Scott Hazard: The Performer

September/October 2006 Issue: Page 90

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Scott Hazard is a performer at heart. Not only does he have a background in theater and can currently be found fronting an aspiring rock band, he's one of Commission Junction's top-performing affiliates.

Despite having many talents that often thrust him to the forefront, Hazard is a modest man who typically shuns the spotlight.

For more than three years he's been an extremely active and vocal member of several online affiliate marketing forums. While many of his closest industry friends often refer to him by one of his messageboard handles, he prefers not to give away his online identity publicly so that he can continue to voice his strong opinions about unethical practices without fear of repercussions.

But Hazard stresses that he's not hiding behind the anonymity of the message boards and that he never says anything in those forums that he wouldn't express face-to-face. Rather, the fear is that if the offending players in the space knew his real name and his websites, they might retaliate by using their technical knowhow to attack his sites, which are his livelihood. Other affiliates say they worry about being physically harmed or having someone knock on their front door. He agrees that type of threat is within the realm of possibility.

Still, Hazard dismisses the notion that some message boards can be vicious at times. For him it's been a wonderful community where he's been able to develop some extremely close friendships – which are a very important component of doing business for him. Because he works from home – like many other affiliates – he's somewhat isolated from the typical, everyday office interaction and considers the message boards his water cooler, albeit an online version.

He appreciates all the help and advice he's often received – and given – as a huge factor in his continuing participation in these forums. The ability to log on and find answers about a merchant he's promoting or thinking of promoting is priceless. Approaching the posters on these boards with a sense of humility and respect means that forum members will bend over backward to help you, Hazard says.

But it's not like everyone is about to divulge all their secrets. He likens the amount of information that affiliates are willing to reveal to each other to the Seinfeld episode where two magicians are having dinner. However, in the popular TV show, the magicians spend the entire meal trying to one-up each other, and most affiliates, Hazard notes, are just the opposite – they don't give out any information, including the most basic stuff – like the names of their websites. He laughs at that idea, calling it a very cool dynamic.

And he's no different when it comes to disclosing specific information about his business. He operates approximately 30 to 40 websites that are in the retail space and focus primarily on apparel, but he's hesitant to give out any more details. But when it comes to his latest site – CouponPouch.com – he's not shy about talking it up.

The site launched in April and is his first venture into coupons. He always thought there was a large opportunity in that area – especially since he's got some friends that are every coupon-intensive people, many of whom he describes as toting around a tickler file of coupons that weighs two pounds.

In order to spread the word about CouponPouch.com, Hazard is taking a multifaceted approach. There's lots of local advertising in many parts of the United States. He's using newspapers in each area to get the word out. He's doing a lot of online and off-line promotion and focusing on viral advertising. He wants people to talk about his site and he thinks freebies and giveaway goodies (business cards, fridge magnets, hats, etc.) are a great way to do that.

Of course, there's the Honda Element he drives around the central Florida area with the giant kangaroo on the side that's hard to miss. He recently had the SUV professionally wrapped to display the CouponPouch.com logo. And if you spot his vehicle parked and stop by to say hello – he'll give you a free gift. However, don't try and pull him over on the road for the free gift. He's a gung-ho marketer, but not at the expense of on-the-road safety.

None of these marketing ideas is random. Hazard says he lies awake at night thinking about these kinds of things. He's got a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. And he's learned that means striving to be independent of any single source of traffic. Although natural traffic is free and he spends money on Yahoo and Google, he stresses that affiliates need to get smart and develop marketing strategies outside of the box.

He may lie awake at night, but he bounces out of bed each morning and can't wait to get to his computer. Hazard loves his job because it allows him to use his creative side to think about ways to bring items to market. But he can also use his logical side to structure events to bring the creative vision to fruition. He says it is the most fulfilling job he can possibly imaging having – and it's not about the money. Yes, he admits, we all need money and money is not a bad thing, but for Hazard, it's the satisfaction of developing an idea and then walking it through to completion that is the real joy.

He loves that, armed only with creativity, personal drive and a computer, he has the ability to compete with multimilliondollar corporations. "They have a website. I have a website. The playing field is much more level," Hazard says. "I can't go to the mall and build a Nordstrom and sell wares, but I can sit at the computer and create a website to sell wares."

And not everything is a success. If something doesn't work, he'll shuck it and move on. He has lots of ideas and spends time cruising through the networks and looking at websites searching for new ideas and things that spark his creativity. He checks many of his new pay-per-click ideas using what he calls the $200 rule. That means he spends a day or two to set up a website or Web pages, sends some PPC advertising to it and when he's spent $200 he evaluates whether it's working or not. If not, he just puts it aside and moves on.

He may have an easy time turning off marketing campaigns that aren't performing, but he admits that it's not as easy for him to turn off work – especially since he works from a home office. Continued on Page 2...

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