EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Neil Patel, Conversion and Affiliate Marketing Icon

Neil Patel is a New York Times bestselling author. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 35 by the United Nations.

What I love about what I do is meeting some of the greatest minds in digital, affiliate and growth marketing. While I was travelling in Thailand last month, Neil and I ended up speaking at the same Affiliate Marketing Conference, and had a great chat about food, travel, Vancouver, Seattle and what makes marketing great.

As the co-founder of several multi-million dollar digital companies, including Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics and Quick Sprout, AND as a personal advisor to some of the largest brands in the world, Neil knows what he’s talking about.

I was lucky enough to interview Neil about his thoughts on Affiliate Marketing. Here is what he had to say:

Q: Affiliate Marketing means many things to many people. How do you view and value affiliate marketing in the overall marketing mix for brands looking to drive incremental revenue and new customer acquisitions?

Neil: Affiliate marketing is great. It allows smaller companies to grow without having to take large risks. With marketing becoming more expensive and competitive, you have to no choice but to leverage all channels if you want to grow. And of course, affiliate marketing should be in that mix.

Q: As the founder of several multimillion dollar companies, and as a strategic advisor for tier one companies, what do you see as the priority digital or omni-channel marketing focus for brands going into 2018?

Neil: Growth hacking is a huge focus… it has been for the past few years and it will continue as marketing gets more expensive. By having all teams within an organization (not just marketing) focusing on growing a company, you can get creative and grow faster. Just look at Dropbox, the product and engineering team helped the company grow by creating a referral based system.

Q: If you were to give three tips to help affiliates increase their engagement and conversions in the new year, what would they be?

Neil: 1. Collect emails – when users don’t convert, collect their emails as this will help you convert more people over time. 2. Add remarketing pixels on checkout pages – you can create a remarketing ad video showing people the product or service they would have got if they completed the purchase. These videos would be displayed on Facebook and YouTube through remarketing. 3. Focus on copy – copy is one of the big conversion lifters. By creating copy that answers objections you’ll boost your conversions.

As Affiliate Marketing becomes more mainstream and widely accepted, it’s awesome to see people like Neil endorsing and excited about the future and personal participation in Performance Marketing today.