Today's story comes from Constantin Singureanu, Managing Director at Puffer.co.uk, leading digital agency from UK. Their aim is to help businesses achieve long term sustainable growth through the combination of digital and innovative tactics that deliver outstanding data-driven results. Puffer joined our network during the Spring contest and quickly proved to be valuable partners and claimed the third place in the competition. Constantin was kind enough to share some industry insights with us in the interview below.
1. How long have you been working in the affiliate marketing industry and what's your main role at Puffer.co.uk?
I am relatively new to the affiliate industry, I am the Managing Director for one of the most awarded digital agencies in the UK, Pufferr. We turned to affiliate marketing as a way of developing an additional stream of revenue, given that we purchase various tools and packages for our clients.
2. What's your biggest affiliate marketing challenge right now, and why?
I think the biggest challenges are lack of reputation of the affiliate sellers in the market on one side, and the change brought by COVID, where the amount of content increased exponentially, therefore less "market share" of reader's minds. By reputation of sellers, I refer to old school, traditional and experienced affiliates who fail to shift their focus from selling to helping customers.
3. How did the recent pandemic affect your business?
As most of our clients have brick and mortar elements, the businesses were closed, and the spending decreased. We do however see a good increase following the pandemic, with traditional business owners being more willing to undertake digital transformations and adapt to the new online realities.
4. Name the most successful affiliate project you've worked on. What do you think made it successful?
We only just started, but we already see lots of small gains in different areas that we would not previously monetize i.e. content and tools.
5. Can you tell us three digital marketing trends every company should look at and prepare for in the next two years?
I will mention here automation, commoditization and outsourcing platforms.
- Automation is already knocking at our doors and speeds up processes.
- Commoditized products are so similar that consumers will make purchasing decisions based solely on the price-tags of the item in question. This puts quite a challenge on selling strategies.
- Outsourcing platforms are perfect for delivering the resources that are out of your reach. And they have experts in the field.
6. How do you think our network helps Puffer.co.uk achieve its goals as an affiliate?
Avangate Affiliate Network represents for us a way to monetize services that we would not normally monetize i.e. tools, content etc that our customers purchase following our advice. We need a fast, easy process, and hassle free, and your platform does just that. It's a great fit.
7. Any advice for affiliate newcomers who are promoting software and digital goods?
Please stop selling and really focus on helping people, the sales will follow.