Elena Turcu (Marketer): In BusinessLeague, clients come to you—both for collaborations and with commission increases

For Elena Turcu (ElenaT in the BusinessLeague affiliate rankings), the number of commissions tripled during Black Friday, and that momentum lasted for many days after the event.

In the interview below, she also tells us that there is still a reluctance among online stores to try affiliate marketing. Why?

Because most of them want to see results yesterday. Thus, a lack of patience, not mastering the information, and conservatism hold them back.

Elena, when and how did you discover affiliate marketing? What about BusinessLeague? 

At an informational level, the term affiliate marketing reached my ears about 10 years ago. At that time, I was working in a different field. I was focusing more on writing. I know it caught my attention back then, but I wasn't prepared with all the information needed to go in this direction.

About two years ago, I ran my first campaign for an affiliate platform, and at the beginning of 2025, I created an account in BusinessLeague for the first time.

As a beginner, it took a little time to figure out how things work. While in the Start-Up tier I had to "chase" clients myself, in BusinessLeague they come to me—both to start a collaboration and with proposals, and, why not, with commission increases.

Have you always worked in marketing, or do you have another background you'd like to tell us a few words about?

Ever since I entered the workforce, marketing has been intertwined with the activities I carried out. I worked in media—print and online—and that is practically where the foundations of affiliate marketing were laid :)

Black Friday 2025

I didn't have high expectations, given that it was my first Black Friday. What I could do was increase budgets where I saw potential. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the number of commissions tripled, an effect that lasted for several good days after the event.

What did I learn? :) That you have to prepare yourself mentally and financially during this period, and that you need to find a part-time nanny to look after the kids. For several good days, all I saw was my phone and laptop screen. 

What does BusinessLeague mean to you?

Motivation. The first thing I do when I open the platform is look at the leaderboard. Even a single position up or down gives me thrills.

Which stores do you work best with?

Perhaps also because of my past, I have a soft spot for stores in the Home & Deco category. Tied in the same spot, I think, are those in books and cosmetics. I believe success comes down to the campaign, the timing—or more precisely, period-specific searches—and, obviously, communication. There is no way we can know everything, and the information shared by the store with the affiliate can be the drop that fills the ocean. 

Challenges

I have a fairly competitive nature, and although all challenges require competition, Speed Run attracted me right from the start. Probably because wherever speed is involved, sitting still frustrates me too.

There is still reluctance from shops to try affiliate marketing. Why do you think this happens?

Speaking of speed earlier—I think most of them want to see results yesterday 😄 Thus, a lack of patience, the fact that they haven't mastered the information (they've heard of it, but haven't done their research), and, why not, conservatism (we live in the age of AI, but that doesn't mean we welcome it with open arms) prevent them from trying, or if they do, they do it short-term because they lack the time and money to invest.

What are your plans for 2026?

Right from the beginning, I set out to have some form of collaboration with all the stores registered on the platform. I hope to achieve this in 2026 and, obviously, to climb the leaderboard as close to the top positions as possible.