Listed below are some of the holidays and events that take place during the next few months. Let the marketing inspiration begin!

April Events
April – Cancer Control Month
April – Alcohol Awareness Month
April – National Humor Month
April – Stress Awareness Month
April 1 – April Fool’s Day
April 1 – Palm Sunday
April 6 – National Walk to Work Day
April 6 – Titanic 3D Movie Release
April 7 – Passover
April 8 – Easter
April 13 – The Three Stooges Movie Release
April 15 – Income Taxes Due
April 22 – Earth Day
April 25 – Administrative Professionals Day
April 27 – The Pirates! Band of Misfits Movie Release
3rd Monday in April – Patriot’s Day
April 4-8th – Track Cycling World Championships
April 7-10th – Women’s Ice Hockey World Championships

May Events
May – National Physical Fitness & Sports Month
May – Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
May – National Bike Month
May – National Barbecue Month
May 1 – May Day
May 4 – The Avengers Movie Release
May 5 – Cinco de Mayo
May 5 – Join Hands Day
May 8 – National Teachers Day
May 8 – WWII VE Day
May 11 – What to Expect When You’re Expecting Movie Release
May 12 – Nurses Day
May 13 – Mother’s Day
May 19 – Armed Forces Day
May 21 – Victoria Day
May 22 – National Maritime Day
May 25 – Men in Black III Movie Release
May 27 – Shavou’ot / Pentecost
May 28 – Memorial Day
May 4-15th – Ice Hockey World Championship
May 5-27th – Giro d’Italia (cycling)
May 10-19th – 470 World Championship (sailing)
May 11-18th – Finn World Championship (sailing)
May 13-19th – Police Week
May 13-19th – National Transportation Week
May 18-20th – Greco-Roman Wrestling World Cup
May 19-25th – National Safe Boating Week

June Events
June – Rose Month
June –Dairy Month
June – Gay Pride Month
June – Candy Month
June1 – Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins
June 1 – Snow White and the Huntsman Movie Release
June 5 – World Environment Day
June 6 – WWII D Day
June 8 – Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted Movie Release
June 14 – Flag Day
June 15 – Rock of Ages Movie Release
June 17 – Father’s Day
June 19 – Juneteenth Day
June 20 – First Day of Summer
June 21-24th – United World Games
June 27 – Helen Keller’s Birthday
June 28 – Paul Bunyan Day
June 29 – G.I. Joe: Retaliation Movie Release
June 14-July 4th – Honor America Days
June 25-July 8th – Grand Slam- Wimbledon (tennis)
June 30-July 22nd – Tour de France (cycling)

It’s official! Registration for ShareASale ThinkTank 2012 is now open. ThinkTank will be held May 16-18 at the Lakeway Resort & Spa in Austin, TX.

This year’s ThinkTank will be a hybrid of past events. Similar to 2011, it is an open event for all ShareASale Merchants, Affiliates and Agency/OPMs, but we’ll be moving back to a warmer, drier climate. As much as we love Chicago, it was a little cold and rainy last year…

Of course, in traditional ThinkTank style, we’ll have great educational sessions, delicious food and a unique selection of after-hours events. To capitalize on the warm weather in Austin, we’ll cut the sessions off early on Thursday for an afternoon of boats on Lake Travis.

To view the entire agenda and pricing structure please visit http://shareasale.com/thinktank. If you have any questions make sure to let us know – otherwise get your registration in early. We expect this event to sell out pretty quickly!

In the report, the data can be displayed to reflect either year/year or month/month results. Colored arrows indicate if there was positive or negative movement for that month compared to the previous year or month.

What is great about this report is affiliate managers will now be able to see a whole year’s worth of program data in a single report pull – and on one screen to boot!

To access the Year in Review report, go to the Reports menu then hover over the option for “More Reports”. You will see a link for the Year in Review report under the More Reports drop-down.

A common question I receive from merchants is, “How can I keep my affiliates engaged and active in the program?” Answer: Keep them in the loop!

Utilize the newsletter tool to maintain consistence communication with your affiliates. The key is to keep your newsletter relevant and concise. Your efforts will have adverse effect if you begin spamming your affiliate base. Strive to put together at least monthly newsletter that contain relevant information about what is new with your site and the program. Think of the newsletter as your marketing toolkit for affiliates. Include informative details that will help your affiliates to better sell or market your product or service.

Newsletter Best Practices:

• Send at least monthly
  For most programs, monthly will be a fitting schedule. If your program offers a huge inventory with lots of details changing on a regular basis, it may bode well for your program to send more frequent newsletters.
• Make actionable
  Include items that affiliates can put right to use. “Actionable” as in useable. Utilize macros to include the affiliate’s specific tracking code for tools and to personalize your email.
• Inject Personality
  Let the newsletter reflect who you and your company are. Affiliates receive hundreds of emails – might as well make yours interesting to read.
• Select Plain Text or HTML
  In the newsletter tool, merchants have the option to create either a plain text or HTML newsletter. Either can be very effective. Personally, I prefer HTML for the monthly newsletter so I can use a template and include images and general branding. Text can be great for quick short updates.
• Target newsletter using filters
  Utilize the filters to send specifically targeted communication to certain groups of affiliates. For example, you could send keyword lists to your PPC affiliates, an activation newsletter to low performers with some tips on getting started, special incentives to your top performers, content tips to your bloggers,…you get the picture.

What to Talk About in Your Newsletter? New Creatives Highlight recently added or updated banners, text links, videos, and widgets. Products – Best Sellers & New Arrivals Include a few sample products of what is new and hot in your inventory. Website Demographics and Stats Let your affiliates know what the audience is for your website. The more the affiliate knows about who is shopping at your site and for your products, the better they can target their site as well. Program Updates Be sure to always communication any changes with the program agreement, commission structure, cookie duration, program manager changes and any other item that pertains to the program setup. Bonus Campaigns Include any affiliate sales incentive or bonus campaign that is running. This can be a great opportunity to encourage affiliates to generate sales or push a specific product. Educational Content If you have product inventory, include content about your products or brands. Use this as an opportunity to education people on what makes your products unique. Coupon/Deals/Special Offers Communicate any coupons or deals that are currently available. Be sure to also upload these to the ShareASale Coupon & Deals database as well.

If you have any questions, need a change, or note an error in the form -please just let us know immediately and we can correct this for you.

For details, agenda, description of venue, and pre-registration … please visit http://www.shareasale.com/thinktank