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 It's a known fact that establishing
a USP (unique selling proposition) is an essential part of
any business plan ...
But what about your affiliate marketing campaigns?
What makes your promotions unique from the hundreds ... or
even thousands of other affiliates pushing the same
merchant's products and services?
Well ... nothing, if all you do is cut and paste the same
merchant provided ad copy as everyone else, or just toss a
bunch of links, banners, and buttons on your site.
What you must do is make yourself stand out ... grab the
interest of your prospect, and qualify your offering to
meet their needs.
Here's 5 quick tips to get the most out of your affiliate
promotions.
1) Learn all about the product/service you're
promoting.
The more you know about your promotions, the more credible
your promotional content. If you don't own the product, do
your best to scour the merchant's site for info that you
feel best explains the benefits of it, which leads to
number ...
2) Write your own ad copy.
It's the credibility factor again ... you're selling
yourself, establishing the bond between you and the
prospect, in an effort to win their trust and interest. If
you do own the product, or have access to it by permission
of the merchant, write a detailed review. You can even use
yourself as a case study to provide an eye witness account
of the satisfaction potentially derived from using it. If
not ... and in addition to your own accounts, list the
testimonials of others.
3) Establish a line of communication with the merchant.
You might have to settle for the affiliate program
manager, or a related department, but the idea is to try
to acquire anything you can, above and beyond what is
offered to regular affiliates, that will help you gain a
promotional edge. Branded articles, ebooks, special
offers, free trials, etc. You might even be able to gain
access to the product or service you're promoting if you
explain that you'd like to review it for promotional
purposes (it can't hurt to ask ..;)
4) Build a sub list of targeted prospects.
Would you believe that I, personally, have built campaign
designated email lists of less than 100 members, that have
actually accounted for more sales than my main list ...
that goes out to thousands of subscribers? Why? Laser
targeting, my friend. Offer a campaign related update,
course, report, or other form of freebie to attract them.
In addition, you'll now have a ready made list for future
promotions made by the affiliate merchant.
 5) Search engine optimize your promotional pages.
.. for keywords and phrases relevant to your offerings,
and run pay per click campaigns targeting the same and
comparable terms. The search engines shouldn't, by any
means, be your sole source of promotion (email, forum,
offline marketing ... to name just a few methods) but they
could potentially play an important part. I recommend
investing in a course like Brad Fallon and Andy Jenkin's
'Stomping The Search Engines' , which covers both SEO and
PPC pretty extensively ... and effectively.
Work these 5 tips into your affiliate program promotions,
and I'm sure you'll enjoy success.
Sidenote:
If you're participating in a multiple tier affiliate
program, and you have access to your downline referrals,
make sure you take the time to train them to succeed.
Remember ... their success is YOUR success!
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