Chris Dessi - Vice President zanox, Inc

Working with a performance based ad network can make you a superstar, or can get you in the hot seat quicker than you can say Vonage.

Here are a few tips that will help you as the advertiser get back into the control seat. Networks have a tendency to promise the moon, and deliver a hunk of cheese. Don't let this happen to you. Work closely with the right partner and you'll reap the rewards. Give up that control, and they will send you a bag full of useless leads that will kill your entire marketing budget. Be smart - understand your allowable acquisition and get in front of a few different networks. Ask lots of questions and insist on the following - and you'll be fine.

1. Demand full disclosure and transparency - If your brand is large enough they will offer it. If not, find a partner that will. You need the control of knowing where your ads are running.
2. Request certain hand selected publishers receive a higher payout (at the networks expense - reduced margin) to drive more volume.
A. Make sure payouts are listed privately - so you don't anger other publishers running the offer
3. Insist that the appropriate checks and balances are in place
A. List the number of leads you're willing to pay for in a set time frame - ie, if a publisher generates 2000 leads over the weekend, but you've capped the offer at 1000 leads - you're not held responsible - PUT THIS IN WRITING IN THE CONTRACT
4. Set weekly conference calls - If you think there's nothing to discuss, think again - something ALWAYS comes up
5. Don't be bullied into unfavorable payment terms - Networks are HIGHLY competitive, and they need your business.

Go get em!

Recently I've had conversations where I've touted the power of a good continuity program. From Ringtones, to Dating offers, continuity is the name of the game. After a small initial sign up fee the user is then obligated to pay on a (usually) monthly basis to the advertiser.

4 Secrets to success of a continuity program

1. Charge for the first months membership after the first 7 to 14 days as a member
2. Allow for incentivized traffic on these offers
3. Analyze - Measure and quantify your allowable acquisition rate
4. REPEAT

Even though we write more and more. It's ironic that what we tend to write looks more like a vanity plate, than an old fashioned letter. The most powerful messages aren't full sentences at all - think of "I like Ike" When it comes to effective communication - short beats long. Always. Credibility is as important as philosophy. The words that we use, become our MO. Claims of being new and improved, (when they're not) is the kiss of death. Think of "new coke"....the best just got better??? Talk about "Jumping the shark"

We all know that if a sales pitch is way too over the top the product will fall through. Consumers can sniff out when something is just reused sameness packages as exciting newness. So how do we overcome a culture where Harvard multi-syllabic banter is trumped by text - like mono-syllabic?

Here are three tips to streamline your message

1. Tell people who you are or what you do
2. Say what you mean, and mean what you say
3. Consistency matters

As we slide into the last days of September suffice to say: Fall is officially upon us.

What does that mean if you're an affiliate marketer? Well, I thought I'd list the top 3 things that every affiliate marketer should be thinking about right now. Christmas is closer than you think, and Halloween is upon us.. So yes - you should be thinking about certain key things other than the Fall Foliage of course).

1. Halloween Offers
2. Christmas Offers
3. Ad:Tech New York

Regarding #1
For some networks this may be too little too late. Halloween offers are already converting like crazy, and if you don't have the bandwidth to get these offers up and running by early next week, then you're already behind.

Regarding #2
Christmas offers can mean simply reaching out to your best advertises on your network and requesting some great Christmas landing pages, or Christmas creative. Even requesting some special Christmas coupons, discounts, or any kind of "freemium" type of offering will help you out this holiday season.

Regarding #3
I'll be speaking at the show this year, and if it's even remotely near the insanity of last year than we're all in for a massive treat. The New York Hilton becomes a complete madhouse - and truthfully - I love it.

Finally - no, I have no idea what I'm going to be this year for Halloween -

Got any suggestions?

Affiliate Marketing continues to move forward at an accelerated rate despite numerous predictions of a downturn. We're seeing record numbers across all country offices, and continue to be attentive to our bottom line.

Recently we also released news that we're planning on giving away 1million Euro....well not really "giving" it away. We're asking that developers submit their business plans for our review. We will select the best plan, and award a cool million....EURO no less!

Take a look at some of the details on our company blog:

http://blog.zanox.com/en/webservices/1-mio-eur-zanox-web-services-contest-2008/



interested candidates apply by setting up an corresponding account and accepting the terms of conditions.

zanox makes a pre-selection by analysing the zanox publisher statistics of the candidates during the entire contest.

the best 20 candidates will be asked on September 30, 2008, to turn in their business plans until October 5, 2008.

the ultimate top 10 candidates will receive invitations to the closing event in Berlin (probably October 24, 2008).

within a business plan-conference/-competition) the top 10 candidates will get the opportunity to convince the jury by giving a short presentation of their business model and team.

the jury will officially announce the top five candidates in the following recall party.

all participants will be promoted with their brand and Ranking to the campus sponsors and the zanox investors network.

Ad:Tech Miami Conference attended – June 3rd

After spending a full day in sessions and walking the floor at Ad:Tech Miami, the message is clear – the Latin market is growing exponentially

Highlights/Insights
Hispanic online market has grown 18% YTY
Top 25 % of Latin consumers use the internet 250% MORE than the general market
Bottom 50% use it 78% less than the general market
Most of those users are under the age of 25
38% have some college education
76% use cell phone as the PRIMARY phone
19% use the internet to connect with family and friends, and they’re generating their own content online – blogging, social networking etc.
Major US Markets = LA, NY, Miami, Houston, Chicago

Top Latin Markets = Brazil, Mexico
Latin American has 87% online search penetration - 3million searches per month
Brazil = 90% online search penetration

Mexico
2008 27.4 million Mexicans are online
70% have broadband. (Most likely due to the usage of internet cafés – this does not indicate that they have broadband services in the home).
97% of Mexicans multi task while online
- 50% on the phone
- 41% while working
- 35% listening to music
- 25% watch TV

49% user generated content
33% own a blog
96% growth this year
2011 = $192million
UP 134% in 2008
Only 1.5% of total ad spend is going toward digital in Mexico.

Brazil and Mexico have a great deal of online user’s spending money online. There is also a huge potential in the US market for advertisers to target Spanish speaking Americans. Latino culture in the US is becoming more educated, and more versed in the online arena. Social networks are exploding, and Latin Americans are generating content to stay in contact with family back in their mother countries.

A Shameless plug of my article that appeared yesterday in DM News.

Christopher Dessi
VP of advertiser sales, North America, Zanox

Some advertisers flinch at the idea of affiliates generating results on their behalf. No matter what doubts you may have about affiliate marketing, the exciting reality is that it has proven to be effective.

If you don't employ affiliate market­ing tactics in your e-marketing strategy, you're missing out on new markets and a guaranteed expanded workforce at no cost. For example, if you decide to partner with a network that offers inter­national affiliate reach – you now have an instant international e-marketing strategy. Similarly, if you allow search affiliates to proactively bid on search words – you've now just penetrated the search market, without internal staff and at zero cost to you.

Once you have decided to leverage affiliate marketing, the next step is to select a preferred partner. If you ask these four questions before you move forward, you'll find an affiliate market­ing partner that is significantly more valuable to your organization.

First, is your affiliate network trans­parent? As larger brand advertisers start to spend more money with networks, a real need for transparency has emerged.

Ask if you are obligated to pay for the conversion when a pixel fires. Savvy networks rely on delayed confirmation of a pixel firing. Then, look for a part­ner that offers international reach.

Finally, ask your potential partner if it will allow your company to work with other affiliate networks. If a partner is attempting to lock you into a contractual obligation of exclusivity, they're only limiting your market reach

US Online Advertising:
Resilient in a Rough Economy
Summary

Even with the Olympics and presidential election campaigns on the horizon, overall ad spending in the US is in the doldrums. Except online. US Internet advertising will not only be more resilient than traditional media, it will grow. In fact, in 2009, 10% of all US ad dollars will go online.


The US Online Advertising report analyzes the factors that are contributing to the continued growth of the Internet channel in tough economic times.

Even as the growth rate declines through 2009, overall Internet ad spending increases will remain in positive territory—in the mid-teens or higher through 2011.

This growth, even if less than in years past will surpass all other major media.

Recently we've been seeing a lot of chatter in the media about a pending recession. Some may argue that the recession has already hit, and that it's only going to get worse. Pending events like the US Presidential Election, coupled with the Bejing Olympics are top of mind as well.

I feel that performance based online marketing/affiliate marketing is recession proof.
Let's think about this; if you're currently spending money online for your company you certainly understand that there are numerous ways in which you can aggregate new users/viewers etc. You can purchase media on a CPM, CPC, or CPA. If you're currently working in a CPM scenario and you have a budget that can handle that, great. But what happens if that budget is directly effected by a recession. You'd be forced to modify your offering to performance based only. This would entail your only paying for a paid conversion, or a user (depends on how you'd prefer to define an aquisition).

In this manner of advertising you're still spending ad dollars, but only if you're making money yourself. If you've done your homework, understand your allowable aquisition rate, and can back into the appropriate metrix....then you're recession proof!

The third week at Zanox is coming to a close, and things are just starting to heat up! Week One: Rani Nagpal VP (formerly of Gratis, and Meetmoi) and I headed to Berlin for training. What a phenomenal, inspiring and bright group of people we encountered! The teams from Zanox UK, Zanox Spain, Zanox Amsterdam, Zanox France, Zanox Italy, and of course Zanox Berlin were there in full force. Then the following week Rani and I headed to Chicago for a few days, now back to the office in New York. Currently we're located on 42nd and 5th at the Axel Springer offices (Our parent company). We have a great view of the empire state building. This has proven to be the perfect setting to brainstorm our 2008 strategy. We are all excited about the upcoming Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, and we're ready to show the performance based online marketing world that we're here to stay, and nobody can compete with our international reach, boutique customer service and industry know-how.

Looking forward to a break-out 2008!!

zanox at a glance

Who we are
zanox is the market leader for performance-based multichannel commerce. We offer a global solution for efficient marketing products and services on the Internet. In addition to affiliate marketing and search engine marketing, zanox’s online marketing services include e-mail marketing, online shopping, and customer loyalty programs. zanox was founded in 2000 by the directors, Thomas Hessler, Heiko Rauch, and Jens Hewald. Today zanox has more than 300 employees.
It operates in an extraordinarily dynamic, future-oriented market and enjoys above-average growth.
zanox joined the Axel Springer and PubliGroupe in 2007. Axel Springer is Germany´s biggest newspaper publishing house and third-largest magazine publisher. PubliGroupe is an internationally active marketer and service provider for cross-media commercial communication.
Our customers
More than 2,000 prestigious international companies across various industries from telecoms to travel and retail to finance, including Allianz, Amazon, Axa, Citibank, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, o2, Vodafone, Orange, DADAmobile, Celldorado, Expedia, Jamster, Lycos, Procter & Gamble, Sixt, Staples, Neckermann, La Redoute and many more employ zanox's strategic distribution channels. zanox currently works with more than one million sales partners in over 190 countries worldwide and offers local support in over 30 countries.
Our vision
We will create the ultimate global alliance to monetise the Internet

Starting on January 7th I begin an exciting journey as the VP of Ad Sales at the only multinational ad network Zanox, Inc.

I loved working with the team at AzoogleAds, and I look forward to this next challenge for my career. Zanox has offices in 14 countries, and generate leads for advertisers in over 30 countries! This is sure to be an exciting new year!

Another Ad:Tech in New York has come and gone (at the speed of light, as usual). It's Friday morning, and I'm still feeling the effects of a crazy few days, but I have to admit it...I LOVE this show. There's really nothing better than getting out there and selling. I eat it up. I love meeting new people at Ad:Tech, seeing familiar faces, and course I get a kick out of the sheer volume of people in attendance. This year was unprecedented. The numbers vary, but suffice to say...there were a LOT of people packing into that New York Hilton. I joked with a few colleagues that the families that were in town on vacation must have been horrified to see all of the meetings being conducted in the lounge, lobby, restaurants, and surrounding establishments. It got to be so crowded that I even took meetings standing in the lobby. Two of those meeting were with large partners (it's a good thing that I can also call them friends), and we all had a good laugh at it. "welcome to my office, please stand here" :-)

AzoogleAds generated sufficient buzz at the booth as we continue to grow and gain market share. We poised to have another break out year in 2008!

Some of the best fun happened after the show when an colleague and I shot our video for our iMedia Spot (keep an eye out for it)! I'm certainly not an actor, but Audrey Breheney one of our Sr. Affiliate Managers is an Actress as well as an industry pro, so she added a sense of professionalism that this cheesy sales guy just couldn't muster! It was a ton of fun, and we can't wait to get it out there!

Looking forward to hearing from everyone about how they felt Ad:tech was for them.

All the best!
Chris Dessi
Director of National Ad Sales

So this morning I got into the office after a great long weekend to check my calendar. Holy Cow! I'll be out of the office 70% of the month bouncing around to come phenomenal places, and meeting with some of the best minds in the interactive industry. Next week I'll be in Cornado, California at the iMediaConnection Brand Summit. This is going to be phenomenal! They'll be more tahn 160 senior level marketing executives from major brand companies. Here is a brief sample:

The Advisory Board is composed of following industry thought leaders:

Jonathan Adams, VP, Director – Media, Digitas
Sean Cheyney, VP, Marketing & Business Development, AccuQuote
Jarvis Coffin, CEO, BURST! Media
Tom Hespos, President, Underscore Marketing
Clark Kokich, CEO, Avenue A I Razorfish
Scot McLernon, former SVP, Sales, CBS Digital Media
Dave Morgan, Chairman, TACODA
Mark Naples, Managing Partner, WIT Strategy
Correy Honza, Director of Internet Marketing, Quiznos Corporation
Sheryl Biesman, Manager of Online Marketing, Pharmavite
Bryan Stapp, CMO, Quicken Loans

I'll be at this show until Thursday of next week, and heading to Shop.org the week after in Las Vegas! Shop.org is the association for retailers online. I've attended this show in the past, and this is a top notch event that I recommend everyone attend.

I'll be sure to post a detailed review while at each event, and some post event thoughts

Ok, so I have to confess...I had a very embarrassing, yet funny experience the last time I went on the road for business. I've put up a few posts about the Internet Retailer show, and I've been debating if I should blog about this particular experience for a few reasons (you'll realize why if you keep reading)....so there I was....all sorts of excited for the Internet Retailer show in San Jose.

For a few different reasons while on business we all bunk with a co-worker. Now, at first blush this may seen like a nightmare scenario for some people. What most people don't realise is that at Azoogleads, we're like a family...seriously. We've all grown very close over the past two years that I've been here (for a few reasons). Not the least of which are: Explosive growth, phenomenal success, and lots of really bright, high energy people that are respectful to eachother at all costs. One major factor that has helped keep this company so glued together has been the shared loss of a co-worker and friend (Jai). We've learned from that loss, and grown together.

So this time around, I was all set to bunk with Tom Barbaro. Tom is an all star at Azoogleads. Tom happens to be a great friend of mine, so I was looking forward to handing out with Tom at the show. Our first night in California, two other members of the team had flown in from New York Chantelle White, and Karen Aquilino. We all met for a nice dinner, then off to bed to rest up for the busy days ahead (Internet Retailer show starts at 7am!!) so factoring jet lag into that equation made me head straight to bed.

When I got back to the room, Tom had already settled into the room, and was getting ready for bed (he had a later flight in from NY). We set our alarms, and off to bed (I told Tom I would get up a bit earlier so we could stagger our shower taking). I woke up (after hitting snooze a few times)...and hit the showers. I shaved, and started my morning routine. I was ready to go, this was going to be a great show. I had a great team along with me, and had set a big meeting with Netflix to dovetail into my time at the conference. As I was thinking of all these great things, a little thought kept creeping into my head "man, I am so tired...that jetlag is killing me!" as I turned the corner coming out of the shower (shaved, hair combed etc.), I gently said to Tom...hey buddy, time to get up, we're running a little late...(my clock said 6:30am, and we had to meet the girls in the lobby). Tom sat up, looked at me like I had nine heads and said "It's only 3:30am!" I stood there in the dark, towel on, shaved, hair combed, clean as a whistle....at 3:30am.....PST.....oh.....my.....GOD.....I forgot to change the time on my Blackberry.

So...red-faced...I crawled back into bed for 2 hours. Much to my relief I was able to get off to sleep quickly, and didn't really feel that horrible during the show. The only issue was that (since I'm VERY Italian, my normal 5 o'clock shadow would be showing up at an un-godly 2pm that day....oh well...live and learn....

If you can't laugh at yourself....right?
:-)