The Surprising Truth About Affiliate Marketing
So you wanna be an affiliateâ¦
Looks easy enough, right? Seems like all you have to do is pick a product to promote, find an eager group of buyers, slap up a banner ad⦠and youâre in business.
Um, no.
Everything I just said about affiliate marketing is completely wrong. For starters, you donât pick a product first. Instead, you start by picking a niche. Basically, you find the money stream and then put yourself in front of it.
Secondly, slapping banner ads up isnât going to get you anywhere. Oh sure, you might get a few clicks here and there. But as the saying goes⦠even a broken clock is right twice a day.
The Surprising Truth About Affiliate Marketing
So listenâ¦
I want you to scrub your brain of everything youâve heard about affiliate marketing. Because if youâve started dabbling with it and youâre not making money, then someone probably fed you some bad information. Thatâs not your fault.
But we need to get rid of that misinformation. I wish I had one of those Men in Black doohickies that would just erase the bad affiliate marketing info thatâs lurking in your brain. Unfortunately, I donât have one, so I need to ask you to watch this video with an open mind⦠okay?
The first thing I want you to know is that an affiliate marketer wears whole lotta hats. Iâm not talking about fedoras, cowboy hats or those silly crocheted beer-can hats. Iâm talking about business hats.
Let me explainâ¦
First off, youâre a marketer. That means youâll quickly become adept at social media marketing, joint ventures, search engine optimization, media buys, guest blogging and all sorts of other ways to drive targeted traffic.
Youâll also wear a filtering hat. This means you sort through potential affiliate products to find the best solutions for your audience.
Youâll also wear a bit of a mind-reading hat. Okay, you wonât actually be mind-reading, but you will do some market research
to get inside your prospectsâ heads. Once you do this, then you can pick products theyâre anxious to buy, and write sales copy that gets them pulling out their wallets.
Youâll also need to don your writing hat. Thatâs because youâll be writing sales copy, newsletters, blog posts and other types of content.
Sometimes youâll wear a bit of a tech hat. Sure, you can outsource your tech jobs like maintaining your website, but a lot of affiliates prefer to just learn how to do it themselves. And really, with tools like WordPress, itâs not that hard.
The next hat you wear is one as a relationship expert. And that brings us to the next important point you need to knowâ¦
A lot of affiliate marketers think the key to making sales is to add value to an offer, meaning you offer a special bonus to those who buy through your affiliate link. Sure, thatâs part of a good strategy.
But hereâs the #1 secret that super affiliates know which gets people lining up around the block to buy from themâ¦
People buy from those they know, like and trust.
Think about your own purchases and youâll know itâs true. If youâve spent a little more money on a product because you preferred to buy from someone you know, like and trust ⦠then you know exactly what Iâm talking about.
Maybe you bought the name brand headache medicine because you donât trust the generic. Same ingredients, same effect⦠and even though the name-brand cost a bit more, you still bought it.
The same goes for shoes, clothing, food, laundry detergent, cars, smartphones, books and everything else you buy. Iâm sure there are plenty of times youâve spent a bit more because you wanted to buy from a company or individual that you knew, liked and trusted.
Your prospects are the same way â they donât necessarily buy something from you because you dangle an enticing bonus in their face. They buy because they know, like and trust you. Youâve engaged them and youâve built a relationship with them.
So now you see why you need to wear a relationship hat. While itâs possible to approach cold prospects and sell a few who-zee-whats-its here and there, youâll do much better if you build a list, engage that list, build a relationship with the subscribers and then promote solutions that you know will really help these folks.
And that brings us to the final pointâ¦
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What sort of niche should be you be targeting?
Hereâs a key â find a niche of rabid buyers whoâre likely to buy several products from you. Find people who are super passionate about some topic or hobby.
Take the example of bodybuilders. Serious bodybuilders buy a ton of stuff. They purchase books and instructional videos on how to do their sport and how to compete. They purchase bodybuilding supplements. They buy all sorts of weights, benches and machines. They buy lifting gloves, lifting hooks and back supports. They buy heating pads to soothe sore muscles. They buy a ton of healthy food.
I could go on and on. Point is, the serious bodybuilders are a wildly rabid market that buys a lot of information, and they purchase a wide range of expensive products, mid range products, and consumable products.
Hereâs another example of a burgeoning marketâ¦
The vaping / e-cigarette market.
Vaping isnât something people just do â it practically becomes a lifestyle for the rabid folks. So they purchase multiple devices, dozens of c-cigarette liquids, t-shirts, spare parts and guides. Then these vapers also go to meet-ups, conferences and expos. Theyâre a rabid audience because theyâre engaged, they have money, and theyâre snapping up every new thing that hits the market.
Do you see what Iâm saying? This is the sort of market you want to go after. So take a few minutes and think about what sorts of rabid, passionate markets are all around you â because one of them could be your ticket to affiliate success.
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