Brian Marcus (@bmarcus31) is the VP of Global Marketing at TUNE, the pioneer in partner marketing management and mobile measurement.

Brian is a man of replicating success at some of the world’s most well-known brands. He was able to bring a wealth of growth knowledge to Teespring after building eBay’s Seller Partner Network through affiliate and partner marketing back in 2012.

Before eBay, he took the reins and scaled Google Affiliate Network back in 2008. Brian holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Affiliate marketing is often considered the red-headed step-child of digital marketing, and puts a bad taste in many peoples’ mouths. Brian smashes this misconception to pieces and provides a very compelling case for anyone who wants to grow their customer base through what could be one of the best return on investment (ROI) channels for any startup.

This episode is particularly valuable for anyone who wants to leverage niche blogs, influencers, or rebate sites to share their audience and drive “warm” customers to consider and buy your product on a consistent basis, at an amazing ROI. Who wouldn’t want this?

Please help grow the show with me…

by reviewing, subscribing, or downloading 2 episodes. If you do any 1 of the 3, I’ll enter you into a $50 Amazon gift card contest, which we’ll announce the winner of every other Thursday. A $100 contest if you download 5 episodes!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Tune In, Stitcher, or on your favorite podcast platform. 

Show Notes

• Why has affiliate marketing gotten a bad name? [0:47]
• What is eBay Partner Network? [4:53]
• How did you get things turned around at eBay? [5:59]
• What Quality Click Pricing was at eBay [7:28]
• What Revenue share was [8:35]
• How revenue sharing was dynamic and would vary by product sold [9:36]
• Is simplicity a common thread in making an affiliate program a success? [10:17]
• How a good affiliate partnership is built on transparency [11:22]
• What is partnership marketing and what falls under that umbrella [12:47]
• If I’m an e-commerce company, say I’m a startup selling Direct-to-Consumer Tempur-pedic pillows, how do I get good at leveraging affiliate marketing? [13:58]
• How to use influencer marketing to market your product successfully (ex. FabFitFun) [15:20]
• Where do I start? Make a list of blogs and influencers who share same audience? [16:45]
• What is an affiliate network and how do they do the hard work for you [18:19]
• How affiliate marketing is like portfolio management [19:08]
• How much should I pay to get a customer to come to my e-commerce site? How do I figure that out? [20:10]
• What’s a pass back [21:48]
• Any recommended tools for looking at competition? [22:34]
• What is Earnings Per Click and what do affiliates use to make their business work [23:17]
• What is 1 piece of advice you can offer a founder or startup marketer? [24:00]
• (Slow) Rapid Growth Questions [25:25]
• Brian’s Affiliate Summit Panel Talk with 6 CEOs on Partner Marketing [32:45]
• What marketing advice do you give that very few follow? [35:48]
• Any asks of the audience? [37:01]

Links from Episode

• Connect with Brian: Twitter | LinkedIn | Tune
• Clicks flooding
• Examples of fraud in affiliate marketing
• Commission Junction
• Ebay Partner Network
• Harvard Business Case on eBay Partner Network
• Harvard Business Case on eBay Partner Network pricing (Part D)
• eBay’s Quality Click Pricing
• Revenue Sharing
• Rakuten Rewards (formerly Ebates)
• Buzzfeed
• SAAS
• TUNE
• FabFitFun
• Publisher Discovery
• Cost Per Actions
• Lifetime Value
• Conversion Rate
• Evreward
• Earnings Per Click (EPC)
• Jerry Maguire
• Adexchanger
• Media Post
• Performance In
• TUNE blog
• The Ultimate Guide To Partner Marketing
• Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
• Wired
• Fast Company
• Affiliate Summit West 2020 – Keynote Panel: Partner vs Affiliate – Is it One or the Other?

What was your favorite quote or lesson from the episode? Let me know in the comments.