Building a Foundation via Industry Conferences

The heavy planning, the expenses, the hectic travel, the early mornings and late nights.  Attending work conferences is not a simple endeavor. The question is, is it all worth it? In a word: absolutely.

The Affiliate Marketing world includes so many great people that are friendly and go out of their way to help one another. Competition is fierce, but when people in this line of work get together they put their guard down, share ideas, and do their best to find out how they can work together to grow their business.

Conferences in affiliate marketing are a major building block for your online business. Whether you’re a publisher/blogger, retailer, vendor, or in any way tied to Affiliate Marketing, you have to make the industry conferences a priority in your business plan.

Kicking things off with an inspiring keynote, the learning sessions throughout the conference provide a wealth of knowledge including tips and tricks, best practices, and pitfalls to avoid. There are experts that have done all of the heavy lifting and risk taking for you, that will tell you what to focus on and what’s not worth your time. These people are providing a unique perspective on how they go about their daily work lives and find success.

There are brainstorming sessions during which new ideas are brought to the table that would never have crossed your mind. You can enlighten people with your wisdom and make an impression on people that might later become a business partner or client. Lastly, these sessions allow for networking before, during, and afterwards. That leads to the next major benefit of conferences.

 Everyone knows the value of meeting people in person, and conferences give you the opportunity to do this on mass level. Affiliate Marketing conferences such as Affiliate Summit bring over 5,000 people together for 4 or 5 days. That’s allows for ton of opportunities for face time with industry contacts, current clients, and prospective customers. This benefit alone makes any reputable conference worth the trip.

If you have ever had a booth at a conference, you know the value of the foot traffic around your booth and the opportunity it provides to get your company’s products/services in front of the right people. Even if you don’t have a booth at the show, you can walk around the exhibit hall and meet with vendors and other prospective clients that are walking the floor.

This definitely could be included under networking but I really feel it can stand on its own since it’s really very different from the more formal networking and brief conversations that happen during regular conference hours.

The social gatherings, cocktail hours, and parties at conferences really help business people develop and cement relationships. Everyone is more relaxed and the conversations just flow more smoothly than under the glare of the bright conference lights in the exhibit hall and meeting rooms. This is your chance to really get to know people in your industry on a deeper level and find out what makes them tick.  

Conferences and networking can really help you build the foundation for your online business. Sure, there are plenty of other ways one can go about growing their contacts and learning the ropes when you are trying to grow your presence in the Affiliate Marketing industry. Conferences offer a great (and extremely fun) way to get your business on a growth path in rapid fashion, develop your support network and client base, anhd build upon existing relationships. Get yourself a spot on the conference circuit and I guarantee you’ll see good results pile up in a hurry.