Now that you’ve picked a topic for your bundle marketing event, the next thing you need to do is decide on the terms for the event. This means you need to list out your terms and expectations, so that partners know exactly what they can and cannot do if they join your event.
Here are some questions to ask yourself which will help you sketch out the terms of your event…
Does the product need to be a paid product?
In other words, can people add a product to the bundle that they’re giving away as a lead magnet, bonus or other product?
In most cases, you’ll want to stipulate that people can offer paid products only. In some cases, you may let people submit items like bonus products (meaning products that others may have gotten access to with the purchase of a paid offer). Generally, however, since people are paying to get access to the bundle, you don’t want to accept any products that they can get for free elsewhere (such as lead magnets).
TIP: It’s also a good idea that you stipulate that all submissions must be “full version” products. This keeps people from offering lead-magnet style “light” products with the sole intent of getting buyers to upgrade. Buyers should feel like they’re getting a great deal, and they won’t feel that way if they end up downloading a bunch of “lite” products.
Which bring us to the next point…
Does the product need to be worth a minimum dollar amount?
Assigning a minimum value for products will help ensure you run a quality event. This dollar figure doesn’t need to be high. For example, you can say that products must be worth at least $10 in order to be accepted.
Does the product need to be unique to the bundle event?
In other words, do participants need to create something brand new in order to contribute to the bundle? Or can they contribute a product that they’re already selling elsewhere?
In most cases, you shouldn’t require that people create exclusive content for the bundle, as this will reduce partner participation. You can certainly encourage it, however. After all, those who offer unique products are likely to get a lot of takers, so it’s to the participants advantage to offer something not seen anywhere else. However, again, you shouldn’t make this a requirement.
Can participants submit PLR or resell rights products?
In most cases, you should stipulate that PLR or resell rights products are not allowed, otherwise you may get several people contributing the exact same product. In other words, let participants know that all products must be unique to them (i.e., either they created it from scratch themselves, or they hired a freelancer to do it for them).
Do you require that all products must be reviewed by you prior to acceptance?
You do want a high-quality event, which means you need high-quality products. However, this doesn’t mean that you to spend hours upon hours personally reviewing every submission.
Here’s what to do instead: make it clear that you’ll need to review submissions from potential partners whom you don’t know. That way, you can automatically accept submissions from people in your niche who you either personally know, or you know that they have a good reputation for creating high-quality products. Then you only need to review products from potential partners whose names you don’t recognize.
What else do participants need to submit alongside their product?
In most cases, you’ll want to ask participants to send you two things:
1. Sales copy for their submission that you can copy and paste into your sales letter, download page, and other marketing materials. They can also just provide a link to their sales page. But do require that they give you either the copy or the link, so that you don’t waste a bunch of time searching for sales pages.
2. A short author’s bio for the sales page. Not everyone who lands on your sales page is going to recognize all the event contributors. That’s why you’ll want short bios (such as one paragraph) to put on your sales page and download page.
Next…
How will you accept submissions?
This isn’t for partners so much as it is for you to accept products in a way that’s easiest for you. For example:
· You can set up an online form where people can upload their contributions.
· You can set up a special email address and have people attach their contributions to an email.
· You can set up some other system, such as having people send contributions to you via Skype or another platform.
For best results, you should set up an online form. Here’s why:
1. An online form is easy for everyone to access. They don’t need to log into another platform (like Skype) in order to send their contribution. They can just visit your form and upload in a few seconds and a few clicks.
2. An online form avoids the problem of your email being scraped by bots and spammed.
Here’s the next issue…
How long will the event run?
You want to give all your partners plenty of time to promote the event, which is why you should run it for about one week. This creates some scarcity (as people only have a limited time in which to order the bundle), and yet it gives you partners plenty of time to promote. Even better, your partners can send multiple promos to their contacts.
When will the event start?
The biggest and most organized marketers in your niche have well-planned publishing calendars. That means you can’t tell them about an event and expect them to start promoting it next week.
Point is, you need to give your partners plenty of lead time. Not only do they need time to prepare their contributions, but they also need time to plan how their promotions will fit into their publishing calendars. That’s why you’ll want to give people at least a month of lead time, but two months is even better.
How much will you charge for access to the bundle?
Remember, the key is to give all customers a superb deal. That’s why you’ll want to keep the price relatively low, such as $27 or so. For example, if you have 30, 40 or even more products available for that one low price, you can bet you’re going to have a good conversion rate.
How will partners be able to build their lists off of the event?
Generally, what you’ll want to do is have your partners set up special mailing lists for this event. You can then get the opt-in form code and paste it into the download page. That way, customers need to fill in an opt-in form before they get access to a particular product.
Note: not every marketer will take advantage of this option. Some marketers may simply give you a direct download link. These marketers are more interested in giving easy access in order to gain exposure, versus using the event to build their lists. Do be sure that all contributors are well aware of the benefit of using the event to build their lists if they so choose.
What commissions will partners receive for sales made through their links?
All partners should get a minimum of 50% commissions on sales generated through their affiliate links. However, you may decide to offer your contributing partners more than your other affiliates who didn’t contribute to the event.
For example, you might offer regular affiliates 50% commissions, and then offer your contributing partners 60% commissions or more. These extra commissions serve as a perk for contributing members, and it also helps encourage partners to get out and promote the event early and often.
Will you require that contributing partners promote the event?
In most cases, yes – contributing partners should be required to promote the event. That’s because an event like this creates a LOT of exposure and sales for partners. But this sort of exposure is only created when all partners work together to promote the event. Requiring people to promote helps eliminate “slackers” who want the benefit (the exposure) without helping others.
What platform will you use to sell the product?
In order to have a successful event, you need to use a platform or payment system that both your partners and your customers trust. One good example of this is ClickBank.com. Customers know they’ll get their product, and your partners and other affiliates are guaranteed to get any commissions owed to them.
Now let’s suppose you want to use something like PayPal with an affiliate script. Your customers will happily accept this option, since the only thing that’s relevant to them is that you’re using PayPal. Since this is a trusted payment platform, you can expect customers to pay for their orders without hesitating.
However, if you don’t have any name recognition in the niche yet, then your partners may not be as comfortable with this option. That’s because they’re already trusting you with access to their product. But they may wonder if they should trust you with their commissions too.
Point is, if you haven’t yet established a good reputation in your niche yet, then you may want to stick with trusted platforms like ClickBank.com. If you do have name recognition and a good reputation among your fellow niche marketers, then you can certainly use something else (like the above-mentioned example of PayPal and an affiliate script).
Next issue…
How will you help partners promote the product?
One of your jobs as host and organizer of the event is to give your contributing partners and affiliates the tools they need to promote the product bundle. This means, at a minimum, that you will create a set of email swipes that contributors and other partners can use to build anticipation prior to the event, announce the event’s launch, and encourage people to buy before the event is over.
How will you stay in touch with your contributing partners and affiliates?
Even though this event is the biggest and most important launch you have going on, it’s not as important to partners. They’re not going to be thinking about it every day like you’ll be. It may even slip the minds of a few of your partners who’ll forget to send you their submissions, sales copy, and so on (or perhaps they’ll forget to promote the event).
The way to prevent all this is to remind your partners about the upcoming event frequently, as well as any associated deadlines. For example:
· The deadline to submit a product.
· The deadline to submit materials such as the sales copy and bio.
· The deadline to submit source code for an opt-in form or download links.
· The important dates associated with the actual event itself, such as when it starts and ends.
You don’t want to tell your partners about these deadlines and dates once and then be done with it. Instead, you want to remind them frequently. And that means you need to set up a mailing list so you can send announcements and reminders.
TIP: It’s a good idea to have a backup system for communication, as emails can go missing sometimes. For example, you might set up a private Facebook group. Since most people are on Facebook, your partners will likely log into the platform almost daily, so they’ll see your announcements in their feeds. This works even better if you encourage members to adjust their settings so that they receive notifications when you post in the group.
As mentioned, this is a back up system. Even if you get everyone into a private group, you’ll still want to send important announcements via email too.
Just be sure to announce deadlines well before they happen, then remind people just before they happen, and then remind them once more with a “today is the day” type announcement. In some cases, you might even extend a deadline with a “last chance” announcement (e.g., “Yesterday was the last day to submit your sales copy… but since I know you’re busy, I’m going to extend the deadline until tomorrow…”).
NOTE: If you do extend a deadline, you don’t necessarily need to do it for everyone. In some cases, you may decide to offer “special treatment” to your top partners. You may give decide it’s worth the extra time to land a top partner and encourage them to follow through. You may not extend this same courtesy to someone you don’t know, as it’s not worth the extra time and hassle to “chase someone down” if they’re not a star attraction to your event.
You only have 24 hours in a day. Use them wisely, by investing extra time in those who can make the biggest positive impact to the success of your event.
Next…
What other terms, requirements and/or expectations will be important to your event?
While I’ve listed the top requirements and other issues above, this isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list. There may be issues that are somewhat unique to your niche, the types of products that are going to end up in your bundle, or even unique to your partners. That’s why you’ll want to set aside some time to brainstorm other potential issues, so that you can plan for them if needed.
And finally…
How will you make sure bundle contributors follow the terms and requirements of participating in the event?
Obviously, you can’t force anyone to follow your terms. However, you can make them agree to these terms (like a contract). Whether you actually enforce the terms by pursuing legal methods is up to you, but generally that’s not advisable or worth your time. However, you can boost the likelihood that someone will follow your terms simply by having them officially agree to them.
Simple, but very effective.
One good way to do this is by putting your terms on your submission form. You can then have people “check” that they’ve read and agreed to your terms. Or you can even have them virtually sign something that states they’ve read and agreed to your terms.
When people need to place a check next to each term OR they need to officially sign something (or both), they’re much more likely to read the terms. And, in turn, they’re much more likely to follow them. This helps ensure you have a bundle event that largely goes off without a hitch.
Once you’ve completed this step, then you can move onto the next step of the B.U.N.D.L.E. strategy.