Have You Met Darryl?

One of the things we are most proud of at AIM is our people and we are always on the lookout for exceptional talent. This month, we are thrilled to welcome our newest team member and Director of Business Development, Darryl Mason. We’ve asked Darryl to step into the AIM Spotlight and share his story, achievements and industry insights. Read his interview and get to know Darryl!

Question: You are a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be and why?

Darryl:  Blue. Blue brings tranquillity and peace which reminds me of the ocean. An ocean is soothing, peaceful and beautiful when calm, but it can also be fierce when stirred.

Question: If you were a super hero (and we know you are), what would your super power be and what can we call you?

Darryl: If I was a super hero, my super power would be seeing into the future. This way I can determine how powerful our business plans are and where we need to adjust now to make them even better in the future. My Super Hero name has historically been “D Money Mason” 😊

Question: Your favourite Inspirational Quote

Darryl:  “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

Giving up is an easy solution, and will never make you push to achieve success in business and life. I try to teach my kids that it’s not about giving up when they can’t do something, but it’s about taking baby steps, one at a time and achieving small wins.

Question: Name one thing about your job that inspires you to keep working at AIM and gets you out of bed in the morning?

Darryl: First, the incredible group I get to work with every day at AIM makes tackling each day a little easier. Also, affiliate marketing is an ever evolving and exciting industry to work within cause it’s the cheapest place to try new things. Just when you finally think you got it, at the snap of your fingers everything changes on you.

Question: How did you become an expert in your field?

Darryl: I’m no sales expert and still have a ton to learn to perfect my sales methodology. However, my transparency, candidness and honesty has made me a pseudo-expert.  I am always upfront, transparent and candid with everyone I speak to, to a fault at times, but I do not ever over promise something I know we can’t deliver. Contacts within the retail space are very transient and you need to grow a healthy, long term relationship with them to be successful.

Question: Tell us about your greatest achievement in your career, so far.

Darryl: My greatest achievement in my affiliate career was closing some of the largest Canadian retailers like Toys R Us Canada, Home Depot Canada, Royal Canadian Mint, and Canada Post to name a few.

Question: What are the three key trends in Affiliate/Performance Marketing in 2018?

Darryl:

1) Affiliate is going Niche. Advertisers want to narrow their focus into smaller groups of highly credible, targeted and popular influencers

2) Affiliate is expanding beyond display. Advertisers want to reach their consumers and engage with them on all levels by venturing further into video, voice and other emerging technologies like AI

3) If you can’t build it, buy it. As the affiliate industry evolves, we will continue to see more technology and network acquisitions like AWIN and ShareASale, Adobe and Magento, etc.

Question: What is your biggest professional challenge?

Darryl: Oddly enough, public speaking. As my wife says, I talk too much but get me in front of an audience and I have a hard time putting two cohesive words together.

Question: What is the one piece of sales advice you can offer?

Darryl: Don’t ever take rejection personally, because it’s typically always a business decision. Let the “NO’s” keep driving you until you get the “YES’s” over and over and over again.

Darryl brings over 12 years of sales experience with 6+ years in performance marketing from both the agency side at AffiliateTraction and network side at Pepperjam. Darryl has acquired some of the largest Canadian and US merchants and enjoys working with C-Level executives uncovering their pain points. When not glued to his phone, Darryl loves spending time with his wife and 3 kids. He likes to keep active either in the gym or riding bikes with the kids and like a true Canuck, spends many hours in the hockey arena or at gymnastics.