I recently received a joint venture invitation from a Internet business products merchant that suggested I should ‘grow a pair‘ and promote their upcoming launch.

To sweeten the pot, affiliates could win an XBox or a collection of cool videos that included “Dumb and Dumber”. (Oh goodie!)

Oh… and the email addressed me a ‘dude’,  as have so many others that I’ve received in the past year or so.

If you don’t see the humor in that, let me share something with you — I am a woman fast approaching the big 5-0H.

Would you call your mother “dude”?

If you have, you might recall the ‘what planet are you from?’ look she gave you.

That’s because we hear the word “dude” according to its original meaning (and official definition as per the Oxford English Dictionary) – an American slang term which refers to men – despite the fact that Wikipedia states that the word “dude” has evolved to become more unisex.

Do you understand then how I might think that your JV invitation  wasn’t really meant for me?

Or, are you thinking “go with the flow, dude”?

I could, but your unisex argument completely fails with the ‘grow a pair’ remark and toys for boys prizes — and having seen “Dumb and Dumber” once is more than sufficient.

OK, I do get where you’re coming from.

I know that the vast majority of affiliates on your JV partner list are young men like yourself. You want to motivate them to promote for you and challenging them in a manly way really gets their juices flowing… especially the drool over the prospect of winning a toy with which to play.

But don’t you care if one or two Super affiliates who don’t fit your mold choose not to promote on that basis?

If that’s the case, consider this…

The market in which you play is HUGE, appealing to all regardless of race, creed, color, age or gender. By encouraging sales by a specific demographic who might take your tack and appeal to the same  demographic, you might be limiting availability of your product to a smaller, less affluent market.

When you exclude one or more Super Affiliates with wider audiences, you could be tossing 10% or more of your possible revenues. Ten percent of 50K will get you a BOSE(R) Lifestyle Home Entertainment System or all the Xbox goodies your little heart desires. And 10% of half a mill is what — a downpayment on a house?

It PAYS to learn to write copy that addresses widest possible audience.

Take tips from the copywriting giants, such as Dan Kennedy, Yanik Silver and Joe Vitale — guys who know how to make each reader feel like the email copy was written just for them.

Or check out this great little ebook “Confessions of a Copywriter” by Lenny Eng and endorsed by Joe Vitale. One of Lenny’s points is that “Nothing increases conversions like your offer”… and when you send a JV invite, you’re making an OFFER.