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Daniel Murray
No one trusts ads anymore, not even us. And we live in marketing. But you know who people do trust? Creators, friends, Reddit threads.
Cricket
With impact.com you turn trust into traffic.
Daniel Murray
By turning your fans into marketers.
Cricket
Welcome to the Marketing Millennials, the no BS Marketing Podcast. I'm Daniel Murray and join me for unfiltered convers with the brains behind marketing's coolest companies. The one request I tell our guests stories or it didn't happen. Get ready to turn the up.
Daniel Murray
Welcome back to the Marking Millennials podcast. Today I'm joined by Cricket who runs Affiliated, one of the most mission driven companies in the game Patagonia. And she's here to show you how to think differently about affiliate marketing. Here's what you'll learn in the episode how to treat affiliate like a brand channel, not just a performance one. What to look for in a good affiliate partner and what to avoid. How to balance growth with staying true to your brand values. Let's get into it. What is up, Cricket? Welcome to the Market Millennials podcast.
Cricket
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Daniel Murray
I want you to give a quick background of, like, how you got where you are, how did you get in your current role and what it's like to work for the cool company you're working for. Right?
Cricket
Yeah. I got into marketing almost by accident when I was graduating from college. I didn't have a clear career path. I didn't go to communication school, I didn't take any marketing courses really. But when I left school, I did know that I wanted to work for a values based company. I was really passionate about environmental studies, environmental responsibility. So I knew whatever I wanted to do was going to be with a company that also valued that. And so my first role out of school was an entry level marketing role with a small startup that was building data centers built and run on renewable energy. So kind of achieved that first goal of working for a company that was environmentally focused. And in that role I learned a lot of the basics of marketing and digital marketing. And that's where I realized how my skills kind of fit really well for digital marketing in general. I really liked the combination of creative thinking that you need to be good at a marketing role, but also the analytical side, the fact that you can kind of think critically about a problem that you're trying to solve or an outcome that you're trying to reach and be creative about that, but then the fact that you can go back and actually measure the success or measure what happened and kind of use that for future learnings. I thought that that was super tangible and it worked really well for the skills that I had built in college and growing up. And so from then on I was, I realized that there was two things I was looking for. Kind of that environmental sustainability side of things and a marketing side. And that kind of led me to Patagonia. So I actually started working at Patagonia in the retail space. So I was a sales associate working on the floor directly with customers selling the product. Didn't have anything to do with marketing, traditional kind of a marketing role, but, but in that space I kind of realized I love the company and I wanted to figure out how I could make this more of a long term thing for myself. So I started seeking out any opportunity I could find to kind of learn more about marketing and work on my skills in that space while working in the retail space and with the company. And a few opportunities came up like running this social media, running the Instagram for the store and running the events and kind of learn more, kind of gain more skills doing that. And then eventually Patagonia has this program internally where employees of the company can work kind of in supporting roles for our corporate teams for contracted positions. So kind of like an internship, six months, you can work for another side of the company and kind of support them gain more skills. I landed one of those roles on our E commerce team and that's actually the team that I'm currently on now. I'm our affiliate marketing manager working in house, managing our channel. So just was always seeking out those opportunities to continue growing my skills and the two things that I knew that I wanted to do. And that's kind of how I landed in the current role that I've been in for about a year now.
Daniel Murray
That's actually such a cool path of going from in store to like finding a marketing role. And you already had a marketing role, so you knew you'd like marketing. So that's cool that you took the initiative to do that. I think like a lot of marketers should, like, if you're in a company there's, there's always ways to figure out how to navigate to a different team or different part of the company. So I think that's pretty cool.
Cricket
Yeah. And I think if you're like eager to hone in on your skills, like you're gonna find those opportunities anywhere that you're at. So it's just like making sure you're, you're seeing those opportunities and really like diving into those, that's where you're gonna see growth for yourself.
Daniel Murray
I Wanna go into the affiliate quickly, could you explain like what affiliate is for people who don't know and then how Patagonia thinks about affiliate marketing.
Cricket
So affiliate marketing is basically partnerships that brands have with other websites or publishers to kind of reach new customers and kind of introduce customers to a brand. Not in like a traditional like marketing or like digital marketing sense where we're putting ads out there. It's like other partners are talking about your brand and customers are discovering that way. And there's a few different types of partners in the space. I kind of bucket it into three different partnerships. So there's loyalty where you're thinking about like the Rakutens of the world where Rakuten is offering a cash back to a customer for shopping with a brand. And that's how a lot of customers shop, discover new brands, kind of maybe it incentivizes a customer to shop with a new brand or continue shopping with a brand. So that's kind of one space where there's an incentive to shop with a brand or a discount. The deal space is a little bit different where it's websites that are talking about sales that a brand is having or discounts or coupon codes and kind of making that more aware to the customer. So as they're shopping they can kind of look back and see if am I getting the best deal on this product before I purchase it. And then the third one that I think about is the content space, which for us is where we have most of our partners. So the content space is publishers out there that are writing reviews about products or writing listicle articles like Best rain jackets of 2025, talking pretty broadly about brands like what are the best sustainable brands in the space. So they're, they're writing content directed at the customer to help them make the decision when they're kind of in the research stage of their shopping journey. And so for us at Patagonia, we see value in all of the, the different types of affiliate part the space. But we don't lean as heavily into loyalty and deal. We don't. We're not off price very often. We're not a very promotional brand, but we see a lot of value in that content space because working with content publishers gives more space to talk about the brand and the storytelling behind the brand and aspects of the brand that you're not going to see in a typical ad. So it can be talking very generally about Patagonia's mission or how Patagonia creates our products, why we're so environmentally friendly, how we Think about like the full process and the, like every piece of the brand kind of relates to our mission. So there's a lot of space to tell that story and then it can go as specific as talking about a specific product that maybe is very technical and has a lot of elements to it that are hard to convey in like a display ad or even a video ad. Kind of give like a more in depth review. So we find it a good place to kind of bring the brand to the customer by telling more of the story of the brand. But it also, we have to put a lot of trust in the partners that we work with in the affiliate space because they're the ones that are telling our story. And we have to make sure that we're working with partners that truly understand who Patagonia is, what our values are and why we're selling the products that we're selling.
Daniel Murray
What does it look like to onboard a new partner? Like, what are you looking for, for like first content to launching with that new partner that you're going to bring a affiliate deal with?
Cricket
Yeah, so when I'm looking into new partners, I want to see what content they currently have out. Um, is there any content that's currently talking about Patagonia or do you have any content that you could fit Patagonia into? And I'm looking to see if it, if the brand's going to fit into it seamlessly and it's not just going to be talking about like a promotion or a sale that we have going on. I think a lot in this space, a lot of people, when they're doing research on products that they're trying to buy, they're looking for sales and discounts and I think that's a good way for people to be introduced to the brand. But I don't want that to be the only content that you're talking about the brand. Because only having a few sales a year, that's not a lot of content to talk about. And also that's not the reason that we want customers to be shopping the brand necessarily. So I want to see that you have content out there that's talking about more than just like a discounted product or maybe one of our top sellers. Like, I want to see if you can go a little bit deeper and like help again get that story across to the customer.
Daniel Murray
I know you're a team of one. So like, what are the tools and systems you use to manage all this, this whole process? Because it seems like a lot when you have multiple affiliate partners that you're dealing with multiple channels and you have to track all the sales from all these different channels. What are you using, what systems are.
Cricket
You using to do that for an affiliate channel? To run a really efficient affiliate channel, it's important to have platform, a management platform that helps you kind of understand the entirety of your channel, helps you communicate with partners. It's kind of the most important thing for the channel outside of the partnerships themselves. When I moved into this role of managing our channel in house, rather than working kind of more with an agency, we migrated to Impact. And that's been a huge unlock in us being able to really optimize with the partnerships that we have in the channel, but also get really in depth reporting on how they're actually performing and what types of products they're selling, how other affiliates are interacting in the same, the same customer journey. Just having more insight into that level of reporting is really important in helping me see kind of the full picture of the partnerships that we have in the channel. And then also there's tools that allow us to be a little bit more dynamic with our commissioning with partners so we can have more specific goals for the channel and achieve them, because we're able to communicate that to the partner or incentivize certain partners to help us reach other goals and then again report on it and be really clear about is what we're doing and these optimizations, is it actually leading to the result that we were hoping for? So I think having a platform like Impact allows us to do that. And I feel a little less overwhelmed being a team of one because it is an intuitive interface. I picked it up pretty quickly. Their team is great when it comes to, like, if I have a question about something, it's been a great way for me to take our affiliate channel to the next level.
Daniel Murray
I'm a big system person because I used to work in marketing ops. I think it's like you always need something. I mean, if you're a startup, you could start with Google Sheets and it will like start for a little bit to help you manage. But when you have at scale, you're doing a Patagonia. I think especially for a team of one, you need something like an impact.com to be able to manage that. So when you like looking at the platform, how are you like reporting to your team of like, what success looks like? How are you telling them, like, we need to go to this partner versus that partner? What does it look like when you're communication with your boss or your boss's boss of like how affiliates performing.
Cricket
I mean, I do report on the channel weekly to kind of like a bigger audience. Just talking about like, are we like what are we forecasting for the month based on how we performed last year or in previous years during this same time? And then are we hitting that forecast? What are the factors that are affecting us to go over under that forecast? I think affiliate's a little bit different than the other channels because there are outside factors that affect how the channel is going to perform. So like Memorial Day this weekend is coming up. It's a really big sales weekend. We might not necessarily be having a sale during this weekend, but it's still going to affect how the affiliate channel is performing. So I think me keeping in mind and the more time I'm in this space, I'm kind of understanding like what those factors are that are going to be affecting my channel. Me being aware of what those are heading into the month and being really clear about the outcomes that happen from these factors and being clear about reporting to a larger audience about that, I think is how one, I can communicate the success of the channel, but two, I can kind of get people behind me with the channel because I think it is kind of a difficult channel to understand if you're not in it in the day to day. So I think really clear communication about what are the goals for the channel, how are reaching the goals, who are the partners that are helping us reach that goal is really important to kind of get more people to understand what's going on and kind of give you more flexibility when it comes to like, okay, I want to test something new. I want a little extra budget to like optimize with this specific partner that I think is going to be really great to help promote this fly fishing waiters campaign. Or we do have a sale coming up. I think we should start leaning into our loyalty partners. So I think it's kind of a mix of like understanding the space, understanding what partners work really well during these different moments and these different factors that are happening, and then being really clear about communicating the performance of the channel in a way that's clear to other people in the company. To give me more opportunities to be leaning into what's coming up in the channel.
Daniel Murray
Could you walk me through a little bit of like what it looks like, let's say fourth of July? There's like something's happening, the marketing team's doing something. What is like a campaign planning look like for affiliate for that, for campaign.
Cricket
Planning, if I want to align it with something else that's going on internally in the company. I think I'll think more about like what product campaigns do we have coming out that I can help support alongside the other channels that are supporting it? So I think a good example would be the waiters campaign that we just had coming out. It was kind of our big campaign for the moment, it was a brand building moment, but it was for fly fishing waiters, which is a smaller audience. So in my space, there are publishers in our program that are kind of more endemic in nature where they're kind of more experts in that space. And for me, I want to be leaning into who those partners are that are actually talking to the fly fishing community. So when I'm pitching this product or pitching this story to them, they're talking to the customers that are going to understand it and are going to be more leaned into it. So if I'm preparing for this campaign, I'll say, hey, who are the biggest fly fishing publishers in this space? Are they currently in our program or do I need to do a little bit of recruitment ahead of the campaign to get them in the program or re engage them and make sure that they're aware that this campaign is coming out? And then secondly, how can I optimize with them so that they're talking about this product campaign as it's coming out and for the duration of the campaign? So maybe I'll say I'll optimize with you, increase your rate for the next set amount of time, maybe two months while this campaign is running. And then if there's other objectives for the campaign. I like to think about the affiliate channel as more than just a conversion based channel. I think the way that it's run is that an affiliate will help drive a sale and they'll earn a commission off of it. But I think there's other ways that we can be using the channel. So maybe one of the objectives for the campaign is driving traffic to the fly fishing community page that has a film about the campaign or has other other information about the campaign that's not necessarily about selling the product. I'll set up a cost per click campaign where I say you drive this amount of clicks to this page, we'll pay you out this like this CPC at the end of the campaign. So really thinking holistically about what the goals of the campaign are and how can I be creative with the partners that I have, the tools that I have to help achieve those goals, even if it's outside of the conversion based goals that we have for the Campaign.
Daniel Murray
Yeah, that makes sense. Like there's brand awareness, like for campaigns. You're trying to get your name out there, you're trying to get these big publishers to talk about you. And then there's the like, hey, we want to sell X amount of this product. Like could you get these people to talk about it? But one thing I had a question about is like Patagonia, very value based company. So what is like when picking partners? How do you like pick them based on if they align with like Patagonia's values or how does that work?
Cricket
Here's the truth. Marketers, people don't pause their scroll for ads. They stop for people.
Daniel Murray
A product review, a creator story, a.
Cricket
Quick tag from someone they follow. That's why smart brands use Impact to turn fans, affiliates and creators into their real growth engine.
Daniel Murray
You don't need another polished ad.
Cricket
You need trust.
Daniel Murray
Build trust where it matters.
Cricket
Impact.com that's a tricky one because it's, it's hard to know if companies that are talking about being sustainable are actually sustainable. Like I feel like there's, it's, it's hard to really tell. We try to do as best as we can work with partners that are aligned with us. But I think again it comes down to like maybe their company isn't aligned with us, but as long as they understand who we are as a brand and they're willing to work with us and if there's something that they're talking about, the brand that doesn't feel like it aligns with us, they're flexible and understanding that and working with us, I see value in that. I think there's obvious partners that we're not going to work with because of the lack of brand alignment. But I think it's more comes down to the partnership itself. And if you're willing to work with us, understand who we are and you can convey that to the customer, I see value in that. And I don't want to limit us to a small set of partners just because we have like a set of rules that we have to check with every partnership that we have in order to bring them into our program.
Daniel Murray
What is something, I mean what do you think is like the most misunderstood thing about affiliate. When you're talking to people or people asking about affiliate, what, what is like you think the most Mr. Thing?
Cricket
Yeah, I, I think a lot of people think that it's not incremental, I think, or that the affiliate channel is taking away sales from other channels, taking away credit from other channels. Because I think people Think of the affiliate space as just being the loyalty space. So if you think about like how a customer is shopping, they may see a bunch of other touch points on the brand ahead of the sale, but the last second they might go to a cash back site and get cash back on the sale and then that loyalty site will basically get credit for the whole sale as like that's the reason why the customer made the sale. And I think a lot of people think that's not the full picture and it isn't the full picture. But I think there are so many tools out there now where we can really understand the true incrementality of the partners and it can help with that misunderstanding of the role that affiliates play in the marketing funnel. It's actually, it is a brand awareness tactic where people are discovering the brand through affiliates, through the publishers that they trust and that they're reading about. So I think just like people thinking that affiliates are taking away credit from sales or aren't that incremental is the thing that I would go up against and say that's not actually true. And I think the fact that we have more reporting out there is helping us make that point.
Daniel Murray
I also think like there's the opposite effect too, right? Like they see something in the affiliate and then the marketing channel gets credit instead of the affiliate channel because like oh they saw Patagonia launching the say the fly fishing line and they saw it, they didn't remember where they saw it and then they went to the site to go look for the fly fishing line and then they bought it and then another channel get Google search is getting credit for that gen when it could have been an affiliate. So it's like there's always in marketing's always like that one channel might, you can't, there's no full picture. But like I understand why and I do understand like the loyalty side like, like you don't want to have to always like pay the commissions on like something that you paid a lot of like Facebook ads on and then they went to like Rakuten or like slick deals or something and saw on sale there.
Cricket
And I think where impact kind of helps with that too is there's they have incrementality reporting where you can actually get the full view of like for one customer journey. What are all the touch points, affiliates and other channels that led to this sale. And you can make rules about like if this other channel was involved in a sale then you don't pay out the commission or if affiliate was involved at this point of the sale, then they get the commission over another affiliate. Like it gives you the ability to make deductions about like what you think was the most important touch point for a customer in that sale and who should be getting the credit. And it gives a little bit more visibility across channels that I think I've been kind of trying to dive into a little bit more to understand like my viewpoint on the different partners and different channels and how they interact.
Daniel Murray
Yeah, marketing is just an interesting game, but also like I, I know so many companies that affiliate is their number one marketing channel. Like, like and, and so many people are sleeping on affiliate channels. So I think it is such a, a cool if you do it right. It's actually like you said, incremental to like bottom line and helping raise sales. I want to go a little bit of like working for a value based company. What is it, what is it like to work for a company who basically lives on its values and won't ever stray away from its values?
Cricket
Yeah, I think especially for somebody working in, in marketing, selling product and in the affiliate channel where a lot of it is conversion based and based on how much product you're selling and counter to that, some of the larger goals of the company aren't necessarily selling product or kind of like the goals are a little bit contradictory in the channel versus the company. I like that. I think it makes me think really creatively about how I can run a channel that is aligning with our larger company goals. Still, it's important that we have a strong business. Our mission statement is in business to save our home planet. And a big part of that is in business. So we do need to have a strong business to do all of the other great things that we do as a company. And that's kind of where I feel like my team kind of comes into play. But also we have larger company goals that, that I can still help achieve in my channel even if they're not related to conversion. And it just makes you think a little bit more critically about the channel. How can I run more CPC campaigns or how can I award affiliates for conversions that aren't necessarily selling a product? Maybe it's watching a video or maybe it's helping with our warnware, our buyback side of the business where I can try to help sell more of the used clothes or help people trade in more used clothes. I think I really like it because it's never boring. I'm always thinking like, okay, this is kind of a challenge, but if you think critically about it and report on it the right way and have strong kind of KPIs in mind for how we're achieving those goals. You can achieve them. And yeah, I mean it's never boring. And like I said, like a big part of what I was looking for coming into my professional life was finding a brand that aligns with my personal values. So I think because of that, I'm even more invested in trying to make this channel help achieve our overall company goals.
Daniel Murray
Yeah, it must feel good to know that every product you sell is one step closer to helping someone have more of a sustainable piece of clothing in the world. And it's like cool to know that there's a reason why the product is made the way it is and what it's doing for the overall ecosystem. And it's also Patagonia is really setting the trend on for the last like 20 years or so that their stake in the ground and they're not moving that pole. They're actually getting better and better with it.
Cricket
And I think another part of it too, why I am so invested in this channel is because I really believe in the product outside of everything that goes into the product to make it as sustainable as possible. It is really high quality product that does last a long time. It can be in your closet for a long time. Like I have a fleece that my mom got the year that I was born and I still wear it all the time. Like it is product that is going to be in your closet for a long time. And I think in a lot of ways the product can speak for itself. And that's why I think like the affiliate channel where I'm trying to reach a wider audience and not be so as targeted with what customer I'm trying to reach and working with with a bigger variety of partners. Just getting Patagonia's product into people's closets and it being in their closet for a long time, we're hoping will lead to less over consumption. People understanding the value in high quality product and not want to buy a product just because it's a trend. Like, I think that there are bigger goals when it comes to how we're selling our product that aren't necessarily related to all of the other great things that we're doing. But it's, it's kind of another reason why I believe so much in the company and in the products themselves because I think they kind of speak for themselves once a customer has actually bought it.
Daniel Murray
The last question I have for you, I ask everybody in this podcast, but is what is A marketing hill you would die on.
Cricket
I think for me it's marketing with a customer first mentality. That's not like a new thing or anything crazy. But for me I'm always thinking about what is the new customer behavior, where are they shopping, where are they showing up right now and are we as a brand showing up in that space? I think for affiliate that's especially important. Kind of with all the changes that are happening with Google search and AI overviews and kind of the way that people are discovering products and brands is changing. I want to make sure I'm understanding exactly where the customer is showing up and seeing if it makes sense for the brand to be in that space. Like that being said, I think thinking customer first but through a brand lens is really important, especially for a brand like Patagonia that does have such a strong brand. So I can look to say like a lot of customers are discovering brands through big influencer deals on TikTok and that's how brands are being discovered or gaining credibility or staying relevant. But does that make sense for Patagonia? I like, I don't think so. There's a lot of things about that that in a lot of ways are supporting overconsumption and it just wouldn't make sense for our brand. So I can see that being a place where okay, a lot of customers are there. But let's think about Patagonia as a brand and does it make sense for us to be there? Maybe not so kind of having that to the two sides of it, customer first mentality through the lens of the brand itself.
Daniel Murray
I think affiliate is one of the most. If to be successful you have to be one of the most customer first outlook because like you said in your example earlier, if you're doing a launch for one specific audience and you did it with a publisher or something that didn't have a eye for that community, that it fails the goal of that campaign. If you don't know where your customers are and what you even said with the value based thing, I would argue that like most people are coming to Patagonia for the reason the values that you do stand. So like even if you could get incremental customers going to a channel where they are potential buyers, that doesn't mean like potential buyer doesn't mean the true audience you want to buy Patagonia. And I think that's the mismatch that, that people often don't think about.
Cricket
Yeah and I think like there are new customers out there that might not know about the brand and they need either to try the product or to learn more about it before making that decision. And maybe all of the values based aspects of the company are the reason why the customer is going to purchase the brand. And it could be like in a new space like TikTok, like with a younger audience that just isn't as aware. So still there is value in showing up there because there might be a customer there. But it's kind of like weighing the pros and cons of if we show up there as a brand, are we reaching the customer that actually is going to respond well to it, or is it just kind of not making sense in that space and not aligning with the larger brand and what we're trying to achieve in the long run?
Daniel Murray
Yeah, I also think when you launch campaigns, you have to launch it in the guardrails of yeah, we could get incremental sales, but is there like a negative signal of us being on a channel where a big number of our customers saw us there? It would actually get a backlash for being on the channel because it doesn't fit with our values and stuff. So I think that's also your odd way as a brand. Like incremental could also mean that you're losing potential customers that you don't know you're losing, which is even so you can be gaining, but losing people that could have bought in two months because you chose a specific place to be seen.
Cricket
I think that, yeah, that's a good point. And it makes sense to think about it critically like that and take risks but at the same time still be true to the brand. So we don't want to limit ourselves to only the channels that we've historically been in. But you're right, there is risk in straying away from what we've always done. And weighing the risk versus reward is part of thinking critically and thinking creatively as a marketer at Patagonia.
Daniel Murray
Yeah, and I think, I mean risk are like, hey, we haven't ever tackled this community that does X, Y and Z. Let's test it out. Like let's say you didn't even have a fly fishing product but you knew your product could be good for people who do fly fishing and you wanted to test like fly fishing market. Like that is something like it could be a risk because you don't really know if you like fly fishers buy it, but you wanted to test out that market. That's a risk. That is like a safe bet to try instead of doing something that's like really out of the box. Like, that might actually hurt brand instead of like help brand.
Cricket
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Daniel Murray
Lastly, where could people find you and what you're doing and all that good stuff?
Cricket
Yeah, I mean, we're live on Impact, so if there's partners out there that are interested in joining, our program can send an application through Impact. We do have an affiliate page on our website. Yeah, I think that's the best way to reach out and see if you're interested or if you're just interested in shopping. Patagonia. Patagonia.com, there's a lot more to the product too, so it's worth going to the site and reading more about the brand, about the fabrics we use, about the stories that we have coming out. Yeah, just trying to get the whole message of the brand out there is the ultimate goal. So. Yeah.
Daniel Murray
Well, thank you so much for coming on and sharing your knowledge and I really appreciate it.
Cricket
Yeah, thank you so much.
Thanks so much for listening. Keep tuning in to hear more great insights from the coolest marketers from around the world. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe and follow the Marketing Millennials podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. And if you like what you hear, I would greatly appreciate you giving us a five star rating. It helps bring more marketers into our community.
Sa.
Podcast Summary: Affiliate Marketing Playbook with Cricket Treanor, Affiliate Marketing at Patagonia | Episode 327
Podcast Information:
In Episode 327 of The Marketing Millennials, host Daniel Murray welcomes Cricket Treanor, the Affiliate Marketing Manager at Patagonia. Cricket shares her unconventional journey into marketing, emphasizing her passion for environmental sustainability and how it led her to Patagonia.
Notable Quote:
"I got into marketing almost by accident when I was graduating from college... I knew whatever I wanted to do was going to be with a company that also valued [environmental responsibility]."
— Cricket Treanor [01:33]
Cricket recounts starting in an entry-level marketing role at a renewable energy startup, where she discovered her affinity for digital marketing's blend of creativity and analytics. Her dedication led her to Patagonia, initially working in retail before transitioning into marketing roles, ultimately securing her current position managing Patagonia's affiliate marketing channel.
Cricket provides a comprehensive overview of affiliate marketing, explaining it as a partnership between brands and external websites or publishers to reach and introduce new customers without traditional advertising.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"Affiliate marketing is basically partnerships that brands have with other websites or publishers to kind of reach new customers and kind of introduce customers to a brand."
— Cricket Treanor [05:32]
Patagonia emphasizes using affiliate marketing as a brand channel rather than solely a performance-driven one. The focus is on storytelling and aligning with partners who resonate with Patagonia's values.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"We find it a good place to bring the brand to the customer by telling more of the story of the brand."
— Cricket Treanor [07:30]
Cricket highlights that while loyalty and deal-based affiliates have their place, content-based partnerships allow for deeper storytelling and engagement with the audience, aligning with Patagonia's mission.
As a solo manager, Cricket relies on robust platforms and strategic processes to handle multiple affiliate partners efficiently.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"Migrated to Impact... it's been a huge unlock in us being able to really optimize with the partnerships that we have in the channel."
— Cricket Treanor [10:19]
Impact.com provides Cricket with tools to track performance, manage commissions dynamically, and gain comprehensive insights into partner activities, essential for a team of one.
Effective communication and transparent reporting are vital for demonstrating the value of affiliate marketing to Patagonia's broader team.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"I think really clear communication about what are the goals for the channel, how are reaching the goals, who are the partners that are helping us reach that goal is really important."
— Cricket Treanor [12:48]
Cricket emphasizes the importance of contextualizing affiliate performance within the larger marketing ecosystem and company's mission.
Cricket details the strategic planning involved in aligning affiliate campaigns with Patagonia's product launches and seasonal events.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"I like to think holistically about what the goals of the campaign are and how can I be creative with the partners that I have... even if it's outside of the conversion-based goals."
— Cricket Treanor [17:00]
This approach ensures that affiliate campaigns support both immediate sales and long-term brand objectives, enhancing overall marketing effectiveness.
Maintaining brand integrity is paramount in partner selection. Patagonia avoids affiliating with companies or content that contradicts its sustainability ethos.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"If you're willing to work with us, understand who we are and you can convey that to the customer, I see value in that."
— Cricket Treanor [18:35]
Cricket stresses that while strict alignment is crucial, she also values the partnership dynamics and the partner's ability to authentically represent Patagonia.
Cricket addresses common misunderstandings about affiliate marketing, particularly regarding its incremental value and potential overlap with other marketing channels.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"I think a lot of people think that it's not incremental... but there are so many tools out there now where we can really understand the true incrementality of the partners."
— Cricket Treanor [19:58]
By leveraging advanced reporting tools, Patagonia can demonstrate the unique value that affiliates bring to their marketing strategy.
Cricket discusses the fulfillment that comes from working at Patagonia, a company deeply committed to its environmental mission, and how it influences her approach to affiliate marketing.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"I really believe in the product outside of everything that goes into the product to make it as sustainable as possible."
— Cricket Treanor [26:38]
Her commitment to Patagonia's mission drives her to create marketing strategies that not only sell products but also promote sustainable consumption.
Cricket emphasizes a customer-first mentality, ensuring that affiliate strategies are aligned with where customers are and what resonates with them, all while staying true to Patagonia's brand.
Key Points:
Notable Quote:
"Thinking customer first but through a brand lens is really important, especially for a brand like Patagonia that does have such a strong brand."
— Cricket Treanor [28:00]
This balanced approach ensures that marketing initiatives are both effective and authentic.
Cricket concludes by encouraging interested partners to join Patagonia's affiliate program through Impact.com or Patagonia’s affiliate page. She also highlights the importance of spreading the brand's mission through high-quality products and storytelling.
Notable Quote:
"Just trying to get the whole message of the brand out there is the ultimate goal."
— Cricket Treanor [34:02]
Daniel Murray thanks Cricket for her insights, reinforcing the value of authentic and value-driven affiliate marketing practices.
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This episode provides a deep dive into effective affiliate marketing strategies within a values-driven company, showcasing how Patagonia leverages partnerships to enhance brand storytelling and drive sustainable growth.