Episode #26 – The Performance Marketing Spotlight with Mike Martinez

Marshall Nyman [00:00:14]:
Hello and welcome to the performance marketing Spotlight. I’m your host, Marshall Nyman, founder and CEO of Nymonco. Each episode I bring you someone with deep experience in the performance marketing space where they highlight their experiences within the industry. This special episode of podcast is coming live from PI Live, Miami. Today I have Mike Martinez who is senior account manager at Active Junkie. Welcome to the podcast, Mike.

Mike Martinez [00:00:42]:
Thanks, Marshall. Thanks for having me, man.

Marshall Nyman [00:00:44]:
Excited to have you on.

Mike Martinez [00:00:45]:
Yes. Let’s get right to it. Right on.

Marshall Nyman [00:00:48]:
Nothing like beautiful day staring out at the ocean. Nice breeze for sure. Well, would love to know how you got your start in the performance marketing space.

Mike Martinez [00:00:58]:
Yeah, man, definitely a great switch up from Colorado for sure. Being here in Miami, it’s beautiful. Oh, yeah. But yeah, man. Kind of crazy twists and turns to get here for sure. I’d say kind of going back to the source. I’m from Chicago originally, but wound up skiing and the outdoor industry has always been kind of in my blood. My dad is from Colorado, born and raised.

Mike Martinez [00:01:28]:
So he always had us out there skiing and enjoying the outdoors in Colorado ever since I was a super little kid. So once I graduated from college I tried to do the Chicago thing and it wasn’t really, it wasn’t really my scene. The city of Chicago, I wound up kind of scrapping everything and was a ski bum out in Beaver Creek right outside of Vail, Colorado. Wasn’t really in a huge rush to grow up, so wound up doing the ski thing, ski bum thing in my early twenties and that was my excuse to move out to Colorado and seasonal gig. So once the snow melted, I didn’t really have a gig. So I was like, oh, man. Well, I don’t really want to go back to Chicago, so figured Denver was a good happy medium. So wound up down in Denver and from there I picked up a gig.

Mike Martinez [00:02:23]:
I was a marketing coordinator at an agency called Active Interest Media. We were doing more print and digital for Backpacker magazine, Climbing magazine, that whole world. So I was doing some sales support, putting together marketing decks one cheaters and things like that to help those sales reps. And they were working with a lot of really cool outdoor industry brands, the north faces, the Patagonias, the marmots, that world. So that was kind of my introduction to the outdoor industry marketing advertising world, which was really cool. It was really eye opening and it kind of gave me, it planted the seed of, hey, I definitely want to be in the outdoor industry in some capacity, but studied marketing and business in college. So I wanted a way to kind of um, kind of weave that in some way. So once that gig ran its course, um, I was actually randomly thrown into the affiliate marketing world.

Mike Martinez [00:03:21]:
I feel like we, we all kind of randomly get thrown into this space one way or another. I’m sure you have.

Marshall Nyman [00:03:29]:
Absolutely. I can’t tell you how many people told me that.

Mike Martinez [00:03:32]:
Yeah, totally. So pretty accidental to get thrown into the affiliate space. And it was kind of fake it till I made it, you know, I said I knew Pepper jam and CJ and impact, but I really didn’t have a clue. But yeah, wound up working for a smaller agency. At the time I was one of two account managers and I was doing kind of everything from onboarding and launching new programs to vetting affiliate applications and optimizing. So it wasn’t the best well oiled machine, but it was a great introduction to the world, to the space, managing affiliate programs, controlling client KPI’s revenue goals, things like that. Onboarding publishers getting a feel for the channel mix and different publishers and the value they bring to affiliate programs. So it was a really cool kind of introduction to the space.

Mike Martinez [00:04:28]:
But from there I wound up going to a little bit more of a better well oiled machine, which was an agency where, you know, I went from an agency where I was one of two account managers to now we have teams. I was an account manager working specifically on the client side, but I had a pub team that was working specifically with publishers. So we were a very well oiled machine at that point. Pretty big company. We ended up getting acquired but it was a really cool opportunity to work and manage a lot of different programs. And from there I was introduced to all sorts of publishers from the deal, the coupon sites to the loyalty sites all the way up to the Buzzfeeds, the Conde nast, the content guys. So that was a really, really cool kind of, I guess, maturity into the affiliate space for sure.

Marshall Nyman [00:05:25]:
So you’re at perform cb for three and a half years.

Mike Martinez [00:05:28]:
Yep.

Marshall Nyman [00:05:28]:
Tell us about the different roles you had there.

Mike Martinez [00:05:30]:
Yeah, totally. So we were actually ignite OPM. Uh, we were acquired um, by actually a, a network called Click Booth out of Sarasota, Florida. So on the other side of the. Oh yeah, the hill here.

Marshall Nyman [00:05:42]:
Very familiar with the grown up.

Mike Martinez [00:05:43]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was actually a sick opportunity to, to come to Tampa and St. Pete and in Siesta key in Sarasota once a year. Just, it’s such a sick, just mix up from Colorado to come to the beach. I’m definitely a mountains guy for sure, but the beach is awesome change I’m sure you New York now LA, you can relate for sure. But yeah man, I started off as a coordinator at Ignite and we were scrappy. We were work hard, play hard and oh man, I owe everything to my team. I’m actually still really good friends with a lot of my co workers.

Mike Martinez [00:06:20]:
We still get together and grab dinner in Denver and actually I do have to shout her name out for anyone listening. Lauren Fan Miller. She is a mentor of mine and still extremely special to me. She brought me on as a coordinator and yeah, wound up being my mentor and I went from being a coordinator just kind of vetting pub applications and sending out newsletters, adding links to networks, kind of doing more of the grunty coordinator type stuff and then ended up migrating up to an account manager role where I was directly working with clients and on client calls and more on the client specific side of things, getting budgets, getting KPI’s, getting revenue goals, establishing those objectives for their program and bringing that to my pub team and they were kind of helping me connect the dots with the publisher relationships and things like that. That was kind of my role was client side over at ignite and then perform.

Marshall Nyman [00:07:23]:
But you got a little taste of the publisher side there.

Mike Martinez [00:07:25]:
Yeah, yeah, totally. So yeah, just being in Colorado, Colorado is small and me being the ski bum at heart, I was Lauren fan Miller LP. She always knew that that was kind of what ticked me was, was the outdoor industry. So anytime we had any clients that was in the outdoor industry, health, fitness, that world, I got to manage those programs just because she knew that’s where my heart was and that’s where I kind of did my best work, honestly. And that’s actually really cool about affiliate marketing is. You know, you have this ability to kind of, to mix your passion with the space. You know, it’s not so black and white. There’s a lot of gray area in affiliate, which I think is really cool.

Mike Martinez [00:08:12]:
There’s a lot of wiggle room to find your passion within this space. And for me, you know, my passion is the outdoor industry, man, I’m a ski bum. I want to be outside, but if I am going to be inside managing affiliate programs, might as well be with brands and verticals that I love and enjoy. So anyways, yeah, active Junkie was a loyalty and content site that’s really reputable in Colorado. They’re just, I could do a separate podcast just on how awesome AJ is and how special this company is to my heart. But yeah, I linked up with Krista. She was Krista Allen before she got married, or Krista Sleath before she got married. Now she was Krista Allen and she again, much like LP.

Mike Martinez [00:08:57]:
I mean, Krista is probably one of the more special people when it comes to my career. Honestly, she is. I have just, again, it could be a whole nother podcast just of how special Krista and Kevin, my CEO of active Junkie, is to me. But anyways, yeah, they’re, they’re Colorado born and raised and I just love them, man. They’re awesome. They’re a great synergy between the loyalty space as well as the content space. My guy Leo out in steamboat does amazing content. He’s actually out there shooting in the wild.

Mike Martinez [00:09:32]:
Like he’s taking gear out into the backcountry and doing really cool content. And. And so anyways, yeah, I always knew of this really cool company and so anytime I had budget from a client, I was like, hey, give half of it to active junkie. I don’t care if it performs, I don’t care what it is. We have ten k. Five k is going to AJ. You know, they’re just that cool and that reputable. And so anyways, long story short, you know, I had a tough day.

Mike Martinez [00:10:01]:
The agency world is a grind, I’m sure. As you know, I’m very aware you have your peaks and valleys, for sure. And I just was having a day, one day and figured I’d lob a note to Krista on LinkedIn. And I was like, hey, I know you guys, I know the answer is no, but are you hiring at all, ever? If you are, I’m your guy. And she wrote me back that day saying, hey, we don’t have a job opening at the moment, but I’ll definitely keep you in mind and let’s grab coffee whenever we’re free, whatever, you know? And I just kind of chalked it up as an literally, can’t make this up. But the next day, literally not even 24 hours later, she, uh, she shot me a note and was like, hey, Mike, um, I have a. I think he was one and a half or two years old at the time, but she did have a new ish born, and, uh, she was pregnant and she was like, hey, I just got back from the doctor’s office. Um, there’s two heartbeats in my stomach.

Mike Martinez [00:10:53]:
I’m having twins. Um, when can you start? We’ll match your salary. So, um, and I literally, I went to perform at the time and I was like, hey, sorry, but I gotta go and literally started, I think, two weeks later. And that was, gosh, almost four years ago at this point. So.

Marshall Nyman [00:11:12]:
So meant to be.

Mike Martinez [00:11:13]:
Yeah, absolutely. To say the least. Yes, very, very meant to be, for sure.

Marshall Nyman [00:11:18]:
So tell us a little bit more about active junkie and how they work as a publisher.

Mike Martinez [00:11:22]:
Yeah, totally. Like I said, this could be a whole nother podcast, but, yeah, what’s really, really cool about AJ is so we are kind of split in two and we swim in two different waters, which is really cool for me as an account manager. And what I mean in two different waters is we have the e comm side of the business. Loyalty is our bread and butter, offering that cash back rate. We take a portion of our commission, give it away as cash back. So we swim in the ecom, the loyalty waters of the Rakutens, the top cashbacks, the beef, Rugels rebates, me, those guys. So we have big value prop on the ecommerce side where we can scale and optimize from the loyalty side, offering cash back featuring deals on our site. But we also have the content piece.

Mike Martinez [00:12:12]:
I know I mentioned him briefly, but I have a content team spearheaded by Leo. He just does such amazing work. I work remote in Denver, but we have an office in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, right underneath the chairlift. It’s so sick. But, yeah, so we do gear reviews, content video, written articles. We do buyers guides, gear guides, roundups, things like that. So we are a loyalty site that offers content, which is something none of those loyalty sites do. And then we offer content with the loyalty piece, which is what those content sites don’t offer.

Mike Martinez [00:12:49]:
You know, when you, you know, they’re. They’re two very different ends of the funnel. When you’re looking to optimize that as an account manager, you know, you’re like, okay, I have budget. I’m going to go to the Buzzfeeds, the Conde nasts, the, you know, those guys in the content space. And that’s going to be a separate, you know, budget. That’s going to be a separate set of KPI’s and just overall program goals. And then we’re going to go to the loyalty sites and that’s going to be a separate budget, separate, you know, row, separate KPI, separate performance expectations. But with us, we’re mid and upper funnel.

Mike Martinez [00:13:24]:
We’re best of both worlds, which is so cool. You know, we, we have the ability to scale and hit revenue and roas and those performance KPI’s, but we also have the ability to sprinkle in content and it’s a value prop to the campaign. Working with these big brands like Nike, Adidas, even the ebays of the world. It’s been so cool to, hey, we don’t only have the ability to flex cash back rates and offer deals and get you guys more promo level exposure, but we can take, you know we did a really cool content shoot with Adidas on their Terex line which is more trail running shoes. And Leo took it to Moab, Utah in the desert and he did a really cool trail running shoot, you know, to complement that campaign. So it’s such a cool synergy to be able to not only have the outdoor industry as our canvas, but being able to have content and loyalty. It’s such a cool way to optimize the mid and upper funnel.

Marshall Nyman [00:14:32]:
That’s great that you’re able to touch both sides beginning the end of the conversion. I think a lot of publishers just focus on one end so being able to deliver on both ends of that I think is really unique and probably what separates you from a lot of other publishers in the industry would love to know what should brands or agencies take into consideration when looking to work with active junkie?

Mike Martinez [00:14:54]:
Absolutely. Yeah. So I think one of the biggest things, um, one of the biggest value props which is super unique to affiliate as a whole is our reach in the outdoor industry. Um, I’m sure you’re getting a taste of it being in La Cali based but in Colorado, you know um, we were dealing with the outdoor industry. People talk, people are um, you know we have refer a friend programs because it’s such a niche community and we know that people bounce around, they talk to their friends and family and you know it’s such a small world and we have such a unique and loyal audience within the outdoor industry. And with that just is such a niche, really cool unique audience demographic that not other loyalty sites have or you know if the content sites have reached into that, that’s it. You know what I mean? Um, but with us we have that unique audience profile of the outdoor industry in Colorado and what’s really cool about that in particular is they are customers of all walks of life. You know, we get traffic that are the tech guys that want to, you know, watch videos and learn about new tech and learn about new gear.

Mike Martinez [00:16:20]:
They want to, they want to read about the, the three layer Gore Tex north face jacket that’s about to hit the market. They want to read about the new GoPro hero twelve Black and the inner workings of the tech that’s new about the camera they want to know about the new ski bindings and ski profiles and things like that. So we have the super techie guys, then we have the hype guys. They want to come to our site and they want to watch the YouTube videos about park laps at copper or the super cool hikes and steamboat, and they want to get hyped to go outside. They want to watch our videos, and then they want to pack their car and they want to go hit the stream and go fly fishing or go to golden and go climbing. But then we have the deal seekers, the loyalty guys, the shop savvy people that are looking for the good deals, the high cash back rates and things like that. So we have such a really cool, unique audience profile of outdoor industry folks that are all across the board of all different types of shopping and consumer behavior. And it allows us to offer just such a unique demographic to these brands like the Nikes, the Adidas, the eBay’s, you know, they have the same kind of customer who’s going to Rakuten, going to top cashback.

Mike Martinez [00:17:47]:
You know, all those guys are just looking for the best cash back rate. But for us, you know, we have just a little bit more of a white glove type of customer that’s coming to us for more than just a cash back rate or a deal. They’re coming to us because we’re really, truly a cool site and they can feel that when they’re visiting.

Marshall Nyman [00:18:09]:
So we’re coming live from PI, live at a conference. Would love to know what’s your goals for attending a conference?

Mike Martinez [00:18:16]:
Normally, yeah. So I love, first of all, a lot of FaceTime with a lot of the guys that I work with year round. I just got done with a meeting with Erica over at adidas. Shout out to Erica Clemens. She’s the best. But yeah, so I get a lot of FaceTime with them, which is really good. We can kind of talk about, I have weekly and monthly calls with these guys, but it’s good to just get some FaceTime in and. But we can talk real time about campaign.

Mike Martinez [00:18:46]:
We literally chopped up a performance over a campaign that’s live as we speak. So it’s really cool to kind of get FaceTime in, but talk about real time performance and things like that, but also to networking. I get a lot of, I cover a lot of ground with networks and agencies and some folks that have a handful of brands underneath their belt that makes sense for active junkie. And what’s really cool about coming to conferences is I get to connect the dots. You know, that’s another thing that’s really cool about active junkie as well is, you know, back in the day, we were, you know, hiking, camping, fishing, snowboarding, skiing. That was kind of the big splash, was those main outdoor activities. But now, you know, now that we’ve matured over the 13 years we’ve been a site, what’s cool is, you know, we realized, hey, you know, these outdoor adventure enthusiasts, they’re fitness junkies, too. They are very healthy and health wellness conscious.

Mike Martinez [00:19:49]:
So they want running shoes, they want fitness equipment. Not everyone lives in Colorado and California, so they need travel and hotels and things like that. So I like to connect the dots and find unique ways to pull in the outdoor industry with, you know, a great example would be like a skincare brand. They for moisturizer or sunscreen. You know, I live a mile high, the sun is intense. So just connecting the dots of, hey, you know, maybe we can take your skincare product on a, on a hike or a camping trip or spring skiing and kind of showcase you guys to an outdoor industry that might not think of you in that light. So it’s kind of cool to connect those dots. And that’s what’s cool about attending conferences is, you know, getting creative with networking and partnership building, which is really cool.

Mike Martinez [00:20:46]:
It kind of expands their mind to be like, wait a second, that’s actually a really cool idea. I never would have thought of that.

Marshall Nyman [00:20:55]:
Facetime is everything, getting to these conferences.

Mike Martinez [00:20:58]:
Getting information, and I get to see Marshall. Yeah.

Marshall Nyman [00:21:00]:
Connecting with everybody. You know, it’s just fun. You know, it’s good. You know, I keep joking. You see that little bubble, you know, their LinkedIn profile or wherever it is, and you just become used to seeing that image, and then you see somebody dressed up or maybe even a little dressed down because it’s so warm here. We’re wearing shorts and a t shirt.

Mike Martinez [00:21:15]:
But the humidity in Florida from Colorado is real. Oh, yeah.

Marshall Nyman [00:21:20]:
So, you know, it’s just, it’s just great to get to these events and see everybody. What are some challenges that you’re facing as a publisher in the performance marketing space?

Mike Martinez [00:21:30]:
Totally. Yeah. So actually, really funny. I was actually chatting a little bit about that this morning. But with active junkie, you know, we have really strong integrity. We have really strong brand integrity. We have a, again, going back to the outdoor industry and having that niche community. We have a brand to protect.

Mike Martinez [00:21:57]:
We have a reputation to protect. So, you know, I’m getting hit up a lot with some smaller brands or startup brands. They want to take advantage of content and they want to take advantage of, you know, homepage placements and things like that. But, you know, with us in particular, you know, we, you know, when you go on to some of these other loyalty sites, I mean, there’s brands next to each other that there’s no cohesion. It’s, it’s, you know, Adidas could be next to a ulta beauty. You know, there’s, there’s really kind of advertisers all across the board that are next to each other. But with us in our site, you know, we have a really strong brand identity and share a voice to protect. So we need to make sure there’s cohesion on site.

Mike Martinez [00:22:43]:
We want to make sure that, you know, if I’m selling campaigns to the north face, to Nike, to Adidas, you know, we want to make sure that there is cohesion to our site. And also, too, we can’t do content just for anyone and everyone. My editorial team has to be liked on the brand. They have to be behind the content, actual product. So with us, you know, we do have a little bit of a gatekeep in terms of, you know, site aesthetic, share of voice messaging. You know, we don’t want to lose our customers or these loyal guys that are coming to us to see what’s cool, what’s, what’s new in the industry. And then all of a sudden we have some random content shoot with a brand that makes no sense. Or all of a sudden, our homepage is littered with random brands that they wouldn’t shop at.

Mike Martinez [00:23:36]:
You know what I mean? It’s kind of not limiting, but challenging to draw that line of connecting dots and finding cool new partnerships, but also making sure we’re true to our brand identity, true to the outdoor industry, true to our core, which is the outdoors. Colorado. It’s finding that balance and making sure we establish new partnerships and bring new brands on, but keep that core brand identity and share a voice. And again, integrity. We were probably one of the last to the draw for a browser extension. We didn’t even want one. But every loyalty site out there has one. So we had to show up to the party.

Mike Martinez [00:24:21]:
But we did it right. We don’t scrub the Internet for codes. It’s not a random clunky drop down list of a bunch of gibberish codes. It’s just of our site or your store page on our site. And I actually had to contact directly the 3000 plus stores. We have to make sure it’s okay that we have their extension. And if it’s a no, we don’t have their extension enabled. So, you know, we do things the right way.

Mike Martinez [00:24:50]:
We do things, you know, again, integrity. We don’t just do things for the volume and for, um, the cash grab. You know, we want to make sure that, that we’re doing things correctly. And if that’s sometimes slow, um, or not at all, we’re okay. Because we know we have that loyal demographic that’s going to keep coming back to us. Um, so we’re, we’re playing chess, not checkers, when it comes to growth. Um, in that front, yeah, I totally align with that.

Marshall Nyman [00:25:20]:
I think honesty, integrity, and long term vision is key. I think a lot of people get tied up on the short term and make decisions that sometimes aren’t best for the brand because they just want to get a quick hit of revenue.

Mike Martinez [00:25:32]:
Absolutely. Sprinkling the outdoor industry. And that’s a whole other layer of, like I said, people talk, people go on forums, people share and, you know, with, with outdoor gear. I mean, these are high AOB items. That’s why active junkie was, was formed in the first place. You know, people are spending thousands of dollars on a ski outfit. We want to hook them up with cash back and deals. So, yeah, we want to make sure they have a good shopping experience.

Mike Martinez [00:25:58]:
No spam, no clunk.

Marshall Nyman [00:26:00]:
All right, final question. What’s your favorite part of working in the performance marketing space?

Mike Martinez [00:26:05]:
Oh, man. Honestly, dude, if this sounds a little cliche or might be corny, but my favorite part is active junkie. I’m not just saying that because I work for them, but this has been such a blessing for me. It’s been such a direct hit with my career and my interests. It’s been such a great way for me to flourish as an individual is active junkie. I have such a killer team. It all goes huge. Shout out to Kevin McInerney and Krista Allen.

Mike Martinez [00:26:45]:
They’re beyond mentors to me. They’re close friends now at this point, you know, just active Junkie has just been such the perfect way for me to just kind of utilize all my assets and strengths, my expertise in the affiliate marketing space, my passion and love and need for the outdoor industry. You know, I’m a senior account manager. My job is sales, which I think is a great way to, to utilize my extreme type a personality. Being able to just, I mean, as you can tell from this podcast, have a tough time even shutting up. So, yeah, man, active Junkie has just been, I guess, long answer, short. That, you know, just being in this space at this publisher has been life changing. To say the least.

Marshall Nyman [00:27:35]:
Amazing. Well, a big thank you to Mike from active junkie for joining the podcast today. Some great insights into your background and how we can best work with active junkie. What’s the best way for listeners to connect with you?

Mike Martinez [00:27:46]:
Yeah, shoot me a note. For sure. Email mikectivejunkie.com uh, look me up on LinkedIn. Um, and yeah, I would say just email or LinkedIn. I’m, me being in sales, I’m always scouring my email multiple times a day, uh, multiple times a minute, honestly. Um, so yeah, shoot me an email. Let me know. And if you’re looking to, you know, get into the outdoor space, you know, penetrate our outdoor industry audience, let me know.

Mike Martinez [00:28:15]:
We’re always down to. I love connecting the dots in creative ways and yeah, I just wanted to thank you too, Marshall. Thank you so much, man. This is such a cool platform and you’re awesome to work with. Huge shout out to Nymon Co. And what you’re doing over there. And yeah, man, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

Marshall Nyman [00:28:34]:
Thank you. I appreciate you. A very big thank you to hello, partner and PI live for putting on this event and allowing us to put this podcast on Poolside. Big thank you again to Mike Martinez and to Leon Sonkin, our producer. If you’ve enjoyed this content, please give us a like and follow. Thank you for joining. I am Marshall Niman, the host of the performance marketing Spotlight and founder and CEO of Nymo and Company signing off. Thank you and have a great day.

Mike Martinez [00:29:01]:
Thanks, Marshall. Thanks.