Our ‘Profile: A Day in the Life of’ feature takes a look at some of the global professionals working across performance marketing. It aims to shed light on the varying roles and companies across the flourishing industry. This week it’s over to Chancery Lane to meet Linkdex’s Chris Tradgett.
Name:
Chris Tradgett.
Job title and company:
Business Development, Linkdex Publisher Discovery.
In one sentence, how would you describe what the company does?
Linkdex offers two main products: Our core product, which makes up most of our business, is the Linkdex Enterprise SEO Platform and then there’s the area I work in , which is Linkdex Publisher Discovery – this analyses affiliate tracking, giving detailed intelligence on the affiliate websites linking to merchant programmes anywhere in the world and in over 140 languages.
What are the company’s unique selling points?
We provide the most in-depth analysis of affiliate tracking available, to look at any network or direct merchant tracking in any market in any language. Output reporting gives an actionable gap analysis to indicate recruitment targets to affiliate managers; and sales teams valuable insights to share with prospective clients.
Within the last six months/year, what stands out as the company’s major milestones?
Linkdex has had two successful funding rounds in the last 18 months enabling us to boost staffing to over 100 in the two key offices in London and New York as well as setting up additional US offices. This is against a background of consistently doubling revenue year on year.
Duration in current role:
I’ve been at Linkdex for just under four years, and about two in this current role working on our Publisher Discovery platform.
Where are you based?
We are based in Chancery Lane, London and Central New York, though I usually work remotely.
Previous performance marketing-related companies you have worked at:
Prior to joining Linkdex, I was a year as the Easyspace affiliate manager. My main grounding in the performance sector though was as one of the early team involved in launching the buy.at affiliate network and building that over around eight years to be a major player in the UK and then US affiliate industry.
What are your main job responsibilities?
We are a fast growing part of the Linkdex business so my role covers account management for some of our UK and international clients and relationship management, coupled with product development and marketing functions for the Publisher Discovery operation.
Take us through what you get up to on a typical working Monday:
Mondays start with a recap on the past week and checking Friday’s plan for this week’s activity. A cup of tea is essential of course to lubricate that. Dealing with email from the weekend and any urgent items is an essential, then get the other week’s tasks set out so two to three main pieces are tacked each day. That allows for the necessary responsive tasks from incoming messages and email.
I usually have a discussion with Mike Brandy on our road map for product development to add new functionality to the platform. Communication through the day with the rest of the team via skype ensures that we are all working in the same direction.
What top three websites can you be found browsing during your lunch hour?
The Linkedin feed and Facebook are useful resources for keeping up with what others in the sector are doing – and of course PerformanceIN is always a good read!
What are your top three tips for someone looking to get their hands on a job like yours?
You will need a passion for the performance sector; a reasonable understanding of the technologies used in affiliate and general online marketing; and an understanding of how the sector is changing technically and in terms of marketing trends. The sector is certainly a very different place to just 2-3 years ago, let alone the 12 years since I started at buy.at.
Career-wise, where do you see yourself in three years’ time?
I’m not sure you can predict that far forwards at any point; I’d not have predicted being involved at Linkdex three years after leaving buy.at network. Linkdex and the Publisher Discovery product in particular is so dynamic, I would hope to be continuing its growth, though I’m sure in three years the performance sector will be again a very different place anyway.
Tell us one thing people at work don’t know about you?
Not an easy one as I’ve been around quite a while, but I’m sure many in the office don’t know that I sing bass in a Baroque chamber choir – or if they know that, then probably don’t know I once played bass guitar on stage with Mark Knopfler.