Affiliate Management Days is where affiliate marketing teams and executives come together to share case studies, insights and the latest tools and techniques to effectively manage affiliate programmes.

We  caught up with Founder & Chair of  the conference and the CEO & Founder of AM Navigator LLC , Geno Prussakov, to talk about the branching out of the conference into European territory in the form of the upcoming AM Days London – May15-16, 2013. 

Geno, for anyone who hasn’t met you before, can you give us some insight in to your history in the performance marketing channel?

I entered affiliate marketing as an owner of a small online store which was selling Russian collectibles. I started my first affiliate programme in 2003, however due to my rapid success, I was soon being approached by other advertisers to manage their affiliate programmes. By 2006, I had sold my online store and started an outsourced affiliate management company called AM Navigator. 2007 saw me publish my first book, “A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing”, this was an introductory manual for advertisers and beginning affiliate managers.  This paved the way for the publication of  my second book, in 2011, on affiliate management – “Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day.” These books have trained thousands of affiliate managers, and are even being used in MBA courses around the world. In 2012 I launched the world first conference dedicated solely to affiliate programme management questions, Affiliate Management Days. I serve on the advisory boards for a4uexpo Europe and Performance Marketing Insights, whilst also serving as a judge for  the Performance Marketing Awards and LinkShare Golden Link Awards.  On top of all that, I like to keep myself busy by consulting, blogging, and speaking worldwide.

AM Days is the world’s first and only professional forum devoted to affiliate management. Can you tell us a bit more about the conference and the value it offers?

Before Affiliate Management Days there had never been a conference dedicated specifically to affiliate management questions. At larger conferences like a4uexpo or Affiliate Summit, where I speak regularly, we have to address multiple questions which are focused on the industry as a whole and with generally very few sessions  being devoted to the niche and specific issues that affiliate managers struggle with (affiliate recruitment, motivation, fraud and compliance, legislative challenges, multi-channel attribution etc.). There was clearly a very wide gap in the conference market. AM Days aims to address these niche professional questions as the conference is geared specifically towards online advertisers, affiliate managers, and digital marketing practitioners. If you look at the agenda of our upcoming show in San Francisco, you get a very good feel for the value that this conference brings to the table. For anyone considering attending the San Francisco show: heads up, the Early Bird rate ends this Friday, 22 February 2013! Remember,  Affiliate Window’s 20% OFF code applies in addition to this saving.

As the UK performance market is vastly different to the US, what would you say are the main drivers behind bringing AM Days across the pond and do you have any expectations on how the audience will receive the event?

While we may be facing different issues on each side of the pond, there are still plenty of similarities. One of the ideas behind AM Days, regardless of the geographic location, is to provide an environment where lessons may be learned from the successes and mistakes of others, and solutions may be found via one big collaborative effort. We’ll have plenty of subjects to delve into at AM Days London 2013.

AM Days target audience is primarily affiliate managers and marketing executives, what can delegates expect to take away from the event?

With AM Days being the professional forum that it is, three things: (i) readily applicable knowledge with solutions to everyday problems and challenges, (ii) widened and deepened professional connections and (iii) motivation to take your affiliate program to new heights. Every attendee will walk away equipped, connected, and pumped!

Here in the UK content is considered key and we are always keen to hear from fresh speakers, explore new ideas or discuss areas for development. Can you give us some insight into the topics that will be covered at AM Days London?

While there will be some familiar faces (like Matthew Wood, Jim Banks and Kevin Edwards) at AM Days London 2013, you will have the opportunity to see and hear speakers (from all over Europe) which you may have not have encountered before. The topics will range from the most recent research on performance marketing (both IAB UK and Econsultancy will be presenting their findings), to attribution and analytics. Email, m-affiliate programs, innovative approaches to affiliate motivation and the emerging Eastern European markets will also be discussed. On Day Two we will also have a keynote panel with C-level executives from Europe’s and Britain’s major affiliate networks. The full agenda may be viewed here. Registration is now open and the Super Early Bird rate is valid through 8 March, 2012. Again, Affiliate Window’s 20% OFF code works here too.

You have hosted AM Days in Ft. Lauderdale, San Francisco and the show is now coming to London. Where in the world would you like to take the conference next?

I’d love see it come to China or Russia next. I’m currently waiting on the Chinese and Russian translations of my “Affiliate Programme Management: An Hour a Day” book so that I can start preparing the soil.  Between San Francisco (where we’re having our US show on April 16-17) and London (where we’re coming on May 15-17) we are always covering the two most significant areas: the Americas and Europe. I’d like to also emphasize that AM Days London is not to be viewed as a UK show. We are positioning it as a conference which targets both Britain and continental Europe.

With all the travelling you do, you must have a lot of frequent flyer miles!  If you could find time for a relaxing break and you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?

What a beautiful question! In the winter, I’d go for a quiet boutique hotel on a Caribbean beach and in the summer – a serene lake somewhere in Finland’s Zanderland, England’s Lake District or the Scottish Highlands.

 Find out more about Geno by following him on twitter: @ePrussakov.

This entry was posted by Jasmin on Wednesday, February 20th, 2013 at 1:02 pm and is filed under Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.