Does your brand have an affiliate marketing program? Is it performing the way you planned? Have you optimized your program to leverage all the available sources of sales traffic? If you haven’t seriously evaluated your affiliate plan in the last two or three years you are most likely missing out on significant revenue and growth opportunities.

Affiliate marketing has changed dramatically for both brands and their affiliates and for those who have kept pace with the changing landscape the rewards have been spectacular. Does that describe your brand’s performance?

If you’re interested in hyping up your affiliate revenue, then you’ll want to invest 20 minutes to listen to this edition of Smart Chaos where your host Kimberly Henrie interviews Matt Frary, CEO of the leading outsourced affiliate agency SmarterChaos.com and speaker, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author Joel Comm (www.joelcomm.com) about staying ahead of the game.

Before diving into the podcast, Matt shares a tip that was not included in the last episode regarding attending conferences. He also briefly shares information about some of the other conferences happening during the same weekend as Affiliate Summit West 2014.

The episode kicks off with Matt and Joel recapping a visit to the Twitter headquarters in San Francisco, California. Joel is the author of Twitter Power – How to Dominate You Market One Tweet at a Time (www.twitterpower.com) and SmarterChaos had Twitter as a client at the time. Before seguing into the next topic they share an amusing anecdote that demonstrates another kind of “Twitter Powerâ€.

This segues into a more serious topic – personal brands. Joel shares about the steps he took for creating his own personal brand. He also describes the benefits of having a personal brand, including creating additional brands under the umbrella of the primary one.

Joel has a wide range of experience in creating brands, and Matt is quick to chime in with a hilarious example about an app that Joel created a few years ago. This leads to an announcement from Joel about something brand new that he created based on “Roarâ€, the hit song by Katy Perry, which he hopes will quickly go viral on social media.

Now Joel’s only challenge is to use social media networks to help this new creation go viral. This leads our host to ask the question that turns the discussion to something everyone listening can relate to – what it means to be social.

How does a business become social? Does it require creating outrageous apps? Matt poses the idea to Joel that he thought social was broadcasting over Facebook, and asks for clarification. Joel explains that being social means being able to tell the story behind your brand that:

takes risks and steps outside the comfort zone
is authentic, forward thinking, and not a guarantee
makes people want to talk about and share your brand
Next Joel talks about fearlessness. He not only describes what it means to be fearless, but he also offers some suggestions for how to cast your fear aside and try with something else. As he points out, unless you take the risk you will never be able to hit your brand out of the park.

After a short break the conversation to turns to Joel’s new book, titled “So What Do You Do? Discovering the Genius Next Door with One Simple Questionâ€. Joel explains what inspired him to write the book, and how the question “So What Do You Do?†can give you a glimpse into someone else’s soul.

This book is a collection of personal stories that everyone can relate to because it highlights everyday people, not just the superstars of any one genre or industry. Joel goes on to compare the book to a popular compilation series, and explains the one thing that all of the authors of the personal stories have in common with each other.

Joel confides his hopes about the book, regarding what it can provide for the readers. Because he is reading the book right now, Matt shares how the book is benefiting him in his life. Learn more about the book or how to get your own copy at this link (www.sowhatdoyoudo.com).

The episode wraps up with some information about current trends. At the top is how marketing through social media is affecting the everyday user. Joel describes some trends about mobile media and a new social site to help consumers connect with brands – and it’s not Facebook.

Invest 20 minutes now to hear the full podcast, and learn more about what other projects Joel has in the works for 2014. You’ll be glad you did!

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http://www.smarterchaos.com/

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