What I have learned managing $1,046,000 in launches this year

I'm not very well known in the IM market, in fact I've just started to "come out of my shell" and introduce myself to people here over the last couple of years.

Since 1998 though I've been something of a secret weapon for a lot of the biggest names in the stock market and real estate niches. I manage launches, provide strategic and tactical consulting etc.

So far this year I have managed $1,046,000 in product launches. These product launches have setup business' that are now bringing in many times that amount for the site owners.

In any event I wanted to share with the JV Notify community some of the lessons I've learned in managing these launches.

I just finished up the highly profitable Wall Street Window launch for Mike Swanson. We used Jeff Walker's Product Launch Formula and Frank Kern's Mass Control tactics to sell 393 newsletter subscriptions @$379 in under 2 days.

This was my fourth big (six figure plus) product launch this year, and you always learn something every time you do one.

I want to share with you some of the lessons I learned from the Wall Street Window launch, specifically as it comes to affiliates.

First of all, the majority of your affiliates are opportunity seekers. They actually become your affiliate for the same reasons that the majority of your customer's buy your product. In the case of the affiliate you just have a different product, which is the ability to profit by selling your service or product. But in the end, your affiliates want to make money, and they want to do it without working too hard. Like I said, the same thing your buyers want.

Now the more you do to make that easy for them, the more you make.

If you can do all of the work for your affiliates, your going to have an even more successful launch. Believe me, if I could hit send for them I would! Luckily though, that's really the only thing I can't do, I can do do just about everything else. And everything I can do to make my affiliates life easier, makes my life client's launch more profitable.

So here is what I've learned.

First of all you should have, at the very least, a special section on your website exclusively to recruit affiliates. It's actually better to have an entire website that does nothing but “sell” affiliates on selling your service. You have to do the same thing you do to get people to buy your product, show them how easy it is to make money, give them proof etc. In other words, your first "launch" is actually the launch to getting and "selling" your affiliates on the idea of selling your product or service.

The trick is to make it as easy as possible.

Here is what I think you need to give your affiliates

Landing Pages
Keywords List
PPC Ads
Articles and Content
Videos
FAQs
Twitter and Facebook Messages
Tracking Links
Emails
Ezines to advertise in
Encourage, beg and cajole them into creating bonus'

You should also provide as much training to your affiliates as possible. Help them to make money in their other business, and to become better marketers because if you do, they will sell more for you too. You also create a reciprocity bond if you help them learn to be more effective affiliates, and they wil want to promote more for you in the future, I have affiliates in the stock market niche who follow me around from one project to the next once they find out I'm involved in a launch.

Towards that end you should create text and videos training your affiliates in the fine arts of:

Setting up the payment account
setting up a domain
proting the site with PPC, to friends, to their email list, with articles, with classifieds, with video's etc.

Again, the more you can do to make your affiliates successful, the more money your going to make yourself.

Anyway, this is what I have learned about doing product launches beyond what your taught in the above courses. Probably an entire course could be created on what to do with affiliates once you have them, but I'm too busy to create it.

These are some of the lessons I've learned from doing $1,046,000 worth of launches this year, and I hope they help you with your next launch.

Brandon
PS. The $1,046,000 is the GROSS sales, not the NET PROFIT. I get paid between 20% and 40% of the NET PROFIT from a launch. Net profits on my launches this year so far have been around $400,000.

Good post Brandon..Thanks for shring your thoughts.

You hit the nail on the head with this post, Brandon ... nice.

I've been telling folks for years that your JV prospects and prospective customers are managed almost identically ... 2 squeezes, 2 blogs, 2 promotional plans, 2 sets of motivational emails and incentives ... one to sell, and one to buy. And both must be followed up with as long as they remain partners and customers. ;)

Great example ... ;)

Cheers,

Mike

Great post, Brandon. Thanks for so much insightful information.
Continued success to you.

Wow... I've been doing it all wrong. No wonder most of my affiliates never produce results! I'm saving this for when I have to set up my affiliate page! Thanks Brandon

Most affiliates are like most clients, they don't take any action. This will certainly get a good number of them off the fence though and improve your results. My launches basically do twice as well now as they did before I started doing them like this, and now my clients ave gone from liking me to loving me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Mount

Wow... I've been doing it all wrong. No wonder most of my affiliates never produce results! I'm saving this for when I have to set up my affiliate page! Thanks Brandon

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Some great info Brandon

I am looking forward to one day doing my own product launch, but for now am just trying to absorb as much info as possible. Thanks for the insight

Hey there Brandon

I agree with you my friend.

I actually did that with all of my programs. Any thing I tested and was proven to work became
an affiliate resource. Created an entire PPC, Article, Video and tools section along with ongoing
training and support for those who needed.

My JVs simply copy, paste and send... love it man

thanks

Hi Brandon

Great post - just what a complete newbie like me needs to see to make sure I get it right when I eventually get to the point of trying recruit affiliates - brilliant :)

Sue

You got it Bob..like I said every thing you can do to make it easier for your JV's is money in the bank for you. JV's are human, they want to make easy money too. So, you put together a good product, then you put out a good launch sequence and a high converting sales letter so that they are not wasting their own resourse by sending people to your offer.

You then make life even easier for them by doing everything for them. You hire a high end copy writer to write all of the autoresponders for them, you get PPC together for them, banners bleh bleh bleh bleh..this is how I always work and my clients make out like bandits for it.

In my last launch I did some videos just for my affiliates on how to setup the tracking, various other things.
It amazing how much more effort the affiliates put in this time around.

Thanks very useful your post..

regards Patrick

Hi Brandon,

I think that is a really useful list! Ta very much!

wow i love your web site..... i can see how this site works I'm new here i did book mark you

Great post, thanks for sharing. I think it is important to see JV partners as "resellers" or part of your sales channel and devote the time and resources to training and supporting them in selling to the end user.

Brandon is absolutely correct

Sell to your affiliates/JVs first and do all the grunt work for them.

My coming launch we are doing it slightly differently which will work well but costs us 20% of gross.

We provided the product with some major upgrades to make it extra special, a new Top sales page, Fantasos, Banners, Membership Card and a promo e-mail series that they can use to their list.

Since we are targeting JVs who will be doing e-mail promotions we did not create the additional material.

Now the difference on our launch is that we are using a JV Broker who after testing our site, sales process, affiliate process, payment process etc. will then sell the launch to their JV partners.

Managing Affiliates/JVs is a task so provide everything including a dedicated site+forum and/or hire an Affiliate/JV Manager and/or use a JV Broker.

In our case, I am more than happy to incur the 20% cost.

To everyone's success.

Regards
Mark

Thanks Brandon for very informative share. I have done some of the suggestions, but I was not aware of others.

I need to think again how to make my affiliates life more easier.

One thing I did want to mention before the wrong impression is taken ... let's not assume that 'affiliates' and 'JV partners' are one in the same.

Just because what we've come to know as 'JV Marketing' has become almost entirely associated with the endorsed mailing version of a Joint Venture, a JV Partner is not necessarily someone that simply gets on board your launch as an affiliate, promotes for you like an affiliate ... and that's the end of the relationship. In that case, you may just as well ask them if they'd like to join your Affiliate Program and be done with it.

JV relationships are built one at a time, and nurtured via brainstorming, input regarding all facets of product creation and launch, co promotion, and reciprocation ... mutual gain, not one way promotion for commission.

One thing I've noticed that is KILLING JV Marketing is merchants doing little more than trawling more affiliates ... NOT true JV Partners for the long haul, using multiple JV Brokers to bring in as many 'JV Partners' as possible. JV relationships are one on one, not communicated entirely via mass broadcast ... and they are ongoing, mutually ... not one way, one shot deals.

So ... Please, DON'T confuse creating new relationships with JV Partners with simply bringing on affiliates. You'll suck the exclusivity right out of your promotion, and find yourself with more tire kickers and freebie seekers than anything else ... as the real successful JV Marketers go on to create Strategic Alliances ... and blow you out of the water.

Remember ... take care of those that take care of you, and you'll wind up on top more times than not. Work at getting as close to guaranteeing follow through as possible, rather than bringing on board every Tom, Dick, and Harry ... and hoping you've chose the right carrot to dangle to gain their interest and participation.

With that ... Happy Independence Day for My Fellow Americans, and a healthy and safe weekend for everybody else.

Mike

Thanks everyone for the feedback and positive response to this thread. I'm thrilled to see that so many people have taken value from it.

I had actually never planned to create my own content again in my life. I've been having a great time doing launch management for people and strategic marketing consulting. I'm really excited about the upcoming Jeff Walker Product Launch Manager program, which I will be attending. It's been a lot of fun, and I feel like I'm actually helping other people to live their own dreams while also making a nice living for myself as well, so it's been very rewarding.

In any event, the response I have gotten to this particular post has gotten me thinking, and I think that there is a great need for a course that shows people how to really maximize the value they get from affiliates and JV partners. The difference between a $100,000 launch and a $1,000,000 one really can be in the way you interact with and treat your affiliates and JV partners.

I'm up to just over $2million now in launches, and I really think that 70%+ of that can be traced back to how easy I make things for affiliates and JVs. The other unique thing I've created is a "perpetual launch" model, which will be being tested out by Susan Lassiter (real estate) and Jullian Foxx (pick up artist) in the coming months. I think that is something can will be a game changer, and I'm really excited about it.

In any case, I'm going to get working on a course because I think it will be of huge value to those that buy it. It might take awhile for me to get it because I already have 5 launches on my calender for clients this year, plus 4 other clients who are not doing launches but I manage their owngoing marketing efforts. October, January and Febuary are the months I've always found to be the best for launches in the niche's I've been active in, and so I would assume IM is the same. It's doubtful I can have something Id be proud of finished by October, so most likely January or Febuary.

Brandon

Mike,

Thanks for the clarification between affiliates and JV partners. I am new here and I would like to eventually become a JV partner.

Thanks again,

Ray

I never thought about having pre-made tweets... that's a great idea!

Very interesting post, Brandon.

You are a really straight-forward guy, and that is very rare in the Internet Marketing world.


Keep up the good work, buddy. ;D

Very good post awesome! By the way how do you insert your photo on these forums posts? I went to my settings but it wouldn't let me select the option.

Thank you for sharing this, Brandon. Excellent post!

With your permission, I'd add graphics and banners to your list. I'm providing a few of the things you mention to my affiliates, but now I realize that I'm missing on a few key things that can help them be better equipped to succeed.

Success,
Tamara

Just wanted to update this figure and also some info.

The launch figure is up closer to $3.5million now. I've also created an additional $4million in other value through follow up sequences, traffic strategies, etc etc. It's an amazing feeling to know that entrepreneurs are being able to live the lives of their dreams because of the help I am giving them.

Also, I just got back from Jeff Walker's $25,000 Product Launch Manager Training Program. It was one of the most amazing professional experiences of my life. The event started at about 8 each morning and went until 7 or 8 each night. Amazing, it was like drinking from a fire hose.

I decided that I wanted to keep drinking from that fire hose, and so I signed up for Jeff's Mastermind Group too. The mastermind gives me one on one access to Jeff Walker, and allows me to have his personal help with aspects of the launches I'm doing for my clients. Pretty awesome stuff and I'm really excited.

I have to say this whole IM Thang has really been a blessing for me, and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am about the future.

Brandon

Fantastic advice given here. Thanks for this firsthand experience viewpoint.

I'll be updating this later. Jeff and Jon Walker hired me and my friend Chris Haddad to manage a launch in the real estate space for a client of their company, Product Launch Agency. To my knowledge they have not hired anyone else to do their client launches in the past. Because obviously their reputation is on the line as well they are taking a very active role in the product launch, and it's been like drinking from a fire hose.

The internal launch rolls off here in a few weeks, and like I said I'll have a report on that.

It's been an amazing opportunity for me to learn from the best...plus I've been able to raise my retainer from $15,000 to $40,000 and people are paying it :)

Hi

I am really grateful for all the info Brandon you've given. That was the main reason I joined the forum after sifting through a couple of the large articles! It's important to make life as easy as possible for everyone involved in the launch to insure it all runs smoothly.

Thanks again! :D

Thanks Brandon!

I'm going into my first major launch soon (everybody keep your eyes on the calender!)and your tips and "rules" are very helpful.

We've always soft launched in the past...this is gonna be fun!

Melford Bibens

awsome advice

Since getting started in this industry 12 months ago.. i have been carefully building strategic alliances by attending various seminars and really getting to know the people i want to partner with.

I sit down and talk with them.. buy them drinks at the bar.. have fun and a good laugh..

Really just becoming good friends with people in your industry can really help long term strategic alliances..

Thanks

Dan

Thanks Dan. Your post has put me on the right track since I creating my 1st product launch.

Junid

Hey Brandon,

thanks for sharing some great advice, it makes such a difference when it comes from someone as experienced as yourself.

Thanks

Alex

Nice post Brandon, Great information

Keep it up ;)

Great post Brandon!

Lack of tracking links has always been one of my pet peeves, so I made sure that I included them in all my programs.

But you have a lot of other great ideas I am missing. I think it is time to hire an affiliate manager to take over a lot of the detail work to free up my time for my new product development and launches.

Hi Bandon,

Excellent post - thank you.

It would be great to see more product launches with as thorough a progarm as yours.

Mike, a stray thought here, would you consider a special place for posts like these? D

Andy

awesome info wow! thanks for the heads up.

do you mind if I copy and paste this to in my notebook?

i doubt i could find this post again

Laik

Thats great information Brandon, really good to see it from your perspective.

It all goes down to doing it the right way is the most profitable, even if it requires additional cashflow or time!

Wow you get really good numbers, hehe $1,046,000 in launches this year...

And this is so True:

The trick is to make it as easy as possible!!!

I always give a lot of promo tools on my affiliates pages...

Brandon,

Great information I'm just learning about internet marketing and with this info it can help me avoid some of the mistakes and obstacles I may face.

Thank You

This information is valuable, make it as easy for the JVs/ affiliates as you do for your customers to buy in and take action.