1. Promoting A Product Without Knowing Much About It
Just because other people are promoting a product doesn’t necessarily mean that you should, too. If you don’t know what it is that you’re selling, it makes sense that you’re going to do a lousy job of promoting it. “Hey, buy this product because other people are buying it so it must be good.” What kind of a recommendation is that?
That’s why you want to either get a review copy from the merchant prior to launch, or buy the product yourself. Then spend time actually using the product. Pick out 3 to 5 things you love about it and highlight these in your promotion.
BONUS:
By reviewing the product prior to promoting it, you’ll discover if it’s something you want to stake your reputation on. After all, if you recommend a shoddy product, your list isn’t going to be happy and your reputation will take a hit. Promote enough shoddy products and you’ll need to change your name and build a new list.
2. Using The Same Promo Copy Everyone Else Is Using
It’s the day of the big launch and you copy and paste the same email a hundred other affiliates are sending to their lists – do you really think your readers aren’t on some of these other lists as well? When they see you’re just a cookie cutter of everyone else, they’re going to recognize your emails as junk and hit the delete button. Even if they are interested in the product, they’re going to find someone else to purchase it from who’s already used the product and can give them the insider’s perspective on what to expect.
When you write your own emails, you stand completely apart from the crowd. While the cookie cutter emails are being ignored, yours are getting read and receiving clicks. Write your own promotional emails with your own unique personality and slant, with sincerity and belief in what you are saying, and you will outperform other affiliates with lists larger than your own.
3. Not Adding Value
Always think of what you can add to the product to produce more value. For example, you can add a product of your own as a bonus, or do a coaching call for everyone who purchases. You might start a mastermind group to help the buyers implement what they learn in the course, or even create a new product to give them as a bonus (which you can then sell to others.)
Always think about how you can add value. Many times it can be as simple as adding a 10 page report or 5 minute video on how to do something step-by-step that is called for in the product. And be sure the value you add is directly related to the product you are promoting. If the product is how to grow magnificent roses, then a report on the best places to buy rose fertilizer would be perfect, while a video on how to plant asparagus wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
4. Sending Nothing But Affiliate Offers
If you want your emails to get open and read, you’re going to want to mix a good share of content in with your promotional emails. No one likes to be sold to over and over again, yet everyone enjoys getting news, how-to’s and insider advice from a trusted friend. Be the friend, and make sure at least 2/3rds of your emails contain great info. This will build a relationship between you and your readers and also get your promo emails open and read.
5. Hard Selling Instead Of Pre-Selling
As an affiliate, your job isn’t to sell the product – that’s the sales page’s job. Your job is to get your readers warmed up to the idea of what the product can do for them, so that 2 things happen: First, they click the link in your email that leads to the sales page. Remember, you’re selling the click, not the product. And second, when they click that link they are interested, eager and possibly even excited to discover more.
6. Not Being Memorable
We touched on this earlier when we spoke of delivering lots of value to your list in the form of content. When you’re known for delivering value, your emails are much more likely to be opened and read. But just having great content isn’t always enough to make you stand apart from the crowd. You also need a hook: Something that makes you memorable to your readers so that each time they see an email from you, they remember exactly who you are and why they should open the email.
If you’re like most marketers, you probably assume you already stand out because you know how different you are from other marketers – but do your readers know this? From the day they join your list, you should in some way differentiate yourself. It could be by using a nickname, such as Mr./Mrs. Overdeliverer. Or it could with your own brand.
If you have another profession, you can use that as your hook. One fellow I know was a school teacher and he still refers to himself that way even though it’s been years since he stepped inside a classroom. Another marketer is known as being unorthodox (to say the least) and yet another is known for his hair and his barefoot running. These are all hooks or associations that make them stand apart in their subscriber’s minds from all the other marketers sending them emails.
Employ some of these hard-fought lessons in your own marketing, and you’ll save yourself years of trial and error, and quickly get on the fast-track to higher profits in your affiliate marketing business.
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