It surprises me how at each meetup, the topic of conversation is completely different! At our Boston meetup, conversation turned to how the line between online and offline marketing is blurring, and how affiliate marketers and merchants might be able to take advantage of that. One of the models that came up, was the use of loyalty cards, i.e, those frequent shopper cards you scan at the grocery store to get discounts. The idea now, is that consumers can find coupons online and associate them with their loyalty account. Then, the next time they are in the store, if they purchase a product, and have an associated coupon registered to their account, the discount automatically applies. Consider it a “portable cookie” I suppose?
Another merchant in attendance (keep a lookout for them, they’re likely to join ShareASale in a couple months…and genius site: Zeer.com), maintains a food database and social community site for people with food allergies…those folks who can’t eat wheat, gluten, yeast, etc etc. It’s a subscription-based site, and they’re hoping to do a recurring revenue model for their affiliates, along with an associated invite-only lead program. Their model though, automatically lends itself to mobile apps. Imagine being able to scan the barcode of a product, and have your phone tell you whether or not the product contains gluten..and then also see associated product reviews? Such a tool would be invaluable, and would no doubt drive online signups.
All in all, I hereby declare the ShareASale RoadShow a success! It was wonderful getting to meet everyone in a casual setting, I think we were able to learn a lot from each other and create new partnerships. Thank you to everyone who participated and I look forward to our mutual success! :)
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