I read this article by Willie Crawford while I was perusing The Internet Marketing Inner Circle Private Forum just now, and it contained so much teaching that I really wanted to share it with you. (You can check out the private TIMIC membership site here. If you join, look me up in there.)

Gone are the days where we send out emails and publish websites that do not target a specific audience. Willie explains it much better than I could so here it is.
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The End Of Dumb Affiliate Marketing
by Willie Crawford

One of the saddest things that I witness day after day is
affiliate marketers who really struggle to make sales. They
send out email after email, promotion after promotion, yet
often make very few sales.

This is not only sad, it’s also needless “practice bleeding.”
Making affiliate sales is easy when you know the secret. It’s
even very scientific and does have fairly predictable results.

Let’s look at what most affiliates are doing wrong, what I’ve
termed “dumb affiliate marketing” and how that can be easily
corrected.

Before I offend anyone, I should explain that when I use the
word “dumb” I mean untargeted.

I come from a military background, and I think of “dumb bombs.”
Those are bombs that are dropped off of an airplane and they
tumble unguided towards a target. They may or may not hit the
target but once they are released they get no guidance.

A “smart” bomb often has a built in navigation system, and
after it is dropped from an airplane it often flies a
precise, pre-programmed route of flight to a target – often
getting satellite GPS updates enroute. A smart bomb can
be dropped from miles away, and be steered right though a
window on a building that the pilot flying the aircraft never
even sees.

Your affiliate marketing can be just as on-target when you
acknowledge and harness just a little know-how.

Promoting an affiliate product no longer needs to be a
gamble.

First of all, you need to tap into data that is readily
available on which products are already selling. One
source of this data is the blogs maintained during many
affiliate sales contests. Monitor these to see how well a
given product is selling, and to see if you want to invest
your time and effort into setting up a protracted marketing
campaign. You can market many of these products after
the big initial launch is over – often with lessened
competition.

I personally also rely upon my network of friends who
readily share with each other which affiliate products
are proven sellers. Many of us are members of a Facebook
Group called “Affiliate Products Proven To Sell.” If you
are on Facebook, you can join this group for free by
registering at http://timic.org/APPTS

Many affiliates also struggle because they use marketing
methods that are outdated, and simply no longer work. One
newer method that works like CRAZY is using quality videos.
You can now have CUSTOM videos created for you for under
$50 each, and that includes professional voice talent. For that,

I personally use Jason Anderson’s team at:
http://timic.org/ProVideos

These are not PLR videos. They are produced from scratch
and are mini-commercials. Mine are 1-minute because, just
like your audience, viewers of my videos have short
attention spans. So, take a clue from the television
industry. They’ve mastered getting the message across in
30 seconds to 1 minute. You need to do the same.

Another fact that you need to “get” – a fact most
struggling affiliate marketers still refuse to acknowledge
is that your promotion needs to be for just ONE product.
If the purpose of a solo mailing or ezine issue is to
promote a specific product, then just mention that ONE
product in the email.

Without fail, when I’ve tried to promote multiple products
in an email, even if they were all free, overall response
rate significantly decreased. I think that it’s because
when you promote several products in an email, it comes
across as too desperate. Be laser focused rather than
using the shotgun approach.

Many affiliate marketers fail to make sales because they
promote something that they like rather than something
customers are ALREADY buying. With so many great products
out there, I do not believe in being the guinea pig. You
should only promote affiliate products where the product
owner has thoroughly tested market demand AND his
conversion process.

It’s foolish to put time and effort into promoting
unproven products when you can just pick the low-hanging
fruit by offering your customers the products that they’ve
proven to you that they want.

Given that often there are numerous affiliates for a
product that’s a proven seller, you may need to
differentiate yourself from all of the other affiliates.
One easy way to do that is to offer a valuable, related
bonus. I like using unique audio interviews or related
courses as bonuses.

If you’ve taken the time to actually communicate with
your subscribers and customers, your offer isn’t identical
to that made by others marketing the same affiliate product
anyway. Just the fact that it’s YOU, whom your clients
have grown to know, like and trust, that’s marketing the
product… makes it different. The difference is that
purchasing through your affiliate link is less risky.

That is one of the key factors in smart affiliate marketing.
Earn their trust and the sales come a lot easier. I actually
have subscribers email me doing a big product launch ASKING
for my affiliate link. Over the past 13 years, I have
built that kind of customer loyalty. If you work at doing
that, everything else will fall in place.

Now that you know the secret, it’s time to stop doing dumb
marketing. If your sales aren’t what they should be start
by looking at WHAT you are marketing. Is it something that
your customers really want? If it is, then next look at HOW
you are marketing it. Read back through this article for
tips on the profitable way to do that.

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Willie Crawford is a seasoned affiliate marketer with 13 years
of experience selling goods and services online. He now spends
several hours many days mentoring other online marketers on a
private discussion forum that’s part of a tight-knit membership
community called “The Internet Marketing Inner Circle.”
Join them at: http://timic.org
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(You can check out the private TIMIC membership
site here. If you join, look me up in there.)
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