podcast!
Gain EXPOSURE and Get RESULTS by advertising on The Affiliate Marketing Podcast!
For affiliate managers, podcast ads can be more than just another ad. They are a conversation. When a podcast host talks about a product or service, it feels more like a recommendation from a friend than a traditional advertisement. This level of trust and authenticity is hard to find elsewhere.
Read our latest blog on The Rise of Podcast Advertising here
Download the Affiliate Marketing Podcast Kit
ELEVATE Summit 2024 – LONDON
Join us in London on 16-17 September.
Limited Tickets Remain! GET YOUR TICKET HERE
Tickets to this two-day conference at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, include:
- Full two-day conference and keynote speaker line-up (Learning from the best in the industry)
- Access to specific Masterclasses helping you level up your performance and skills development
- Lunch and Refreshments FREE on both days
- Networking and Exhibitor Area
- Matchmaking meet-ups
- A Social Networking party
Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this groundbreaking ELEVATE summit and take your performance and lead generation marketing efforts to new heights.
Secure your ticket and learn with industry veterans what’s new and trending in the Affiliate and Lead Generation worlds – today by clicking here.
Rate, Review & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts
“I love Affiverse’s Affiliate Marketing Podcast.” <– If that sounds like you, please give us a 5 Star rating here! Taking the time to do that, helps us support more people in our community to access digital and affiliate marketing insights, expert lead learnings and allows us to share the latest online marketing tactics that help Affiliate programs and businesses to grow.
Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.”
Also, if you haven’t done so already, subscribe to our weekly newsletter and never miss out on FREE insights and training.
Subscribe to our podcast HERE!
