Jason Akatiff, better known as Smaxor or maybe even better known as the network owner of Ads 4 Dough has provided some absolute epic advice when it comes to Affiliate Summit.

When I went to my first event at Affiliate Summit East 2009 in New York City I just walked around the tradeshow and glanced at each booth to see what it was about and moved on if it didn’t interest me.  Being kinda overwhelmed by the show since it was my first conference I talked to maybe 20 booths out of them all and there were a TON!  I felt like I cheated myself a lot, but I didn’t really know how to approach a booth that didn’t interest me.

Well, all that has been fixed for me by Jason.  He’s made probably one of the best blog posts I’ve read concerning tips on how to navigate the Affiliate Summit Exhibit Hall.  I’m just going to quote his entire blog post below.  I hope he doesn’t mind since I gave him 100% credit here.

Affiliate Tradeshow Floor Tips

Involved in affiliate marketing? Then you probably know that Affiliate Summit West is just a few days away.

So how can you get the most out of the show?

I’m sure you’ve read all the posts saying that all the real business at tradeshows happens at the parties. I agree a lot of business and information is shared in the settings outside the tradeshow floor. What niches are working well and where is a lot of the juicy stuff you’ll get off the tradeshow floor. Stuff that’s not usually shared publicly anywhere.

BUT….

There is a ton of good business to be done on the Affiliate Summit tradeshow floor as well, but you have to go with a plan. As affiliates what are the things we care about?

1. Traffic Sources
2. Things to promote
3. Creative and site design ( for some )

All of these things are bountiful at the actual show. Some shows are better then others for one or the other. I think Adtech is better for Traffic Sources and Affiliate Summit is better to meet networks and advertisers.

So what’s the plan? When I hit the tradeshow floor I want to meet as many people as I can. Network like a mad man meeting people that I “don’t” know. Seeing people you do know is fine but it’s the people you don’t know which is going to open new avenues, ideas and in turn create opportunities.

Here’s my plan:

Walk onto the floor and start at booth 1 then walk from booth to booth. Talk with every single person you can and find out which of your list items they have to offer you. Mostly I’m looking for traffic when I hit the tradeshow floor. More traffic sources is always what’s the most interesting to me. I know where to find offers at this point. So I walk from booth to booth collecting business cards asking “Do you sell traffic?” or “Who do you know that sells traffic?” If they answer yes I talk to them about how they sell it ie. ppc, cpm, cpv, cpa. How much inventory do they have. What does it take to get started, what offers are doing well with in their platform, what creative compliance stuff they have. Then I take all that and write as much of it as I can on the back of their  business card so when I get home I can remember what they have to offer.

Now if they say they don’t sell traffic they’re going to tell me what they do. When they tell me I try and figure out how I can get to some traffic contact they know. For example if it’s an affiliate network I might ask “what offers are doing well on your network?”, “How are affs promoting them?”, “where are they buying traffic?” Keep in mind they may not answer some of these questions but guess what if you don’t ask they will be guaranatee’d not to answer. Don’t be a panzy ask, dig, pry and get every last bit of info out of everyone you talk to. Don’t be afraid you’re going to hurt someones feeling or overstep your bounds. Now I’m not saying be a jackass but I am saying dig like a archeologist looking for bones., keep diggin.

If you, like me, plan on staying in this business long term your business will grow and you’ll need more and more people in the tradeshow. So give everyone respect and file what they do away somewhere. Because you’re going to get down the road, and this business is like a puzzle. You’re going to have some project going and there’s going to be a few pieces missing. Those cards you collected years ago at some show will fill your puzzle and complete your project.

Have fun and meet as many new people as you can. You already know the people you know come home with new connections and grow your business.

Success,
Smaxor

P.S. See you Spearmint Rhino!

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1. Are you going to ad:tech?
2. Affiliate Tips from Facebook
3. Affiliate Summit West 2010
4. Affiliate Managers and Azoogle piss me off
5. Giving away $200 in Facebook coupons!