Affiliate Marketing Rocks! But It Can Also Be Frustrating…
Have you ever been frustrated because you want to promote your affiliate links, but you’re sick of using the same old strategies that everyone else is?
Or maybe you’re just not sure how to promote your affiliate links at all?
If that’s the case, then I totally understand your frustration.
I know what it’s like to spend time carefully selecting the perfect affiliate product, only to have all of my efforts fail dismally when it comes time to promote said offers.
That’s why I’d love to spend some time brainstorming some very unusual ways to promote your affiliate offers, so hopefully, this can at the very least serve as an unorthodox brainstorming session, which is, of course, my favorite variety.
Affiliate Marketing Is Hard Work!
I just want to let you know that none of these methods are designed to be some type of “get rich quick” scheme.
The truth is that these methods are totally “out there”, “unique”, and relatively cool (in my opinion).
But, always remember that success in anything requires an abundance of skills, grit, passion, inspiration, work, and of course a boatload of luck!
I mention this because I don’t want to disappoint you by promising unicorns, fairies and magic dust. Regardless of which endeavors you peruse in life, not even hard work and diligence can guarantee success. All we can do, as humans on our planet, is continually strive to brainstorm and develop stuff that works. 🙂
That being said, I’ve been brainstorming and thinking about unique ways to promote affiliate links, and I do hope that this content finds you well.
Method # 1 – Promoting Your Your Affiliate Links By Launching A Book
I think that launching a book can be one of the coolest ways to promote your affiliate links, and the main reason this rocks is because in my opinion launching your own book is a great way to build authority in your niche!
As you know, positioning yourself from a lofty perch of authority can be one of the best ways for your recommendations to truly work; because if your end users don’t trust you, or believe that you can actually help them, then even the wisest and most efficient affiliate marketing promotion will never reach its best potential.
I honestly think that writing and successfully publishing your own books can be one of the best ways that you can promote just about anything, and there are other cool benefits to having your own book too (such as social proof and authority).
Because if you’re writing a book, and if your content rocks, and if your readers actually enjoy your book content, then there’s a great chance that you can then recommend relevant products in your book, right?
For example, if you wrote a book about email marketing, then you could recommend your favorite email marketing software as an affiliate.
If you wrote a book about sales funnels, then you could recommend your favorite sales funnel building software as an affiliate.
Or, if you’re writing a book about how to build a beautiful website, then you could recommend your favorite website builder or your favorite website host as an affiliate.
The point is that, in my humble opinion, teachers, authors, authorities, and just about any product creator can make an excellent affiliate!
The beautiful thing is that if you have your own sales funnel, you can also promote AFFILIATE OFFERS right on the thank you page (the download page) of your book! (So, not only could you theoretically promote affiliate links within the actual content of your book, but you could also creatively promote your affiliate links right on the download page of your funnel.)
So, let’s pretend that your customer buys your book, and then they’re on the download page accessing their purchase. You could easily insert some type of affiliate recommendation right on that page, right?
As long as you are promoting a relevant product that’s designed to help your audience, and as long as you properly disclose that fact that you are indeed an affiliate, then it might be a really good idea, and at the very least this could be something to test and experiment with.
One thing that can be super powerful, is to find some type of automated webinar that you can promote as an affiliate. Affiliate webinars rock!
That way, you can simply promote the webinar registration link on your “book download page”, and you won’t feel like a pest (lol) inviting your readers to subscribe to the webinar, because hopefully the webinar rocks and is designed to deliver massive value. (This is opposed to asking your readers to directly buy something; which probably isn’t as cool as promoting a value-packed webinar).
Method # 2 – Promoting Your Your Affiliate Links By Launching A Video Course
I think that authors can certainly make awesome affiliates. I also think that online teachers can make tremendously powerful affiliates, arguably even more so than authors!
The reason why teachers can make powerful affiliates, is because hopefully your course content rocks, which can enable you to build massive rapport and authority with your audience.
Teachers are also in a very powerful position to showcase (demonstrate) different tools, software, and apps, so if you’re teaching a course on email marketing or sales funnels for example, you could show HOW to use your favorite tools within your actual course content, and then of course recommend those products as an affiliate.
Let’s use a very specific example. Let’s pretend that you’re teaching a course on email marketing.
It would be really easy for you to show your students how to use tools such as AWeber, GetResponse, MailChimp or ClickFunnels so that they can build beautiful email automation campaigns, how to generate awesome email followup content, and how to make awesome lead magnet funnels without programming a single line of HTML, CSS, JavaScript or PHP.
Then, you could simply let your students know that you’re also an affiliate of the software and also let them know how they can register using your affiliate link.
(I think that being honest and upfront regarding your affiliation is absolutely mandatory, and can also allow you to transparently offer some awesome bonuses if your students decide to buy via your affiliate link).
For example, maybe you put together a special set of video tutorials exclusively for those who purchase via your affiliate links. I think that tactics such as these are timeless, and I truly believe that online teachers can make some of the best affiliates.
Method # 3 – Promoting Your Affiliate Links By Launching An Email Course
These days, post-GDPR, email marketing can be a little confusing! (Heck, email marketing has always been a little confusing lol — doubly so in the world post-GDPR).
The reason for me mentioning this is because these days you absolutely need to have EXPRESS CONSENT in order to email your subscribers.
The days of “assuming” consent are over. Your email marketing efforts absolutely must be 100% permission-based!
I also believe that being double opt-in, or “confirmed opt-in” is a very good idea these days, which means that you probably have to give your end users a REALLY good reason to actually care enough about you to click on your confirmation link.
That’s why, I honestly believe that email courses are more powerful, and more practical than ever, for a multitude of reasons.
First of all, email marketing courses make excellent lead magnets. Your potential students are literally asking for you to send them helpful course content via email! It doesn’t get any more blatant, or obvious than that, right?
So, let’s pretend that you write a beautiful 7 day, or even a 30-day email course that teaches an awesome topic.
Maybe the topic is how to write a book in 30 days or less.
Well, within those emails, it would be really easy to end each email with a small call to action promoting one of your affiliate links.
Maybe at the end of each email, you could simply add a call to action like this:
PS – If you appreciate this free course, then be sure to click here to access an advanced home study course that teaches how you can launch your book to the world without any frustration!
Obviously, I think that you can come up with better copy than that (actually it’s not that bad and I would use something like that lol), however, I hope that you at least understand the overall strategy, and why in my opinion email marketing courses are literally perfect for affiliate marketers.
Of course, email courses can also be a great way to generate leads and to build your email list, which of course goes without saying.
Method # 4 – Promoting Your Affiliate Links By Launching A Podcast
Starting a Podcast is actually very easy to do, and there are so many different reasons for starting one.
Arguably the best reason to start a Podcast is if you already have a blog that you regularly publish.
Why is this the case? Well, I’ve always proposed that it’s a great idea, for small entrepreneurs and tiny “one person teams” especially, to get the most out of your content.
For example, if you’re already publishing blog posts regularly, then why not at least consider to turn those blog posts into a Podcast?
Or, you can at the very least turn those blog posts into videos.
That way, you can try your best to reach the most audience with the least amount of original content.
And, as an affiliate marketer, there are so many creative ways that you can promote your stuff if you are indeed Podcasting.
For example, maybe you could promote one of your email marketing funnels, one of your product funnels, or even one of your email courses via your Podcast.
Or, maybe you could have some type of resources page on your blog, with all kinds of recommendations that you use, and you could promote that page in your Podcast.
For example, maybe you could start (and end) your Podcast with a pitch like this:
Thanks so much for checking out this Podcast! This Podcast is brought to you by my powerful list of online resources that are perfect for entrepreneurs. I invite you to check out this list today simply by visiting MrComputerScience.com/tools.
There are other varieties of this that you might want to consider, of course.
Maybe you could promote an affiliate webinar, a new affiliate launch, one of your favorite pieces of software, or just about anything you want as an affiliate.
As always, be sure to be totally transparent that you are indeed an affiliate! Doing otherwise would be unethical, and totally not cool.
On a personal note: I have started up a Podcast on TWO different occasions, and have closed my Podcast on both times. To this day, it’s a decision that I truly regret, and I’m honestly deeply annoyed that I went through a ton of work only to close the Podcast! Podcasting rocks, and don’t make the same mistakes that I have made. 🙂
Method # 5 – Launch Your Own Webinar!
Webinars are tremendously powerful for three reasons.
First of all, teachers can totally rock webinars as a great tool to teach their students. So if you love to teach, then webinars can be a great way to repurpose some of your lessons.
Another reason why webinars totally rock, is because they can be used to generate leads. I’ll go even further and state that in my humble and honest opinion, webinars can be one of THE coolest ways to generate leads.
Because not only are you going to generate the lead when your prospect registers to your event, but you’re also going to follow up with some of your best content and hopefully go on to build an awesome relationship with your webinar attendee (and hopefully a new student who loves your stuff).
And, of course; during the webinar event itself, you can share awesome content, and also pitch whatever affiliate offer you’re promoting.
A word of advice when choosing what the topic of your webinar is, always remember that it’s best to serve your ideal prospects as best as possible!
So, try to brainstorm the top 5 problems that your audience is having relevant to your niche, so you can produce awesome content designed to help them.
Also try to keep the actual product you want to promote as an affiliate in mind too, so that your course topic and the desires of your audience can hopefully align in magnificent harmony 🙂
For example, if we wanted to promote ClickFunnels as an affiliate, we could probably come up with a dozen webinar topic ideas that would be congruent, such as “How To Generate Leads On A Tiny Budget”, or “How To Launch An Awesome Course Funnel Without Any Confusing Tech Stuff”, or even “How To Launch Your Ecommerce Funnel Without Paying A Fortune On Cranky Curmudgeonly Tech Experts”.
Of course, these are also topics (in my opinion) that could have wide enough appeal to be popular, and also valuable to the end user.
The best part is that these days setting up an automated webinar funnel is very easy using tools like Demio or ClickFunnels.
And, another huge tip, is to PROMOTE an affiliate link right on your webinar confirmation page; this way, in my opinion, you can statistically increase the odds of getting MORE clicks to your affiliate link, which in my humble opinion is of paramount importance, especially if you are indeed delivering massive value, and doubly so if you need to pay for your advertising.
Also, you will probably notice that many people will subscribe to your event, but then they won’t actually attend. By promoting an affiliate offer right on the webinar confirmation page, you can hopefully get more clicks than you would if you did not take that approach.
Thank You So Much For Checking This Out! You Rock!
In this blog post I tried my best to brainstorm a bunch of unusual and unorthodox methods to promote your affiliate links other than with just blogging and YouTube videos! (Which seem to be all the rage and are still cool methods lol.)
In any event, I truly hope that this content finds you well, and as always, I invite you to contact me if you ever wish to brainstorm or if you are compelled to leave feedback.
Until that time, please be well; and try to have an excellent day.
Cordially and humbly yours…
Mike “Ever An Affiliate” DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com