13 Comments

Think Big

Feb 29, 2008
by

thinkbig.jpg
I was wrong.

Initially after the Jason Calacanis keynote, I immediately started defending affiliate marketing in my own head and in my writings by invoking minutiae details about the good things and people involved in affiliate marketing and the things that I saw as hypocritical in the Mahalo platform or Jason’s practices on the web.

However, after having a few days to digest the keynote and think about my own identity and role, I think I was wrong to jump to such defenses. We (those of us involved either directly or tangentially in the affiliate marketing multiverse) should be thinking bigger.

Jason was wrong too. He wasn’t wrong in his assessment of thin and spam affiliates or in his admonition to think bigger and better. He was wrong when he urged affiliates to think big “in the Valley” way and focus on adding more zeroes to our checks.

That type of advice only leads to more of the same types of web pollution because the intent of creation is being put on profit. Whether it’s short term or long term, if you build a company solely on the idea of making bank, you’re going to fail. The web is a place where one can make profit, but building applications, sites or platforms on the web for profit won’t work going forwards because either someone will do it better or you’ll eventually have to resort to web pollution (Jason’s del.icio.us bookmarks, Facebook shares and a majority of tweets all pointing to Mahalo as an example).

Instead, think bigger than profit. That is where the true revenue and contribution to the web in general lies for you.

It’s coincidence that the Affiliate Summit and TED were both this week. TED is a fascinating conference aimed at shining a light on ideas worth shedding.

If you’re on Twitter, you might have seen an abundance of tweets from TED attendees such as @missrogue (Tara Hunt)

I first fell in love with the idea(s) of the conference when my own college professor (now President of the college) mentor and friend, Bernie Dunlap, was asked to speak at TED last March. From the TED site:

Ben Dunlap is a true polymath, whose talents span poetry, opera, ballet, literature and administration. He is the president of South Carolina’s Wofford College.

What does this have to do with affiliate marketing? Everything. We should be listening to and studying these big ideas, these ideas worth spreading since we are actively involved in the development of the web (even if we are just making thin affiliate sites).

TED2008 will be our most ambitious attempt yet to deliver on that agenda. We’re building our program around the biggest questions there are. And because it’s TED, we’ll be seeking answers not just from the sources you might expect, but by bringing together multiple voices from very different disciplines.

The “Aha” moments often come from the most unexpected connections. The questions below will give you a flavor of the incredibly rich vein of possibility in this approach. Plenty of Profundity and Challenge, for sure … but also plenty of room for Cool, Exciting and Whimsical. We think you will like it very much:

Who are we?
What is our place in the universe?
What is life?
Is beauty truth?
Will evil prevail?
How can we change the world?
How do we create?
What’s out there?
What will tomorrow bring?
What stirs us?
How dare we be optimistic?
And the point?

Why should we be pondering these things in relation to affiliate marketing? The web is an amazing phenomenon that we all have a hand in shaping for future generations. Even if we are just involved in the web for short term pure Ferengi-style profit, we are helping to shape things.

By pondering the big ideas, or the ideas worth spreading, we may find our own bathtub εὕρηκα moment where the world changes, and so do we.

This is only advice for you and your business, of course. “Take it if you need it, or if you don’t, just pass it on.” But in business, just like literature, language and love, you will perform better if you study the greats and allow the wisdom of the ages to get into your head.

What I have realized over the last week is that I am not an affiliate marketer anymore than I am a college professor or once was an 8th grade science teacher or once was an AmeriCorps member. I’m a human interested and fascinated by the exchange of commodities for the sake of what one wants and values (but not needs). That’s the basis of marketing. Yes, I take part in affiliate marketing, but no… I’m not “an affiliate marketer” anymore than I am a “breather.”

That realization has been helped by the blowing away of dust that covers my now comfortable career by Wayne Porter in the comments of a post below.

Wayne’s comment and my thoughts above are not predicated on over-thinking or semantical masturbation. While those charges are easy to apply since they are ingrained in our psyche’s from elementary school (“look at that dork who asks too many questions in class… geez, can’t she just shut up so that we can go to lunch?”), the stark reality is that many people have, are currently and will die for the types of ideas that the TED conference, or anyone who asks us to think outside the box beyond and about our own selves, seeks us to apply to our daily lives and businesses. Call that semantics or over-thinking all you’d like, but realize the shadows on the cave wall for what they are before you go down that path.

ReveNews is not an affiliate marketing blog. It never has been. It is a blog where we share ideas, practical experiences, thoughts, rants and wishes about online revenue production. That can take the form of affiliate marketing, or search marketing or virtual world exploits. Just like those of us who refuse to think small and unnecessarily label ourselves as a specific type of marketer and abide by a specific paradigm of modality in our businesses, this blog has always been a little quirky and tended towards the realm of thinking bigger.

Now that we’re on the right platform with WordPress, I look for that exploration to continue.

So, thanks Wayne. I urge you all to be a little quirky in the coming week and think big beyond profit once or twice. You may find the benefits for yourself and your business to be worth that investment.

(pic via brianlewandowski)

Filed under: Affiliate Marketing + Events + Internet Strategy + Micro Transactions + Micro-Content + Next-Gen Marketing + ReveNews
  • http://www.wayneporter.com Wayne Porter

    "strong philosophical buzzes"

    That is why you post. Think big. hell, just think.

  • http://affiliatemarketing.co.cc/think-big Affiliate Marketing » Blog Archive » Think Big

    [...] Original post by Sam Harrelson [...]

  • Brook Schaaf

    Sam, you’ll have to do better than that to get into trouble.

    Affiliate marketing is a monetization channel. Nothing more and nothing less. People certainly game its related systems but when do people with a profit motive not game systems? And that motive goes well beyond money – politics, influence, attention, etc.

    I do grow tired of these criticisms. I think a lot of people make them only because they know they’ll see a reaction. A lot of them are fair criticisms but, again, you can criticize everything related to commerce.

    One specific thing you wrote I found a little odd: “ReveNews is not an affiliate marketing blog. It never has been.” Disagree with you on that one, Sam. I think most people consider ReveNews to essentially be an affiliate marketing blog. That’s certainly how I stumbled across it, way back when.

  • http://www.onlineartsmarketing.com Chris O’Byrne

    I think you’re right on the money, here. I also think you hit the tone just right. Instead of keeping the big picture in mind while you think like an affiliate marketer, it’s more the other way around. The big picture is what we should be thinking in as a matter of course. I pushed myself towards this path just recently by subscribing to the Economist and looking at the big picture of global finance in order to better understand and keep the little world of affiliate marketing in its place. Affiliate marketing is important… in it’s place.

  • http://www.wayneporter.com Wayne Porter

    Get beyond labels.

    Brooke- do you see me as an affiliate? or a merchant? or someone who understands affiliate marketing? Truth is you usually only see me at inflection points…why?

    Sam- fine. My proof. Sometime next week ill try to do one or two things.

    a) Share something of value those normally would never see or hear.

    b) My theory, it is really just a picture and a few words, and i feel retarded for taking a year to figure it out, but I think it makes sense. It shows how affiliate marketing works trans-media- and blows away Jason’s notion of “web”. If you are going to have an economy “of sorts” on the Grid, make it work.

    I cannot do it alone anyway. Finite resources. If it is worth experimenting someone might think about it- like the Memorial we did- that was changing for many people- me included. measuring it- hard to do. But everyone knew…it worked.

    Let me make it worse- it is Second Life + Affiliate Marketing. :) How is that for a swan dive?

    The two rather ill regarded places online- for those that are mocked and scorned usually there is something of value- just ask the right questions. Don’t throw it all away.

    Remember all of those who said “what has this got to do with me or affiliate marketing”? At the time I didn’t truly know, just offered the best I had. I have much better now.

    Why stay and try? Stupidity, idiocy, arrogance, curiosity, and mostly challenge. Second Life is a really only a server but it is real, affiliate marketing is a tool kit of skills. I am not a second lifer- it is a reality or terrain and i am not an affiliate or merchant- I am a facilitator and now I am a bridge between cultures.

    I am not really a good example. But if you read my posts (now essays- jangro!)- I am not in the stupid echo chamber either.

    * As I said in the other post- a friend is not a click.

    * Twitter is the most accurate- you are a follower. (might be an interactor)

    * WWJD- what would jason do? probably something I would not like- which is why I will do the inverse.

    And hey it might be major suckage… :)
    Beautiful way to go down…in flames…

    of doing something other than what everyone does daily like drones…hey I was one, until you made me realize Twitter had value? Remember the resistance?

    I have much knowledge from the “The Grid” and many here don’t get it or won’t- we need new DNA. Prototypical thinking. This is not BS. This genuine stuff. This is not affiliate marketing 101 this Revenews- opinions on revenue. cutting edge- i know the people on the list, they are.

    Think BIG by thinking SMALL.

    Like Kiva microloans. :) Yep. or AM Radio’s wheat field…anyone notice? Probably not here. :)

    Brooke- you are a film maker yes? Think about that. Can you be trained as a film maker and be an affiliate? are you still a maker of film?

    Your actions define what you are or how you are interpreted.

    -wayne

  • Brook Schaaf

    Dammit, Wayne, there is no “e” in Brook!

  • http://www.wayneporter.com Wayne Porter

    Always gets your attention with the female version. eh :)

    Talk about your film work Brook. I have seen it. I have seen some very interesting sides of marketers here- but they lock it up. Let it out. Do something differently. It may not be apparent at first…but it is ok to change paths. Your aesthetic is not mine. Quality is relative…(mostly)

    -wayne

  • http://www.wayneporter.com Wayne Porter

    “ReveNews to essentially be an affiliate marketing blog”

    AND that is what makes it survive and how new ideas grow get fired into the stream. Social network theory, Duncan’s Number (had that talk at summit at shareasale party-)…get beyond clicks. even MSFTs engagement is old school (nice try VCLK did it two years ago and Scott M. and I talked about it in 2001- on CPA basis.)

    We cannot define affiliate marketing. so what does affiliate marketing blog mean?

    affiliates are swift to adopt and hard to define. That is their real strength. The networks that are so loose that it borders on bad, but tight enough- stuff gets done.

    -wayne

  • http://www.jangro.com Scott Jangro

    “What I have realized over the last week is that I am not an affiliate marketer anymore than I am a college professor or once was an 8th grade science teacher or once was an AmeriCorps member. I’m a human interested and fascinated by the exchange of commodities for the sake of what one wants and values (but not needs). That’s the basis of marketing. Yes, I take part in affiliate marketing, but no… I’m not “an affiliate marketer” anymore than I am a “breather.””

    Amen Sam.

  • Jonathan (Trust)

    You have to take it in the context of the conversation. Which I believe was what we call ourselves as far as this business. Of course people are all sorts of other things too. Brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, crazy Republicans, Cub fans, yes, I hope human, breathers etc. These conferences give off strong philosophical buzzes :)

  • http://www.imwave.com Adam Viener

    I'm just an aff.

  • http://www.wayneporter.com Wayne Porter

    Ironic twist and humor on the history of web marketing dually noted Adam.

    -wayne

  • http://www.jimkukral.com/affiliate-marketing-is-a-lifestyle-choice-response-to-jason-calacanis/ Affiliate Marketing Is A Lifestyle Choice – Response To Jason Calacanis

    [...] would get the industry talking. I was right. Here’s some links to catch you up on reading. Think Big. Live blogging the keynote. MissyWard.com. Keynote video footage. MP3 of the entire keynote [...]