Online marketing as a career seems like a very lonely pursuit. But the reality is, it’s not. You have blog readers and loyal customers, and affiliates and joint venture partners that can help catapult your success to the next level.
For many marketers, self-doubt hangs like a low cloud over their ability to make those connections – especially when it comes to recruiting affiliates and JV partners, because they worry that they won’t be worthy of a promotion.
How Self Doubt Keeps You from Making the Right Connections
Some people mistakenly assume that they’ll simply get the ball rolling, create great products, and affiliates and joint venture partners will flock to them. That’s just not the case.
It requires recruitment and networking, and that means you have to be willing to put yourself out there and get to know them – or more importantly, let them get to know you. That’s how business deals are done on the ‘net.
You probably feel self-doubt initially because you come onto the Internet Marketing scene as a relatively unknown competitor. Even if you have the greatest product on Earth, branding and promotion might be non-existent for you at first.
You witness people sharing selfies at seminars and talking like they’re old friends who go back 20 years – and you start to feel like you’re just not part of that crowd. Or maybe the way they interact (like bragging about attending a JV party at the Playboy mansion) has you feeling isolated because that’s just not you.
Sometimes you might hear of large partnerships between two huge marketers – or maybe even a trio or four marketers coming together to launch something special. You wish you could do that, too – but hang your head because nobody’s asked you to partner up like that.
You might feel self-doubt because, as you look around the Internet, you see tons of amazing joint venture pages – so professionally done – and you worry that your do-it-yourself version won’t impress potential partners.
There’s another part of you that’s just scared to approach people because you’re worried, you’ll do something dumb and look stupid or amateurish. But the reality is – everyone was new to this at some point, and your newcomer status is actually a perk!
When someone is new to the scene, it’s an opportunity for seasoned JV partners to get in on something that might really take off. As long as you present yourself well up front, it’s a win-win for both parties.
What Affiliates and JV Partners Really Want
You might be thinking about it all wrong – assuming that prospective JV partners want the other person to already be established. And in few cases, this might be true. But really, their main concerns are quite different – and very doable – even for the greenest newbie.
First, the JV partners and affiliates really want someone to understand that they’re protective of their lists. Imagine building a list of 10,000 or 100,000 loyal buyers – would you promote a product that made them not trust you any longer?
So once you understand that they’re protective of their list, they hope you’ll approach them with a truly great product that you’re proud of. Too many people rip someone else off or slap together a shoddy product just to try to make money.
The affiliates want to know that what they’re recommending won’t make them look foolish. Remember – they risk having to pay back commissions in refunds if your product doesn’t do what it says.
Affiliates and JV partners want you to approach them in the right way. The wrong way is to spam them without ever introducing yourself on the day of your launch, and hit them up with a request begging for them to promote you.
It’s rude – almost like attending a dinner party and instead of walking up and introducing yourself, you simply walk up and hand the other person a business card and walk away. Nobody wants to be used.
Another thing joint venture partners and affiliates desire is enough time to create a nice bonus that will help them rake in sales. You may not know it, but bonuses are what help increase sales by a lot.
And these are different from bonuses you create or allow people to use. These are exclusive bonuses that the affiliate creates for their list if the buy your product through their link.
So the earlier you contact someone, the more time they’ll have to whip up a bonus their list will love. This is most important if you are hosting an affiliate contest, because the bonus could help them win cash prizes.
Affiliates and JV partners also enjoy perks for their promotions. If you’re new, one way to clear your self-doubt is to approach people with special perks like a bump in commission or bonuses that you provide for their list.
That might include hosting a webinar (if you’re comfortable with that) in conjunction with them to answer any questions their subscribers might have when it comes to your product.
Learn the Right Way to Toot Your Own Horn
You’ve been taught growing up that it was unsavory to be a braggart. And that was true to some degree. You don’t want to stick your tongue out and tease another kid about what you have that they don’t.
But when it comes to business, it’s a whole other ball game. You have to toot your own horn or else nobody else will, and people will wonder why you’re not! It’s a feeling of uneasiness that you may have grown up with, but now have to let go.
Nobody is asking you to disparage another marketer’s hard work to make yourself look good. In fact, that kind of behavior will backfire on you. But you do have to be able to put a spotlight on what makes you a wonderful leader in your niche.
This is something that gets easier over time and with a lot of practice. Sometimes it’s a good idea to see how other people do it. Implement the same qualities little by little as you work your way up to feeling good about your boasting.
For example, start with being able to say you’ve created an amazing product. Surely you wouldn’t have poured your heart and soul into creating a subpar product (and if you did, then go back to the drawing board).
So, what makes you personally proud of what you created? Is it well-researched? Does it have a unique spin to it that nobody else has done? Are the components like the writing and video and graphics all professionally done?
Then it’s okay to be proud of that fact and say so! Just because you say you’ve done something great; it doesn’t mean you’re saying that everybody else is beneath you – it simply means you’ve joined the ranks of quality product creators.
Understand that joint venture partners and affiliates expect you to have confidence in what you put out there – and that includes everything from your sales copy to your ability to contact them with ease.
The way they see it – if you aren’t confident, then they will start to feel concern that maybe your product isn’t the right one for their list of subscribers. Think of it like being a pilot.
If you knew how to fly a plane, would you reassure everyone that you’re a good pilot? Or would you greet passengers by saying, “I hope we don’t crash. I’m pretty sure I’m an okay pilot, but you never know?”
Obviously, you’d reassure the passengers – just as you want to reassure people spending money on your course or product – that what they’re about to buy is worth their investment.
Prepping Your Product Confidently for an Attractive Affiliate Offer
The best way to get rid of self-doubt is to do your very best in preparing your product for an attractive affiliate offer. You want to feel as good as possible when approaching JV partners.
The first thing you can do is make sure the aesthetics are good. That means nice graphics. Taking the do it yourself route sometimes saves you money, but diminishes the appearance of professionalism.
It’s not expensive to hire a graphic designer for a complete minisite (around $50), and many of the platforms now – like WordPress Engine and Optimize Press – require no expertise at all in design because they have everything built in for you.
But the looks are important because it’s the very first thing affiliates, JV partners – and customers – will see upon landing on your site – even before they read a word of your offer.
Sales copy can be intimidating, and it is one of the most important components – but it’s nothing to fret about. All you have to do is look at what’s been done in the past. This does not mean copying and rewriting someone else’s sales copy.
That makes you look unprofessional. It means learning what elements people put on their sales copy in your niche – do they give statistics? Is there a personalized storyline? How many bullet points are normal for these vendors?
Make sure you weave a good dose of self-promotion into the sales copy, where you let people know that this is a fantastic product and that you’re someone who can be trusted to deliver.
Make sure you set your product apart from the masses. Anything you can do to make sure your product has an edge is a good idea. Maybe that means a fresh twist on an old idea.
Or it could be that you’re the first person to create a membership for the concept, or a software or plugin tool. Perhaps your product is a coaching product where nobody else has offered hand holding in the past.
Your JV page should be well polished and professional. It should include many common elements such as:
· Dates and times of the launch
· Possible earnings throughout the funnel
· Details of exactly what’s in each level of the funnel
· Contest information, if applicable
· Links on where to get their affiliate links
· Swipe email file(s) for them to use in promotions.
They shouldn’t have to contact you with any further questions. If you leave out important elements, they might figure it’s not worth their time and hassle, and pass you by. You want everything at their fingertips.
Make sure you go through the launch test phase to iron out any kinks along the way. If you’re using a platform like JVZoo, it will allow you to make $0.01 test purchases to make sure the funnel flows correctly and that customers are taken to their downloads.
Approaching the JVs and Affiliates to Get a Yes
The most nerve-wracking part of your recruitment process will be sending the actual email or opening up a private message to contact a potential joint venture partner. First, make sure this person promotes the kind of product you have in mind.
Once you verify that (and you can get on their list and check contest leaderboards to see who promotes, what) then you can reach out – but make sure you do it the right way.
First, be willing to share the finished files. They need to know what they’re promoting. Don’t share a snippet or a glance – share the entire thing with them. You’re asking for their list.
Don’t ask if they want to see it, just send access upon your very first communication. You want as little hassle on their end as possible. Have everything ready. This includes the files, a link to your JV page, swipe emails, bonus pages and anything else you have in mind.
Impress them with your knowledge of why this product might be a good fit for their list. If you don’t know, that’s a problem. You never want to cold contact people just to see what sticks – make your JV recruitment process exclusive.
To tempt them into saying yes, proudly offer them a bump in commission. If you have a funnel, you can offer a bump from 50% to 75 or 100% on the front end, keeping the rest of the funnel in place at 50% like the other affiliates get.
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