Guest Writer: Sean Cheyney, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, AccuQuote
When I first started in the interactive space, affiliate marketing was just getting started, and I jumped in immediately. In those early days, the relationship that could be formed between advertiser and publisher was fairly easy because of the size of the affiliate universe. It felt very much like the way business is conducted in a small town. It’s all about the relationship.
At AccuQuote, we approach the affiliate space the same way that we approach all of our business partnerships. We focus on building the relationship as a partnership that requires nurturing, ongoing communication, and a willingness to try new approaches in order to maximize everyone’s profitability. We understand that affiliates will not want to work with us if our offer doesn’t perform, so we focus time and manpower (both through our internal resources and through resources at Direct Agents) on the program to ensure its success for our publishers and for AccuQuote.
Affiliate marketing plays a key role as one of the spokes in the overall growth of our business and the AccuQuote brand. Just like display, search, radio, print, and television, affiliate marketing has its own nuances and special areas of attention. As a result of its uniqueness, we make sure that we have a daily dialogue with Direct Agents, and focus our creative resources towards coming up with impactful creative, based on feedback we hear from our other media channels as well as from our affiliates. The key for us has been to listen to what is working for our marketing partners and deliver to our affiliates creatives as well as creative solutions to make their lives easier.
Just like building relationships with our customers, it is part of our DNA to build strong relationships with our affiliates. Along with these relationships comes the growth in the affiliate channel to meet everyone’s goals.
To sign up for the AccuQuote Affiliate Contest on the Direct Agents Performance Network please click here!
Sean Cheyney is responsible for spearheading the overall growth and direction of AccuQuote’s marketing initiatives, channel development, strategic partnerships, emerging media platforms, brand image, and customer acquisition through both online and offline advertising.
A California native, Cheyney resides in Northbrook, Ill., and holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology, law, and society from the University of California-Irvine.