I had a fabulous time at the Niche Affiliate Marketing workshop in Atlanta this past weekend, and wanted to share a few pictures with you to give you a good idea just how fun & productive the weekend truly was.

Above is a shot of me with Nicole Dean and Willie Crawford right before we presented in the Advanced session on Hiring & Working With Affiliate Managers.

Nicole & Willie are two of the best Affiliate Managers I know. I’ve had a chance to work with them both personally as an Affiliate. They have tons of experience managing affiliate programs and working with affiliate managers & JV partners.

We discussed the pros & cons in great detail, and I really took a lot away from that session! The biggest point being about outsourcing: Know who you need to hire, and why, as it relates specifically to your business model.

I had the opportunity to work alongside Jeff Herring on Day One of the 3-day workshop, following my presentation on Getting Started with Affiliate Marketing. Jeff and I taught together on market research, niche selection & creating content.

I put together a password-protected post with PDF Tutorials for attendees to download, to help them work on their sites after the event. The password is “nams3″. I just didn’t want Google indexing the PDF files.

My daughter Annie attended the NAMS Workshop with me this time, which was great fun! She really enjoyed getting to meet everyone in person that she see’s cross my computer screens every day here in the home office.

She got very involved, and came home to get straight to work on her affiliate site – and is even tweeting now! You’ll find her on Twitter as @anniemgarrett

Our own Magic Myke was kind enough to design her a custom blog header while we were at the event. When they weren’t playing Scrabble on the iPhone at least

It means a lot to me to have my children so involved in my business after all these years. I have been working from home for 13+ years now, and the fact that they both took an interest has made this last year truly amazing. My son, Zack 18yo, is the developer behind a new site I am releasing in beta: http://www.GeekTrax.com

Annie actually spent most of her time with her new surrogate parents (lol) Aileen Bennett and Kevin Riley. Three peas in a pod, no doubt! LOL

I had a fabulous lunch (and much-needed break) with the gals on Sunday. Left to right is Tishia Lee, Danielle Johnson, Angie Newton, my daughter and then me. Lots of laughs at this table – I’m shocked we didn’t get kicked out, or at least get a round of applause from the whole restaurant when we finally left!

This picture just cracks me up -LOL. That’s me, with Bob “the Teacher” Jenkins. He was a huge hit at the workshop with his presentation on Using Social Media to Drive Traffic – everyone loved it!!

Traci Knoppe and I on my HP Netbook (I love that thing!!) checking out the tweets & photos that were being posted live at the event. Traci runs Your Web Tech Team and is the developer behind the Beginner to Blogger training program.

On Day 2 of the NAMS event, I had the pleasure of presenting alongside Sid Hale and Kevin Riley. Sid is the developer behind RAP (Rapid Action Profits) and Kevin is a total whiz at info-product development. In the photo above, I had just informed them both that there was only one microphone.

I really enjoyed Sid’s presentation just before that, where he discussed the power of creating and working with a team of affiliates in your online business. He made some awesome points about leverage and scalability.

After his presentation, the three of us lead a workshop on creating info-products and recruiting affiliates. Definitely a highlight for me over the weekend!

Michael Schultz took this photo – I got busted sitting in the back of the room texting & tweeting. Ha! Also in the photo is Chris Cobb, Maritza Parrah, Kathleen Gage and Jeff Herring. All working away from the back of the room!

Me with Kimmoy (left) and Andrea (right) – both Elite Members of SSWT.

There were over 70 Elite Members at the NAMS event, so I held a private reception for our group on Saturday night. We had a nice food spread and a great time. In the photo above, my daughter and Aileen Bennett were doing the drawing for the book giveaways – and cracking everyone up! LOL They’re a mess

During the Elite Reception, Deb Gallardo sang an Internet Marketing parody for us – great entertainment and lots of laughs!

I also finally unboxed my Macbook Pro live at the Elite Reception. In the photo above you can see I’m having serious second thoughts. Kidding!

This is Mark Mason, who was kind enough to video the Macbook Pro Unboxing.

Left to right is “Toronto Carol”, Angie Newton, me and Julie Anna Schultz (mom to the whiz kid, Magic Myke). All fabulous ladies that I consider great friends!

Scott aka @FatLossQuickie kept the whole crowd in stitches throughout the weekend with his “quickie talk”. You’ll remember that Scott recently did a guest series here on ClickNewz with some fabulous posts on “a healthy approach to internet marketing”. If you missed those, they’re well worth a read!

Another shot with Nicole Dean and Willie Crawford. Two of the most real, down to earth, friendly – and brilliant! – online marketers that I know.

And last but not least, Kurt Scholle – the man responsible for all the great photos. He did a fabulous job catching some of the best moments of the NAMS event. You can find the rest of his pictures on his Flickr account. Thank you, Kurt!

I wish I could share every single moment, conversation and aha! that I had over the weekend but there’s just no way to capture it all – except to be there. I do hope you’ll consider joining us at a future event!

The next NAMS will be held in August 2010. I’ll let you know as soon as I have sign-up information, or you can keep an eye on the website here:

http://www.nicheaffiliatemarketingsystems.com

Best,

Sure, there are still some iconic brands. Apple, Nike, Coke.

But those are giant companies. They go by different rules.

For the rest of us mortals, does the traditional idea of a brand — an iconic emotional shortcut that lets customers identify with a product — make any sense anymore?

Won’t smart, lean, agile little companies eat the big, lazy brands up?

After all, a village business doesn’t need a brand, right?

Well . . .

The direct marketing view

A lot of direct marketers like to mock branding and “awareness” advertising as a self-indulgent waste of time.

Brilliant direct response copywriters like Eugene Schwartz and Gary Bencivenga were master harpooners. They only had one shot at their prospect, and that’s all they needed to create millions of dollars in sales.

They didn’t need a “brand halo” to make their products look good. Their copywriting created a complete experience within a single brightly-colored envelope. To rely on a brand to do the selling for you was almost . . . cheating.

The blogger’s view

Bloggers, too, like to mock brands.

Artificial. Out of touch. Irrelevant. Fake emotions created by cynical corporations to manipulate the gullible.

Except the iPhone, obviously. That’s just, well, better.

The ad agency’s view

From the eyes of a good ad agency, the above views are held by sad, shabby people with bad haircuts. In other words, people who Just Don’t Get It.

If you do get it, you start by articulating the components of your brand identity. From there you build a brand platform, a brand vocabulary, a brand manifesto, and/or a brand bible. Then you’re ready to message a cohesive brand vision of your brand’s identity across a variety of channels until you can reliably generate some decent brand awareness and maybe even some day achieve a brand halo.

I actually love working with ad agencies, except when I want to shoot them.

Another view

I have long been a fan of Seth Godin’s definition of a brand: “a promise made over time.”

Those of us who are wordier than Seth would probably be tempted to elaborate, something like “a promise made, kept, and believed over time.”

Does it work for Apple? They promise breakthrough design and stylish, user-friendly products that will make you cooler just by owning them.

Does it work for Copyblogger? We promise practical advice on the smartest ways to build online business, make your blog more successful, and create competitive advantage by pairing social media with traditional direct response copywriting.

Does it work for a solo business? Let’s imagine a fictional Etsy vendor selling hand-woven organic baby blankets. They might promise soft, safe materials you’ll feel good about wrapping your baby in, colors that venture beyond boring pink and blue, and fantastic funky packaging that makes them a pleasure to give as gifts. They promise that you can be a mama (or papa) without turning into some tedious Stepford Parent. They promise handmade quality and a human connection.

Your brand is not your blog header

Quit thinking of brands in terms of logos or typefaces or what a particular shade of blue communicates to your customer.

You can make decisions about those things after you know what promise you’re going to make over time.

To work as a brand, a promise has to be exciting. It has to mean something to your potential customer. It has to turn everyone on — you and them.

So what promise do you make with your blog, site, or business? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author: Sonia Simone is Senior Editor of Copyblogger and the founder of Remarkable Communication.

AT&T has launched a completely redesigned website, and to celebrate – and draw attention to their new features – they are hosting a contest for a complete Tech Makeover.

They are doing an all out social media campaign to get the word out, and to get our feedback, and a rep contacted me to share this cool news with you.

Their fresh design features small business advice & solutions, and that is specifically where they would like our feedback. I’ll tell you my thoughts, you can leave yours in the comment section below, and then they’ll check in here to hear what we think…

Here’s the new site design that we’re reviewing: AT&T

Before I share my thoughts, I should tell you upfront that I don’t use AT&T services myself – simply because the coverage in my middle-of-nowhere town is practically non-existent. My son had a houseguest recently that almost went insane here without his iPhone fix over the 2-week stay. Yes, that’s a true story.

So I am stuck on Verizon, and have a Samsung Omnia. Nice, but not an iPhone.

That said, I do really like the interactive feature that AT&T provides to help you choose the best mobile device. This is the closest simulation I’ve seen online, to an actual in-store experience. Here is a screen shot below, where you tell AT&T what you need and they match you with the best fit:

Nowhere in that list did I see “please run my entire business for me, without my input, so I can go sit on the beach and drink margaritas”… but oh well

I do like the site, and the interactive features. The tips & resources? Not so much. I definitely think they are lacking in that area, as it takes entirely too much clicking around to actually get to a useful article – click this, choose that, read more, etc, etc, etc – some of which take you completely off-site.

The tips section is okay, but probably wouldn’t make it to my bookmarks. Besides being a bit cumbersome to navigate, the font is small and it’s all text – no color or image use to really draw me in and get me engaged in the content.

Most of the articles also lack a call-to-action. So once I get to the bottom of a good read… I’m forced to scroll back up and figure out where to go next.

To AT&T: We’re a new generation of web junkies. We need content to reach through our monitor and grab our eyeballs, engage and entertain us, and make us feel like we are on the right page that offers the exact solution we need. We need you to tell us what that is, because you’re the name we trust. Don’t leave us blindly clicking random hyperlinks within the content, figuring it out on our own. That’s “research” (which we’re weary enough with already). Meet us where we are and lead us to an obvious decision. We’ll thank you for it!

AT&T’s Small Biz Tech Makeover Contest

As I mentioned at the beginning, AT&T is hosting a Tech Makeover contest for small business owners as part of this campaign. You can visit AT&T Small Business InSite to get all of the contest details.

Basically you will need to create a short 2-minute video explaining why you need a technology makeover. The person who best explains their situation will win expert advice PLUS one year of free AT&T products and services!

There will be only be ONE lucky prize winner – so make it count

I am not going to actually enter the contest myself, as I can’t get AT&T mobile/3G coverage here in the valley, but I did create an example video for you. You’ll want to create something similar to enter their contest – explaining why you need their super cool Tech Makeover:

Good luck with the contest – and be sure to leave your feedback below. AT&T would love to hear what you think of their newly launched interactive website, and this fun Tech Makeover contest!

Best,

Raise your hand if you’ve heard of relationship marketing. Now keep it up if you know what it means.

Lots of hands still up, huh? OK. Fine. You, there. You with the iPhone and the I’m Kind of a Big Deal on Twitter t-shirt. What does relationship marketing mean?

Mmm hmm?

Sorry, I didn’t quite catch that. I tuned out at “creating authentic connections” and “establishing many-to-many connections that foster meaningful dialogue.” DING DING DING. You are WRONG, my tweep, my Facebook friend, my FriendFeed flunkie.

Let’s talk about what “relationship marketing” really is, shall we?

According to Wikipedia, and Len Barry who coined the term, “relationship marketing is a form of marketing which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on point-of-sale transactions.”

1. Relationship marketing is not about relationships. It’s about marketing.

As a relationship marketer, I focus on making sure you not only buy my stuff today, but you keep buying it over and over and over. “Relationship” refers to the customer’s purchase history, not some deep interpersonal connection.

We do not take moonlit walks on the beach. We are not friends. We are not acquaintances. As a matter of fact, we couldn’t pick each other out of a police lineup.

As a business, I’ve simply agreed to listen to you — or, more likely, people demographically similar to you — for long enough to know what you might buy. Then I make it and sell it to you.

If this is our relationship, we both need therapy.

2. Relationship marketing is not about authenticity.

I could tell you I’m just an ordinary person who happens to be exactly like you. I could tell you I’m the reincarnation of Cleopatra’s pool boy. I could tell you I’m a one-eared lumberjack.

It doesn’t matter a whit. If I get you signed up for my advance discount list and give you a good enough deal, we both win.

3. Relationship marketing is not about transparency.

Transparency is nice, and sometimes necessary, but it’s not what this is about.

It’s fascinating when Rand Fishkin tells me how much money he made last year, but it doesn’t affect whether or not I keep my SEOMoz membership.

4. Relationship marketing is not about connection.

Just because Steve Jobs doesn’t know your kid’s name doesn’t mean you’re going to buy a Dell next time.

5. Relationship marketing is not about being social.

Social is Sunday morning brunch with your buddies. It’s not Twitter.

And frankly, you’ll have a tough time selling anything in either place.

6. Relationship marketing is not about equality.

The only thing that’s equal about you being my “fan” and me begging you for money is that we’re equally codependent.

7. Relationship marketing is not even about communication.

I buy apples every week and the things don’t even have a label, let alone a communication strategy.

You joining my Facebook fan page is not a relationship.

You following me on Twitter is not a relationship.

You commenting on my blog is not a relationship.

Let’s face it, if your boyfriend treated you as badly as I do, your mother would tell you to break up with him.

Relationship marketing is about marketing.

The touchy feely, Summer of Love, gosh-aren’t-we-great-friends stuff is nice. Sometimes it’s even necessary. But it’s not what relationship marketing is actually about.

Relationship marketing is about getting the customer to stick around long enough to keep shopping. And it’s about making sure that customer comes back next time to buy more stuff.

Don’t fall so in love with the relationship that you forget about the marketing. Like talking about benefits and not just features. Like having a halfway decent market position. Like a real call to action. Like, you know, selling stuff.

All the authentically transparent connections in the world won’t fix those if they’re broken. But stick a Wheaties coupon on the back of every box of Wheaties and you’ve got it nailed.

About the Author: Naomi Dunford is the woman Brian Clark lovingly refers to as a marketing genius and Tourette’s survivor. She is the author of IttyBiz and co-author of How To Launch The **** Out Of Your Ebook. Her alleged potty-mouth is prominent in the former and virtually non-existent in the latter.