On Day Six we discussed how to approach JV partners. Today we'll look at ways to approach potential super affiliates that can help you increase sales, and grow your list of buyers.
For Day Nine, refer to pages 23-25 in the
31 Day Guide to Growing Your List
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Ideally you should build a relationship with these potential affiliates first.
Ask them what YOU can do for THEM.
Laying The Groundwork: Visibility and Exposure
It's best to be seen and become known in your niche by your potential affiliates & joint venture partners, prior to making first contact. If you are a total stranger to them, your email may not even get read - or given any serious consideration.
You also need to take the time to get to know them.
Personal details like their name (!), their current focus or recent topics, their branding and what their known for, their publishing & marketing style, etc are important things you can use to craft your first contact.
Now that you have a list of potential partners & affiliates, here are some actions you should be taking to know them and be known by them:
- Subscribe to the Mailing List and study it
- Get active in your niche: Twitter, Facebook, Forums
- Join their affiliate program & promote their products (show numbers!)
- Friend or Like them on Facebook and Interact
- Retweet their best links or comments on Twitter
- Friend/Like/Follow the people *they* connect with
- Leave valuable comments on their blog posts
- If you have the opportunity, meet them in person at meet-ups or events
Being familiar to them when you approach them with an offer will go a long way toward getting your email read - and potentially even considered. 😉
Bonus Tip: A Strategy That Works!
Figure out who they partner with or who is in their personal peer network. Start lower on the ladder, and approach some of those people first. Getting them on board, working with them personally, and showing some numbers... will go a long way toward climbing that ladder and landing the top affiliates in the peer group.
They talk to each other regularly, and they pass on these types of details & opportunities to each other. Nothing will benefit you more than a personal recommendation from someone in their own peer network. 😉
How NOT to Approach Potential Affiliates...
Before we look at ways to approach the affiliates you want to work with, let's look at a bad example. This is an email I received just this morning - and it's only one of many very similar to it:
Subject: "Can We Promote each other?"
Hey Lynn,
It would be great to schedule you and entice you to promo my webinar process and send you a bunch of cash to boot!
In this webinar I give solid content and have a great 3 option offer at the end so everyone can get in on it.
This based on my years of earning with outsource workers, and can be a fit for most lists, as everyone should be using this great resource to help them grow their business.
Here's a replay of one of the last ones FYI:
**link removed**You'll be getting over $400 per sale and I am certain I will be getting high conversions for you as I always do.
It's a solid program, with tons and tons of my best bonuses, live training, and more.
Let me know if we can get you set up with an affiliate link, swipe copy, all the goodies? We'll take good care of you and I'm certain you'll make solid income from this!
Can we count on you?
Solid-Solid content driven program here!
Email me back so I can set you up and take good care of ya!
Let's do this!
Emails like this simply get deleted. Can you guess why?
Sure they provided excitement and promises and "proof" (sorta). But what did they leave out? PRODUCT DETAILS. I have *no* idea what the product is, what the product is about, or anything about the target market. I'm guessing it might have something to do with outsourcing, but I'm not 100% sure. Basically I have no clue as to whether this is a product my readers would be interested in at all!
This kind of email personally offends me as a professional online business owner. They obviously think I care nothing about my market, or about the types of products I promote - that all I'm interested in is the money. 😐
I also didn't immediately recognize the From name. It was not an actual name either, something like "the biz guy". Seriously. So without further research, I had no idea who it was from or what it was about.
Like I said... delete!
Approaching Affiliates You Want To Work With
Once you have established some visibility in your niche, and have taken the time to get to know the affiliates you want to work with, it's time to consider your approach.
One of the advantages of "stalking" their public presence is that you can get an idea of where they are most active online. This gives you the opportunity to meet them where they are. If you pay attention, you'll figure out their contact preferences - and where they are most engaged in personal communication. (Important!)
Here are some points to include/consider when approaching affiliates:
- Address them by name & mention how you know them
- Give them full (free) access to your product.
(don't ask them to request it - include it) - Include product details & WHY it's a good match
(ie how it benefits their market & makes them look good) - Mention the names of other people you've worked with
- Share numbers, proof & statistics
- New product? Frame it as a "first opp" or "exclusive promo" offer
- Give commission details, and special offer you're extending to them
- Keep it short! 🙂
It may be difficult to "keep it short" and still include all that information, but I promise you can do it! Be sure to use proper paragraph breaks to make it easier to read. There's nothing worse than a wordy email that's all lumped together in one big paragraph full of run-on sentences. It's impossible to read (and in my inbox, gets deleted).
Your Task For Today:
Now that you have a list of affiliates you'd like to work with, create an action plan for getting on their radar. Also create your action plan for making first contact with each individual affiliate. While this seems like a lot more work than a mass email, or using a stock email template and your own personal preference for making contact, it's well worth the investment of your time.
Done right, you'll stand apart from the hundreds of offers that are crossing their desk. Done wrong, and you'll get ignored or filed away like the majority of those offers. Remember: this is your business! 😉
You'll find more details on Pages 23-25 in the guide. It's a free download. Make sure you grab a copy if you haven't already.
Best,
About Lynn Terry
It seems like so much of email marketing is social. Starting at the bottom and working my way up seems like a logical move, especially since my list is small, very small.
True. Any type of marketing should be "social" really. And yes, always start where you are and work your way up. Good point!
Creating an action plan... Most people don't have plan on what they are doing. They are just after of money so they simply do a little to get an immediate result.
Hi Lynn, I enjoyed reading your article. You actually addressed two major offenses:
1. Treating people like mass mailing (or junk mail in the post office days); and
2. Contacting someone to do something and research their materials, treating you like they are doing "you" a favor, when it is completely the other way around.
In the case of No. 1. People want to be treated like people. That is why junk mail gets a bad rap (and it should) because it is unsolicited garbage that takes up my mailbox space (both physically and electronically)
No. 2. It is your job to research me, provide all the information I need required to assess and determine if I want to promote your information.
Also, it leaves a distint impression of greed on the sender's part. Most of the blogs that I read, I read because in general I believe them to be authentic and find a sense of joy in communicating and participating with their readers. Seriously, if someone is going to approach you purely on a "money" level, I don't think the business relationship would have much of a foundation of trust.
And most important... it's really all about "relationships." The sender of any email such as the example you showed has truly missed the mark.
I enjoyed your thoughtful article.
-Layne