If you promote tools and services to online entrepreneurs as an affiliate, you understand the term ‘product launch bandwagon’.
It’s the process by which your inbox is suddenly filled with promos — all for the same product. Scan those messages, and you see that most of them are verbatim ‘cut and pastes’ from the merchant’s affiliate toolbox.
In the last couple of weeks alone, there have been launches / relaunches for:
- Brad Callen’s Keyword Elite
- Affiliate Classroom 2.0
- Joel Comm’s Elevate Blueprint
- Rob Benwell’s Blogging to the Bank
- Yanik Silver’s Public Domain Goldmine
- Kevin Wilkes’s Nitro Webcasts
- …and many, many more.
I didn’t send a promo about even one of them.
NOT because I think those (and other) products aren’t of value to Internet marketers… I do. I’ve been endorsing those guys’ products for years because I believe they’re of value to my readers.
In this case, I was taking a long holiday.
Regardless, you wouldn’t have received notices about each of those launches / relaunches from me.
Here are some of the reasons you won’t find me on the product launch bandwagon:
- I miss product launch notices (probably lost amidst the detritus of product launch emails) or the notice came too late to work the promotion into my publishing schedule.
- I too recently endorsed a similar product.
- The offer is time-limited — and I prefer to promote merchants who support their products over the long-haul.
- I’m aware that the merchant is already working on Product 2 (or 65), so I suspect the support for the current product may be lacking.
- It’s a Clickbank product and promoting per schedule means my cookies will likely be overwritten.
- Commission are too low.
- The launch is too obviously a lead grab and the merchant is paying commissions only on sales, not for leads generated.
- I think the promo requirements are unreasonable, i.e. send 4 emails in the next week.
- And in some cases, I don’t believe in the product.
The 10th and main reason to avoid the product launch bandwagon…
It kills your credibility.
Your audience will rightly question your objectivity when you proclaim that each of the 4 products you promote this week is the ‘MOST AMAZING’ you’ve ever seen and that they absolutely MUST BUY it through your affiliate link immediately or miss out on 2,398,543,238 in bonuses.
Alienate your audience, kill your revenue…
UNLESS you regularly replenish your subscriber list with fresh new leads on the cheap.
That’s easier said than done. PPC in the Internet marketing niche is expensive and article marketing to generate hundreds of new leads per day takes LOTS of work.
So, how do the ‘Big Dog Affiliates’ – those who always win JV contest prizes – seem to be able to promote every product under the sun?
The answer is simple — “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours“.
Those Big Dog Affiliates aren’t ‘just’ affiliates – they are merchants with their own product lines.
Here’s how it works.
- Big Dog Affiliate promotes Merchants A, B, C and D’s products.
- When Big Dog Affiliate (now Big Dog Merchant) launches a new product, Merchants A, B, C and D all promote Big Dog’s product as affiliates.
- Because the inital incentive usually requires an email address to access a free offer, Big Dog Merchant is generating vast numbers of new leads, regardless of whether or not those subscribers become his or her customers.
- Next, Big Dog Affiliate promotes Merchant A’s latest product to his own subscribers and those acquired from Merchant B, C and D’s lists.
- And round and round it goes.
Profitable business model only IF you have a product line.
However, if you are an affiliate marketer (without a product of your own to sell), think carefully before promoting that next product launch.
Remembering that your greatest business asset is your list, the key is this…
Respect your subscribers as intelligent human beings and they’ll respect and support you likewise.
Which Products should you Promote?
Want to increase your affiliate commissions without alienating your audience and compromising your list?
Then you need to learn how to evaluate individual merchant’s products as well as affiliate programs. The Super Affiliate Handbook lists 20 questions you need to consider before joining promoting products from an ‘in-house’ or independent affiliate program, i.e. outside the affiliate networks.
About Rosalind Gardner
That’s an interesting point about the merchant grabbing leads and only paying on immediate sales. The danger is that the prospect will buy AFTER the cookie has expired, or been overwritten (why is Clickbank’s cookie length so short!?).
To avoid this, we store the referring affiliate’s ID with the prospect in the database, and dynamically insert the affiliate link into all prospect emails. This way, our affiliate still gets the commission even if it’s months (or years!) after the prospect signed up. ~ James
Hey Rosalind,
I concur. That is exactly the reason I left PPC Classroom. It seemed after I joined their online class to learn about affiliate marketing. I got bombarded with buy this, and this, and so on ,because they are the next best things to have in your arsenal. I asked myself “Then why did I need to be in the classroom?” This also made me question their credibility.
This is the very reason your emails are the only emails that I read and keep on file. ^Eddie
It is really frustrating to see how many emails I receive all promoting the same product. Thanks for giving such nice suggestion.
This is why a bullet-proof marketing plan is so critical for success. You can’t rely on one aspect of your strategy to carry you the distance. As for the product launch, I compare it to the stock market. Most people buy when they should be selling and selling when they should be buying. Don’t get so caught up in the excitement that you forget about your objectives. Now get out there and sell something!
Hi Ros,
As someone who is only two years into “this”, this post hit home with me
in a certain way. I still have so much to learn, but when I first started out, I signed up for a number of newsletters from credible people (kind of discovered who these people were along the way) and just simply wanted to read anything I could get my hands on to “learn.” Out of approximately 10
newsletters, there are two left that I have kept. (You are one, and yes, I do have your book!)
I have just noticed that most newsletters lately I receive from everyone else are basically the same. Everyone is promoting one specific launch all at once. Consequently, I read the first one or two emails, and the rest are deleted. I already know what they will say. I still believe these are credible people, yet I’m not seeing new tips, new info etc. As I said, consequently, I have unsubscribed from these other marketers’ newsletters. I realize this is all part of this process absolutely, but at some point, it stops serving a certain group. For 8 people, it was just a matter of what order they were on in my incoming email!
You really have a point Rosalind. I totally agree with you. I never aware of it before. Thanks to you, i know now the good reasons. Keep on sharing great information with us. God Bless.!!
Thanks for the honesty in web marketing tactics – wish more were like you! I’m currently reading your super affiliate handbook, also good stuff. I guess I’m in this for the long haul, so I want to learn from those who are already in that mindset and being successful at it.
Hi
I’m quite new to the whole world of Affiliate/Internet marketing and I couldn’t agree more with your comments on the ‘product launch bandwagon’.
I recently took out a monthly subscription for a new method of getting free traffic. The sales pitch was all about how much he wanted to help and his system was revolutionary etc etc etc!!!
What aload of ****. After a couple of weeks I started getting emails from him promoting loads of other similar new products. He appears to have a brother doing esactly the same!
So much for the ” my product is unique” load of garbage. Needless to say, i’ve cancelled my subscription and will be deleting most of the emails I now receive from him.
I’m slowly beginning to think that you have to do your own research and work damm hard to find out how to make this business work.
I’ve learnt a lot in the past year – you can find out how to do things by searching the web; there’s a lot of people out there willing to help.
By the way, your Affiliate Handbook was the first thing I ever purchased re: Affiliate Marketing!