PDA

View Full Version : 3 Keys to Getting the "Big Dogs" to Promote Your Stuff



Sean Morrissy
04-21-2011, 04:55 AM
Hey guys, I've just joined this forum and have noticed a lot of newbies around, so I thought I'd share the strategies I've used to get serious affiliates to promote your stuff. I bought into the JV myth, that if you build it, they will come, when I got started.

But I quickly realised there's a few crucial things you need to do if you want to get your stuff promoted. And these three keys all compound on each other, so it's important to get them all handled.

Key #1: Act as if affiliates don't exist.

This mind sound a bit counter intiuitive, but what would you do if there weren't any affiliates out there? You'd be forced to sell your stuff yourself, which would force you to create a sales process that actually works well. Otherwise you'd be out of business.

Far too often I've been approached by merchants wanting me to sell their stuff for them. But they've been too lazy to optimise their entire sales process. Don't make their mistake of quickly writing up some sales copy and then blasting away emails to JV partners willy nilly.

So at first, promote your stuff yourself. Build your list. Optimise the sales process. After a while, you'll have your own list and you'll be able to promote others well. Once you can successfully promote others, you will find it a million times easier to get them to promote you.

One thing you may not realise is that as someone with a list, I don't have a problem finding offers to promote. So if I get two emails from people asking me to promote them, I'm going to go with the guy who's put in the hard yards and is able to reciprocate with me.

It's not personal, it's just business.

Key #2: Build relationships.

I once asked a friend for one piece of advice about JVs. His answer: It's all about relationships. Like I mentioned in the first key, if you've got a large list, you don't have the problem of finding offers to promote.

So if you've gotta choose between two people with equal lists, you're going to end up going with the guy you have a better relationship with.

But how do you start relationships with these people? Well, you don't do it by blasting their inbox asking for a JV. You do it by helping them out first. Promote them, help them out, show them you're a player and not some wannabe.

And once you do this, make contact with them. You've got a much better chance of one of these guys replying to your emails if you say "Hey, I'm the guy who sent you 50 sales last week", than if you just ask them for something.

And once you're past this initial contact, it's all up to you and your charm :)

So think about what you can do for them, not what they can do for you.

Key #3: Create a quality, well positioned offer

Ok, so at last we come to the final key. If a big dog has a whole heap of people asking for a JV and they can only squeeze one person in, they're going to take all three keys into consideration. If you have a big list, that commands a certain amount of power.

If you have a big list and a good relationship with the person, that commands even more power. But the best way to guarantee a big player in your niche to promote your stuff is when you have a strong list, a good relationship with them AND you have a product that fits their list well.

So when you're creating offers, don't create stuff that already exists. Sure, if you have a big enough list or you are best friends with one of these guys, you might get away with it. But if you're just starting out, maybe a high quality, well positioned product can get you over the line...

Ok, hope that helps!

Sean

Sim Aurile
04-30-2011, 11:52 AM
Hi Sean,

What I believe is the MOST IMPORTANT key is, to support their launch.

If you support their launch and make good amount of sales, they will realise that you have the ability to do this stuff.

And thus, they will "trust" you.

If you don't support them(promote them) and then expect them to promote you, that is unsafe but somewhat unconvincing.


Thanks
Sim
http://www.massiveautotraffic.com/jvheadquarters/

Jason Daniel
05-04-2011, 08:13 PM
Thanks Sean. I'm someone who is new here and is planning to launch my own products. The one thing that I actually hadn't thought about doing is contacting people who's products I've promoted and made sales as an affiliate. I think while doing strictly affiliate marketing I saw myself as being on my own little island and building lists and promoting products, but I never thought to get to know the people who's products I'm promoting. Silly me.

Seems like common sense, but something I overlooked. Thanks for your post.

Nazir Kabbani
05-11-2011, 10:42 PM
yes, it goes two ways: scratch their back and they will scratch yours...

BUT, the problem comes here: What id you are not an expert affiliate? you're just a vendor with a good product...WHATO DO YOU DO THEN ?

Thanks
Nazir

Paul E
05-16-2011, 11:15 AM
Thank you very much, a very useful article for a newbie like me
;)


Hey guys, I've just joined this forum and have noticed a lot of newbies around, so I thought I'd share the strategies I've used to get serious affiliates to promote your stuff. I bought into the JV myth, that if you build it, they will come, when I got started.

But I quickly realised there's a few crucial things you need to do if you want to get your stuff promoted. And these three keys all compound on each other, so it's important to get them all handled.

Key #1: Act as if affiliates don't exist.

This mind sound a bit counter intiuitive, but what would you do if there weren't any affiliates out there? You'd be forced to sell your stuff yourself, which would force you to create a sales process that actually works well. Otherwise you'd be out of business.

Far too often I've been approached by merchants wanting me to sell their stuff for them. But they've been too lazy to optimise their entire sales process. Don't make their mistake of quickly writing up some sales copy and then blasting away emails to JV partners willy nilly.

So at first, promote your stuff yourself. Build your list. Optimise the sales process. After a while, you'll have your own list and you'll be able to promote others well. Once you can successfully promote others, you will find it a million times easier to get them to promote you.

One thing you may not realise is that as someone with a list, I don't have a problem finding offers to promote. So if I get two emails from people asking me to promote them, I'm going to go with the guy who's put in the hard yards and is able to reciprocate with me.

It's not personal, it's just business.

Key #2: Build relationships.

I once asked a friend for one piece of advice about JVs. His answer: It's all about relationships. Like I mentioned in the first key, if you've got a large list, you don't have the problem of finding offers to promote.

So if you've gotta choose between two people with equal lists, you're going to end up going with the guy you have a better relationship with.

But how do you start relationships with these people? Well, you don't do it by blasting their inbox asking for a JV. You do it by helping them out first. Promote them, help them out, show them you're a player and not some wannabe.

And once you do this, make contact with them. You've got a much better chance of one of these guys replying to your emails if you say "Hey, I'm the guy who sent you 50 sales last week", than if you just ask them for something.

And once you're past this initial contact, it's all up to you and your charm :)

So think about what you can do for them, not what they can do for you.

Key #3: Create a quality, well positioned offer

Ok, so at last we come to the final key. If a big dog has a whole heap of people asking for a JV and they can only squeeze one person in, they're going to take all three keys into consideration. If you have a big list, that commands a certain amount of power.

If you have a big list and a good relationship with the person, that commands even more power. But the best way to guarantee a big player in your niche to promote your stuff is when you have a strong list, a good relationship with them AND you have a product that fits their list well.

So when you're creating offers, don't create stuff that already exists. Sure, if you have a big enough list or you are best friends with one of these guys, you might get away with it. But if you're just starting out, maybe a high quality, well positioned product can get you over the line...

Ok, hope that helps!

Sean

richard crooke
06-15-2011, 10:06 PM
You are so true Sean. For those that created a product but don't have list to sell the "Big Dog" products, you'll need to work harder and promote your own product. I have joined a couple of coaching programs and interacted with several "Big Dogs", but they have their own schedule and its hard to get them to promote. So stay positive, focused and you'll need to promote your own product.

Gail Richardson
06-21-2011, 06:10 PM
Sean, Thanks for a great article. You have some great ideas that I know will help me a lot. I am learning more everyday.

Gail J Richardson

Keiron West
06-25-2011, 03:31 PM
I like this alot, thank you for the ideas.

Keiron West

Sonia Walsh
07-07-2011, 12:41 AM
Good points Sean, but I have to agree with Nazir. You have a great product and would like a partner to help you promote it....you're more than willing to reciprocate by promoting his/her product...but you just don't have a list to do so. There are a few other ways veterans can truly help newbies out in the beginning. One way is by offering to promote the product in exchange perhaps for a service that the "big dogs" consider invaluable. Whether it be article writing and submissions, or doing some site promotions, bookmarking etc..all tedious tasks that nobody likes to do. A "newbie" like me would be more than happy to assists in these areas in exchange for product promotion.

Mike Davidson
07-24-2011, 05:21 PM
In Real Estate Investing a JV is normally a mix of two peoples differing assets. One dude has time and a work ethic but no money, the other has no time but has money to put up for the purchase. Together they can make the deal work.

What this post is saying is that both dudes must have similar assets, you must do all the list building and promoting yourself because all the big dogs have their own products already. In some ways this doesn't make sense to me but in others I can see why it does. I am a newbie but I am also a developer who has launched a product but wants to attract JV affiliates. I have a list building process in place but it is slow. If I knew this a year ago I would sought professional list building services. Anyone know where I can source such a thing?
Mike

Mo Miah
09-18-2011, 09:29 PM
thanks sean that helped :)

Blair Beauchemin
10-02-2011, 08:29 PM
Great article and advice. You for sure have to have tested your sales copy and make sure that it converts. if you can give them some solid numbers and proof that it will convert you will also have a lot more leverage when trying to do business together.

Richard Golko
10-13-2011, 03:22 AM
These are my newbie (year and a half experience) observations and thoughts:

Getting any affiliate or JV partner all boils down to helping the other person, not the other person helping you. "What's in it for me" is always what the 'other' person is thinking. Start there.

Now in terms of JVs outside of IM, you would think of how you an increase the other party's sales. If you can increase someone's sales, they will always be interested. If you just want to piggyback on the other party's success, they will not be interested.
If we take this over to IM, we have to think in the same terms. The bigger names always have products to launch. They are interested in branding themselves and helping you launch your product is not helping them a bit. If you're 'in the club' already then thing change and they want to help each other out, contests get their competitive juices pumping, etc. But for us newbies, we have to think in terms of how we can increase the other person's presence, branding and success.

How to do that is not so easy or apparent.

What I'm trying out right now is to invite some of the bigger players to include one of their free or up-sell product with mine. I don't know, maybe I'll even have to produce the product for them and offer to put their name on it. Talk about bribery! When people buy my product, they'll get the freebie or have an opportunity to buy the up-sell. Either way I get the bigger name on my product page either before or after the sale and that can't hurt. I don't expect any of the bigger names to mail for me because of that but they might notice me for a later promotion. At that point it will boil down to how well my product converts.

What do you think of this approach? Do you think it will work?

Mark Hendricks
11-03-2011, 05:49 PM
A couple of thoughts...

- be organized and clear in your communications with JV prospects

- be mindful that it's their reputation at stake with their customers

- make sure your systems flow with no hangups (sales page loads, ordering system works, signup works, delivery works, affiliate software tracks hits and sales properly, etc)

- make sure your product does what you say it does

- make customer support a priority and do it efficiently, politely, and personably

- if your product or service works well, you will have fewer customer support issues

- thank them for helping you and be sure to return the favor by promoting quality products/services that also live up to the above points

Best,
Mark Hendricks