Jen LaForge 0:00

Megan, thanks for meeting with me today. If you've been watching our episodes, we are not in our typical location. We're here live at Dealmaker Toronto, arguably the most intimate and productive affiliate conference in the Canadian market. It's a pleasure to have you. Megan Petta here is from Impact, the all-in-one enterprise solution network that is a meaningful partner channel across affiliates, across influencer creators, social, I'm missing something, customer referrals. Yes. It's huge. Impact is huge. We have a very close relationship here at Racktion with them. So really enjoy uh being able to talk today. Um, we talked a little bit about your career and your role at Impact. You've been in this space for over 10 years. Tell us what brought you to the space and then what is your role at Impact and how do you service within our industry?

Megan Petta 0:54

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here. And um yeah, always love talking about affiliate marketing just because I have been in it since 2012. I kind of fell into the role and fell in love with it. Um, really after the first conference, I saw how big, how many people were involved, but also it's such a small industry at the end of the day. So um this conference has been great just running into people I've never actually met in real life before, but have worked together for years. And yeah, affiliate marketing has been great to evolve in because it's super fast-paced. It's gone from just affiliates and publishers to creators and influencers. And then, you know, in the last couple of years, I've we've kind of expanded into customer referrals. Uh, and I've loved learning about that as well as just something new for um brands to kind of introduce in terms of a partner type and seeing that success has been exciting.

Jen LaForge 1:48

Okay. Um, we we're gonna come back to the evolution because it has changed more so than I think a lot of other industries, um, which makes it so exciting. But before we get there, what's your role at Impact?

Megan Petta 2:01

Right. Um, I'm a senior account executive on the brand side. And so I have the pleasure of speaking with all different brands throughout my day. Um, and what I love about that is just learning about a travel brand and a finance brand or a B2B space. And then, you know, they're um asking questions about should I launch an affiliate marketing channel? What would that look like? Or we have one, it's not as successful as we'd like. And so helping brands take a look at what partnerships mean to them and help identify any opportunity gap that we can kind of cover and then ultimately show what that growth would look like and how that would impact the business if it started to come through a new channel like affiliate.

Jen LaForge 2:43

So you mentioned something that also makes our industry and what we do so beautiful, and is the opportunity to work with so many different retailers. Now, travel retailer versus someone in FinServe versus a traditional retailer, those are very different businesses in the way that they they acquire their customers or they they drive their business performance. How do you determine individually for them if they should be in the affiliate space or they should lean more on the content creator side or customer referrals is really where you know their value is going to be? How do you make that decision and how you work with those brands?

Megan Petta 3:21

That's such a great question. Um, I'm thinking about, and we're asking them, you know, where does your customers find you today? So are they already searching for you because you have great brand awareness? And so it's just a matter of being chosen over some competitors. That's where affiliate, you know, come in. Influencer can be introduced to help with that upper funnel awareness. Versus if they're struggling through paid channels initially and they have very high CAC through paid search, paid social, um, maybe we pivot to customer referral because they do have customers. They were harder to find, but now let's make your loyal customers really work for bringing in those new ones.

Jen LaForge 4:05

And is there any brand that that builds a strategy that encompasses all of them? Or is it a menu and they select what they want for dinner that night? I mean, how does that work?

Megan Petta 4:15

Yeah, I think ultimately comes down to resourcing because running an affiliate channel versus a creator channel versus a referral channel is going to be hopefully people different people or at least a team kind of dedicated to it. But a lot of times they're open to the idea of like these three working together. Um and it'd say more often than not, they're let's start with affiliate influencer and add-on referral.

Jen LaForge 4:39

As we go from there. Perfect. So um we're here at DealMaker, as I said, it's end of September, going into Q4. This is our Super Bowl. I was saying a very long, exhausting Super Bowl in our industry. If a brand was coming in today to initiate those conversations, how important would you say it is that they they really, you know, speed to market, get set up on affiliates? Or should they wait till January when the dust settles? I mean, what kind of guidance would you give a brand right now that sees the opportunity of the quarter?

Megan Petta 5:11

Yeah, um, I'd say the best time was yesterday. So let's get it done. And we need to be live, you know, uh, ideally soon, um, maybe by the end of October at the extreme latest. But if you're not live and you say, we'll just launch in in Q1, you've missed any potential of being included in those listicles and gift guides and like holiday discussions, if it's a newsletter or podcast, even. Um, so at least if you are stood up and you're coming back to the table and you know, if you're getting turned away because placements are full, um, at least you know what those placements might be for next year. And at the end of the day, if you have a one or two go live, it could be massive still. So I think it's it's still still time to take advantage.

Jen LaForge 5:57

There's time. Why is it so important to take advantage and not wait until January? Because everything you've just said has a sense of urgency to it. And um, that would be different than if you're talking to someone at the end of Q1. So, why is Q4 so valuable in our space for brands?

Megan Petta 6:15

We all know like we're we're gift gift buying, right? And we're making these wish lists and things like that. So there's gonna be some viral products that go out there. And it even if you're not a viral product, you could be similar to in the sense that, you know, friend or family member that likes product A might also have some affinity with something else. And so you can kind of see that halo effect just because it's Q4 season. So you do want to be involved.

Jen LaForge 6:44

I love that you said halo because it's you're getting the product spotlights, you're getting the boost in sales, you're getting those referrals, friends and family, customer referrals, but you're also um you're building an acquisition base through the quarter that is going to carry the first half of next year. At least that's what we see at Racktain. We drive a significant number of uh new members and new buyers to not only our platform, but to our retailers. Would you say that missing that opportunity sets them back not just a quarter, but a half a year? And what would they do if they can't? Because there's there's some that might not be able to jump on this. What are the what should they be thinking of come January after missing that opportunity?

Megan Petta 7:28

Yeah, and I think that's it's a tough, like blanket answer because it's going to be very different for the segment of brand, where if it's um, you know, maybe a health-focused brand, their seasonality is probably going to be Q1 anyway. So, same idea is like they want to be live and just up and running for when the New Year's resolutions hit.

Jen LaForge 7:49

Yeah.

Megan Petta 7:50

Um, but if they're gathering even even just like email newsletter signups, um, and then you're getting them hooked into whatever the next holiday season is going to be. So it could just be a slow drip where you're introducing these customers to your brand. Um, they're, you know, having the ads follow them around, anyways, and they're they're getting like the latest updates, and maybe you have a product launch coming that they're gonna be excited about by the time it kind of hits in in Q1.

Jen LaForge 8:17

Okay. Um, let's double back. We talked a little bit at the start about the evolution. So I want to go back to the evolution we've seen. Um, interestingly, I came into the industry in 2012 as well. So uh we both caught the vibe. Yeah. Um, I've seen a lot change, um, but I'm not as close to the the creator side, the content creator influencer side. That's a big piece to this. Maybe share what you think has been the biggest evolution or how things have evolved over the past 14, 15. How old are we now?

Megan Petta 8:48

Yeah, it's been 14 years. Um, yeah, for sure. So in 2012, it was more affiliate publisher, you know, media placements, creative testing. It was very transactional. I don't think we really use the word creator. Um, and so when that started to happen, we're talking about influencers versus celebrity influencers. And anyone can be an influencer. And then we don't want to influence people to buy, we want to create things. So that content creator idea has been evolving, of course. Um, but even in the last two years, we've seen such a major shift from brands paying large fees for one-time like content creation to what we're calling more of a hybrid affiliate creator, where most brands, like more than 50% of brands, are paying a fixed fee plus an affiliate link. And it's more common now and accepted that you're you're going to continue to earn commission in the same sense. Um, and then introducing those creators as long-term as opposed to one-time post is really adding value.

Jen LaForge 9:52

I think that affiliate link part came almost too late because when influencers came into the space, it was their traditional model against our traditional model. There was, I think, a little bit of friction early on and in kind of understanding how to build them within within that funnel together. Um, would you say the response from the creator community and influencers with the affiliate linking, does that represent longer-term loyalty to the brand and more authenticity in how they're selecting who to work with? Because it actually has, I think, a more beneficial and longer lifespan with those links.

Megan Petta 10:31

I think you're right. It was met with friction. And, you know, we've had influencers, creators come to some of the affiliate conferences and they've said, oh, my like my view on everything has completely changed because now I understand you're not just telling your audience to buy, you're really kind of pushing through that vision that you do love this brand, you do associate with this brand, and that you want them to experience what you're experiencing by using the product or you know, shopping at that place. Um, and so that can be easier for them to digest in terms of like, let's have a link in bio, or now we can swipe up to shop, and that can be an affiliate link. So it feels more natural and it's still like less less transactional than just clicking a link on a website where you can see like I may earn affiliate commission. Um, I think it's you're kind of living through the influencer's experience by buying that same product.

Jen LaForge 11:26

Do you think that's led to stronger performance on the influencer side? That shift in in the commitment and the loyalty and the understanding of the mission, so to speak?

Megan Petta 11:36

Yeah, I think it's easier for brands to prove to leadership that influencers work when we can tie it back to a dollar amount easier, which previously we, you know, a couple of years ago is we paid a flat fee, we received as much site traffic, engagement on our content, increase in in social followers, which leadership was appreciative of, but ultimately would like to know did did we reach new customers that purchased? Um, so that does make things easier.

Jen LaForge 12:04

Yeah, there's, I mean, every marketer's nightmare, um, the vanity metrics and being asked what's the ROI. So this definitely helps with that that conversation, but there's 50%, almost 50% that aren't there yet. Do you think that's just a lack of awareness? Or is there some hesitation still to tie my creative and content and what I'm influencing to say an affiliate program?

Megan Petta 12:30

Yeah, it's interesting talking to some brands because there will be brands who are firm on we only do gifting and then they create the content. And then the question is, well, how valuable is your gift? Because if we're creating a gift for a $30, you know, drink, that's really what they're getting paid. So are we going to have the right type of content creators associated with that gift versus I'm a couch brand, I can gift you this luxury couch for a living room. Like they're actually excited. They're doing a whole living room reorganization and decor and everything like that. So it's it's more exciting in that sense. Um, but yeah, there's still a lot of education happening when talking to brands still about like how do influencers work today? What are they expecting? And will I even be successful if I go out with this strategy?

Jen LaForge 13:20

So, Megan, we talked a little bit about AI in the beginning too. We don't want to dive too much in there, but Impact is doing uh a lot. Um, what can you what do you want to speak on? Like just an quick AI piece at Impact, what you guys are working on right now, because it sounds pretty exciting.

Megan Petta 13:35

Yeah. Um, so like a lot of brands were definitely investing heavily in AI. And the maybe the portion of our platform that I'm the most excited about is helping brands understand where they're showing up today for what consumers are searching. Um, so if we are thinking about going to Chat GPT or Gemini and just like building out some holiday lists, they're using up to 40% of um websites that are citing affiliate links. And so if we can introduce and connect them to more of those partners that they may not be working with, um, that can be really valuable. And so we've rolled out what we're calling an AI search visibility report to help not only surface, you know, where are you ranking for these brand categories, but what domains are contributing to it and more specifically, uh, what articles you are not showing up in. So connecting that to our marketplace is going to help fast track those conversations to um to be showing up where you want to be showing up.

Jen LaForge 14:38

I I love that. It's very exciting to me as a very data-driven person. What's the most exciting part is that you are providing visibility, data, reporting. Um, in a lot of the AI conversations out there, we're talking about that end product or or what the customer is using or how it's changing the experience. Not a lot of people yet are talking about the data layer and how to to right away understand the value that's coming from these changes. Um, so I want to talk uh, not specific to the AI piece, but one of the things I love and respect about impact is how rich the data is and how much data you're able to share with the brands to help drive their business. Do you want to talk a little bit about the data piece at Impact and just how rich that is for brands?

Megan Petta 15:26

Yeah, I also love data. I also get told we say data, they say data data. So too funny. Um, but yeah, when you're a brand and you're you're coming into the platform, you're of course connecting to partners and you want to understand, did they drive impressions, clicks, you know, sales to the website? We can take a step back. We can say, also, when you hire those partners, how are they adding to the customer buying journey? Where are they showing up in that buying journey? And that's really helpful to understand if you introduce influencers. They could be very upper funnel, but not often getting credit for a sale if you're on last click. Right. So seeing data points like that are really um valuable to bring up, you know, to management. So when we're looking at the partners that you hire as a brand, you can see the customer journey. And what we mean by that is you might see an influencer introduce your brand to a new customer. And then they might do some further research and they might be showing up in editorial pieces on a news. You might see an ad of yours. Uh, so impact can even take a further step back. And we can say, well, not only are we tracking your customer journey for your partners, what about your other channels? Did the customer interact with your newsletter or your paid search ads that some other team is running, your paid social ads? If that's the case, do you still attribute this commission to a partner? You can ultimately make that decision. And leadership's usually very excited to have that control and that level of visibility in the platform where we're not forcing through a partner commission, but you can essentially decide which channel is most valuable.

Jen LaForge 17:02

Okay, I love that. We uh we have a short, uh, short amount of time today because we are super busy. I said it's our Super Bowl, it's kicking off here. So, Megan, I'm I'm one last question for you, and it is around Q4. What excites you going into the the last three months of this year and or maybe what that's gonna lend to in the new year? But what are you really excited about in our space right now?

Megan Petta 17:25

Yeah, loaded question here. I'm thinking there's so much that could be exciting. Um, I think for this Q4, what's going to be new is that not only can you run uh your affiliate and influencer channel like D2C on your on your Shopify site, let's say, um, we've also integrated with Amazon. So seeing that uptick in terms of our shoppers now shopping D2C or also on Amazon, and you can actually capture and understand the value there will be, yeah, we'll be really exciting to see what brands do with that. And then overall, the consumer shift, you know, through research, we've seen it's taking longer to make purchases, but they're more intentional in the resulting in higher cart value. So I think consumers are less focused on the lowest price and more the best price for the best product they could buy. Um, so love to see that come through in the data that we have.

Jen LaForge 18:20

You know, I'm so glad that you said that. So I haven't asked you yet. And I think I've asked in the last couple conversations was your definition of value. Because what you just said there was not the lowest price, but the best price. So, what how would you define personally as an individual? Yeah, and I've asked many people this all different answers. How do you define value in your life?

Megan Petta 18:40

Uh value in my life. Um tough one, I know. That is a tough one. I mean, value is ultimately if I can own it, I would say. If I can own it in the sense of, is it my time and my decision that I fully want to move forward with an experience or a purchase or a feeling that I'm, you know, resulting in by moving forward with step step one. Um, so I mean, this this podcast with you, this is valuable because, you know, it's a little nervous to come on here and chat with you, but um, ultimately I'll find some value at the end of the day because we were able to have this great conversation.

Jen LaForge 19:17

So that is the most empowering answer we have gotten in any episode. So thank you so much for that. I received a huge amount of value. We're gonna go back out onto the floor and have a hundred more conversations today. Um, but this has been so far my favorite uh because I did make you do something really scary and nervous. And I just love that because you you shine throughout it. There's so many more questions asked. There's so much to learn about impact.com. So if we can just leave with uh how can those who are listening learn more about the the menu, that all-in-one enterprise solution that impact is, and really figure out if they can jump on board for Q4, if they're not.

Megan Petta 19:59

Yeah, just reach out to our team, to the website. And there's so many of us that are willing to hop in and same day or next day, understand um the the really what the focus of the business is. That's ultimately where I think we're trying to stand out is um working towards some sort of greater business goal and then ultimately helping a brand get their leadership to buy in. That's that's what we're passionate about.

Jen LaForge 20:22

Okay, I'm passionate about you being passionate about that because ultimately those brands come to Rackton and we're able to bring more rewarding experiences to our members. Megan, thank you so much. Let's wrap this up. We've got more readings to have.

Megan Petta 20:34

Yeah, awesome.

Jen LaForge 20:35

Thank you so much. And that's it for this episode of Stack. If you found this useful, follow along as we interview leaders shaping the future of retail and learn how value really works behind the scenes. And if there's a topic you want us to unpack, I'd love to hear from you. See you next time.