Affiliate Marketing Lessons From Unusual Suspects
Tuesday, February 01, 2011
Internet marketing is all about knowing your customers right? Well, it takes a little more than knowledge to be an effective marketer. As a result, I’ve been spending some time with an unlikely bedfellow to learn more about affiliate marketing and effectively marketing online.
Enter online pharmacies. Did you know that consumers purchase billions of dollars worth of brand name and generic pharmaceuticals online every year? Personally I like to fill my prescriptions at the local CVS or Walgreens, but who am I to judge?
Google and other search engines have made it quite difficult for these websites to promote via search. So how do they continue to sell their products? Where do they get their traffic from? What I found is that the approach is not what you would think. In fact, I was surprised to discover that the email techniques that one might assume go hand in hand with this type of operation is not a strategy for legitimate sellers.
What’s the answer to the riddle? Okay. Imagine if you have a product that everyone within your market wanted but you couldn’t use conventional marketing to reach them. What would you do? Enter the RX affiliate network and a handful of other networks that bring together buyers and sellers. Search engines aren’t the only game in town.
In fact, we know that word of mouth, forums, and other social communities are a popular way to influence buying decisions. This is how marketers in particular niches are achieving success. Instead of depending on costly pay-per-click ads or even organic results, they are leveraging the power of micro-bloggers, social media, and influencers to reach their audience.
Taking a page from the affiliate marketing playbook
Now that I’ve shared with you my findings on non conventional marketing, let me give you some insight into these affiliate networks and how they operate. Sites I’ve mentioned like those above are essentially online brokers that act on account of the supplier. They will chose suppliers based on a set of criteria (size, trustworthiness, distribution capabilities, etc.) and approach them – introducing them to the network of approved vendors. In the case of the RX affiliate network, I asked them how they find reputable partners. Their particular network consists of licensed pharmacies and as a result, they stand out from the hundreds of other fly-by-night websites in the niche. This is also true of vendors like Clickbank or Paydotcom which require an approval process before you can be added to their network.
When I pursued the question, I came to understand the value of using legitimate, well sourced vendors. In addition to credibility, established suppliers already have networks and existing customers. The affiliate site can leverage existing relationships and even receive recommendations from satisfied customers of these suppliers. I equate this to buying a customer list that you know is good. Additionally, the legitimate vendors provide services that the disreputable providers just can’t offer, helping the affiliate network stand out. This comes into play as the network attracts partners to sell the products.
Similar to Clickbank and other affiliate networks
Just like popular affiliate networks, sites offering products from manufacturers or service providers can benefit from bringing together buyers and sellers on a digital platform. Doing so allows manufacturers to focus on what they do best, producing quality goods and services and marketers can focus on sales and promotion. As we all know, marketing requires a completely different skill set and is generally not apparent among product manufacturers.
In fact, the best affiliates know how to do this like no other. Sites like RX affiliate network set themselves apart to attract the best suppliers and sellers. Regular payments, free templates for shops to get up and running, high commissions rates (30% commission), referral fees, and customer service are all essential for making the most of productive buyer and seller connections.
Affiliate networks provide manufacturers and distributors access to sellers- plain and simple. Looking at this in depth, the benefit is that many if not most of these “sellers” already have an audience waiting for a specific need to be filled. In this digital world, sellers can look very closely at potential offers and only promote those offers which they can sell. Their motivation? Commission! In fact, the term “super affiliate” was created because so many people make a living selling affiliate products. The best part is that sellers do not have to manufacture anything, hold inventory, deal with shipping hassles, or billing concerns.
Whether you’re selling informational products or medicinal compounds, connecting with sellers who already have an established audience is the key to success. The analogy I like to use is that of the traveling salesman. You can knock on doors all you want, but it takes a lot of time and you’ll never get to all of your potential prospects. If you hold a meeting to talk about your products and invite resellers who have an audience waiting for you, then you can expand your reach instantly. There are many lessons to learn from affiliate networks. The key is to apply them to your business.
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
18 comments :
Very interesting article . . But do you think this would work for "Marketing Consulting" business ?
Agreed, some affiliate marketers make a ton of money, they're doing something right.
Great article thanks!
Nice post.Affiliate marketing is great if you just know how to handle and manage every strategies to be used.Affiliate marketing also one of the best way to make money online as what I have experience.
Thanks for your ideas.
These days affiliate marketing as become very common these days that every individual gets engaged into all of this for marketing of their products.
Really Good Blog on Internet marketing. It good to see an honest account and you talking real sense too. Great!
Very informative post. Nice of you to share this article. Thanks.
I agree with your point in which you emphasized the importance of using legitimate, well sourced vendors. Unscrupulous affiliates use spam, false advertising, forced clicks (to get tracking cookies set on users' computers), adware, and other methods to drive traffic to their sponsors. Therefore these vendors’ affiliate marketing methods have proven to attract abuse from spammers.
I am a journalism student who just began working in a marketing section of a major corporation.
This article is extremely interesting because much of what I do is evaluating consumer trends and the best marketing solution for each in order to receive optimal return. I spend my entire time while on the clock reading and reviewing marketing surveys and reports and none of them have mentioned anything along these lines. Even in my magazine classes, everything is about SEO techniques.
This way of reaching consumers could become a major trend - marketers should be on the look-out!
Hi,
Thanks for sharing this great article with us. Really its very helpful and informative post for business point of view. Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money online.
Thanks
Great post Michael, there is a lot to be learned from affiliate marketing. Small business can apply many affiliate marketing strategies to promote their business or product. Getting involved in groups, forums and other social gatherings will get more visitors to your site.
Cheers..
It's great that you can now get tips and ideas on how to handle and make this kind of business pop.
This is very intriguing and I completely agree with you...Tracking and Measuring are very important aspect of a Business.. Good time use is an issue for me. Great points here really helpful for the newcomers. Thanks for sharing your insights!
I thank you for sharing this post to your blog.
What you said is correct when you are a niche affiliate marketer, but when you try to make some profits from this offer and that offer you will end up nowhere
It's great that you can now get tips and ideas on how to handle and make this kind of business pop.
This really is really intriguing and I completely agree with you...Tracking and Measuring are quite vital aspect of a Organization.. Fantastic time use is an situation for me. Good points here genuinely useful for the newcomers. Thanks for sharing your insights!
Make sure to select a good niche market for your affiliate program. You want something that is related to the field in which you specialize in, otherwise you won’t be able to get traffic or sales. A site without these two key items is not a good site at all.more information
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