Yes, You Do “Heart” Performance Marketing

February, the month of hearts, flower and love, has passed but the love remains. The PMA’s “I Heart Performance Marketing” campaign asked PMA Members and those in the industry to tell us why they love working in this continually growing space.

We received a variety of very enthusiastic responses. Here are just a few:

I love performance marketing. I took right to the space as soon as I stumbled into it at my first job out of college, a Marketing Coordinator position at Zappos.com. I love so many of the different relationships and business models that provide so much opportunity and work satisfaction. I appreciate having been able to co-found and grow two successful companies. Most of all, of course, performance marketing lets me live in the same town as Shawn Collins! – Brook Schaaf, Chairman, Schaaf-PartnerCentric

I love performance marketing (this is the type of marketing that I specialize in) because it satisfies the technical, creative and social aspects of my brain and because many of my colleagues have become true friends. – Carolyn Kmet, CMO at All Inclusive Marketing

I loooooooove performance marketing because it has made me who I am today, is the foundation of my career, and the source of sooooo many great friends and colleagues! Professionally, it puts the proof in the pudding – can’t be all talk in this industry and make it – you have to PERFORM! – Kristen Kinsey, Internet Marketing Manager at The Hygienic Company

I love performance marketing because… It has been my life for 15+ years. I have met some of my best friends in this industry, it is awesome to come to work every day, and the affiliates, merchants, and networks I get to deal with every day are awesome. – Joe Sousa, Affiliate Coordinator at Fanatics

I love Performance Marketing for so many reasons! First, I’m just an Internet geek. Blogging, reviewing products, and finding deals feels more like a hobby than a job. Second, I love owning my own company and being able to work from wherever my family is. Lastly, I have made some AMAZING life-long friends.  – Tricia Meyer, Owner at Sunshine Rewards

Where to start other than the beginning. I think it was back in 2002 when I started in this gig and to keep it short and sweet one of the biggest things I love about this industry is that it has allowed me to grow up with my kids. I get to see them off for school and I’m home when they come home from school. Truly they have almost never known me working outside of the house and the two oldest ones are almost 21. – Randy Norton, Snow Consulting

I love performance marketing ting because of the wine. All. The. Wine. And beer. Seriously though, in what other industry can you get PAID to review wine and beer? And spend the night in A Christmas Story House?  To me, Performance Marketing is the perfect balance between art and science in SEO, PPC, Social and all the behind-the-scenes aspects of this industry. You may see us sharing a post w/ a cute graphic, but there’s a long game that we’re in. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Analyze lots of data, adjust, try again. Sometimes it’s still a mystery to us. Finally… Affiliate Karaoke. I mean, karaoke is awesome, but karaoke with Affiliates? And they’re not just affiliates; some have become close friends, too. We’ve spent time with each other’s families, vacationed together, gone to church together, and have taken in sporting events (from the Yankees to the Class-A Muckdogs). To everyone who has directly helped me get here, and to all those who support the industry, thank you! – Eric Nagel, CTO at FMTC

Before I say why I love performance marketing, I have to say thank you to Dr. Bert Charles Frichot for inspiring me to learn how to build websites back in the late 90’s (He gave me FrontPage Software and a beginner’s book on HTML). I soon figured out how to monetize those websites with performance (aka affiliate) marketing. Performance Marketing has granted me the flexibility to work from home while raising four children on my own. I’ve also had the pleasure of traveling to new places and meeting smart, fun colleagues that I consider to be great friends. – Kim Rowley, Founder and CEO at Key Internet Marketing

I love performance marketing because it surprises me every day with new Affiliates and Merchants putting together innovative ideas, and collaborating to help each other grow their respective businesses. After 15 years of doing this, you’d think I’d “seen everything” so to speak, but in reality there is a new site, app, idea, technology, or something else every day that is brand new. It’s an industry that allows for and rewards new ideas – and that is awesome! The PMA is just one of the ways I try to give my time to grow the industry as a whole, and I’d encourage you to take a look and get involved. – Brian Littleton, Founder and CEO at ShareASale

If it weren’t for performance marketing, my career wouldn’t be. At CallWave, we were an advertiser and a publisher too. We used it to GRBRF and to 15,000,000+ users we grew. At Invoca we knew what performance marketers like best: Tracking, transparency, and optimization equals success. Performance marketing works and is here to stay. And if you do it right, you’ll create great relationships along the way. – Robert Duva

Performance marketing focuses on results and because of this you are introduced to smart people working on the future of the industry today. I feel lucky to know people like Scott Jangro and Jamie Birch. – Don Batsford, Jr., Search Consultant

I love Performance Marketing because I get to “geek out”, while supporting my family. I get to work from home (yet I get no snow days). I get to work with innovative merchants who increase their sales and ambitious affiliates who earn commissions for their efforts. Most importantly, since I started in this business in 1998, I’ve met some of the most talented, smart, fun and loyal people in the world — and I’m proud to call them my close friends. (And, I get to see them twice a year at Affiliate Summit!) – Todd Farmer, Affiliate Marketer and Consultant

I love performance marketing, because it started as a way to help ends meet back in 1997 as an affiliate, and later that year I was able to talk my way into an affiliate manager job with Medsite.com. Not only was it a hobby back in ’97, but it was the start of my means to support my family ever since. Along the way, I managed a bunch of affiliate programs in house and as an OPM, started up and unstarted tons of affiliate sites, and met up with Missy Ward to create Affiliate Summit. Plus, it has enabled me to meet so many great people over the years, as well as making it possible for me to leave the northeast for a better way of life for my family and I in Austin, TX. – Shawn Collins, Co-Founder at Affiliate Summit

So, there are a lot of reasons to love Performance. The PMA not only loves this industry, but is the only trade association representing its interests. If you’re not already a member of the PMA, please join.