I’ve been in the industry for a long time, and have seen the industry grow, contract, grow again. However, I can honestly say that 2012 is perhaps one of the most exciting years for me, especially since the Performance Marketing industry is growing in leaps and bounds and making significant changes to mature. The gurus are no longer the center of the industry, and technology combined with innovation and responsibility is making the Performance Marketing industry the keystone of the entire Interactive Advertising business.
Before I continue, there are dozens of amazing CPA networks out there. I’ve done a year best CPA Network list, and we’ve be having the survey coming out after Affiliate Summit West 2012. I’d like to focus on companies that are making significant changes in the industry from technology and innovation standpoints, so don’t fret in a month we’ll have an entire list of the best CPA Networks.
SmarterChaos. SmarterChaos is a company that has taken on the industry and has demanded change. They are an agency that specializes completely on Performance Marketing and has become the go-to agency for any advertiser looking to understand how Performance Marketing works. Many companies that have tried to understand CPA Marketing have turned to them.
Cake Marketing. I don’t want to say that there are not any other affiliate and CPA serving solutions, because there are a few notable ones. However, Cake has really turned everything upside down with a system that has taken CPA and affiliate advertising platforms to a totally new level. That’s because the company that produced Cake comes from the data industry and has integrated data and opt-ins completely into entire platform. They aren’t the cheapest platform, but only because they have some of the most features. Companies like Hitpath have lost customers and have had to play catch up to a platform that is truly next-generation.
Bevo Media & Tracking202. If you read the exclusive interview with the two CEOs of Bevo and Tracking202 the companies, you’ll know that they are both taking the industry by storm and 2012 will be an amazing year for both. They have already both made changed in the industry, allowing affiliates to monitor their campaigns in ways never done before, and in turn given more and more inventory to CPA networks. Allowing affiliates to know on the fly what is doing well, what is not doing well allows almost anyone to enter the performance marketing industry at a lower level and learn faster.
ScrubKit & CPA Detective. Both of these companies are taking the performance marketing industry by storm. CPA Detective has become a cornerstone in advertising protection, with hundreds of major advertisers now using them to ensure that frausters don’t destroy their campaigns. ScrubKit is more CPA network focused and has been able to protect many networks with their new innovative technology. Both of these companies are at the forefront of the industry, with any other “competitors” way behind in level of clients and gravitas in the industry.
