I Am Performance Marketing: AvantLink’s Chad Waite
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(With thanks to Jen Crego and Mike Allen for their work on this next installment in our I Am Performance Marketing series!)
Chad Waite lives in Sandy, Utah and is the marketing manager of AvantLink. AvantLink is a leading affiliate marketing network with the goal of quality over quantity. They consistently strive to challenge standard practices and disrupt the industry status quo.
AvantLink was founded by Paul and Scott Kalbach in 2005 and has experienced rapid growth. As Chad explained, Paul and Scott were “fed up” with outdated network technology in the affiliate space and decided to fix the problem on their own by launching a new network focused on technology at the core.
In conducting our I Am Performance Marketing feature profiles, I had the opportunity to ask Chad some questions about AvantLink, their interactions within affiliate marketing and his thoughts about the future of our industry. As Chad pointed out, AvantLink facilitates “the technology that allows advertisers to build meaningful and long term relationships with publishers.” The resulting platform and all its interactions means AvantLink ends up “working with the entire spectrum of involved parties, from affiliates to online retailers to agencies/OPMs.”
In particular, I wanted to know where Chad’s heart is within our industry. Specifically, what does he love about performance marketing: “The people, without a doubt. There are so many amazing individuals in the industry that we have had the pleasure of getting to know over the years.” Chad elaborated – “The affiliate industry is far more than just a marketing channel. It’s a place to form long lasting and meaningful partnerships with some truly amazing people.” We couldn’t agree more!
When asked to describe how AvantLink is involved in pushing the envelope within our industry, Chad quickly shared a list of accomplishments, pointing out that AvantLink was the “first affiliate network to offer real time reporting, advanced commission splitting based on attribution data,” and even an “app markets for third party developers to create amazing affiliate tools on the fly.” Again, he reiterated the importance of keeping the industry “on its toes” and challenging the status quo.
As a member of the performance marketing industry, Chad had some thoughts about the future of performance marketing in general. He feels that change is coming, particularly as “content heavy affiliates will start to demand inclusion of their impact on a sale.” To accomplish this feat, “more advanced commissioning solutions based on real time attribution data” will be required. And that’s one area he feels AvantLink is well-positioned for since “the companies that have that technology in place will see a resurgence of content based affiliate participation.”
When asked about one thing people within performance marketing should know about AvantLink, he pointed out that it is “by completely intentional design” that AvantLink isn’t focused on becoming the largest affiliate network. “We focus on quality partnerships with affiliate and merchants rather than just taking a check from anyone who is willing to work with us. This ensures a fraud-free, quality-driven network experience with top partners.” Put another way, AvantLink’s business model produces a win-win relationship for both advertisers and publishers.
Finally, to sum our industry up in just a few words, Chad believes that performance marketing is “pretty much way better than paid search.” And with creative leaders like Chad and AvantLink at the wheel, we’re confident that performance marketing will continue to perform “way better” than many marketing alternatives.
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