In the end, affiliate marketing is all about the connections you make. There are people out there who need and want to buy the things you’re promoting—you just have to know how to reach those people and get them to buy even when they’re currently on the fence.
You may know already that people are a lot more likely to buy things if someone they know, like, and trust has recommended it. That’s where you come in. You’re going to be that person they come to know and like. They are going to trust you to make product recommendations that will really serve them in all the right ways. They’ll start to feel like they really know you if you host interviews and they can hear your voice.
It’s also likely that you’ll make more sales when you combine the power of your audience with the power of the product creator’s audience.
The product creator attracts an audience. They have their own audience. They also have the benefit of the buzz and chatter that’s going on about them and their products on the web.
The product creator also has something absolutely no one else has—an in depth and intimate knowledge of their product. They know their product inside and out. They have a story about why they created the product. People want to know these things.
These days, people want to buy based on a story. They want to buy when they know someone has gone through what they’re going through. Or, at the very least, when someone has taken the time to really understand what they need and want. That’s what the person who created the product you’re promoting is for the people of your niche.
When you conduct interviews to get more product sales, you’re combining a few different things people need when they’re about ready to make a buying decision.
You’re giving them access to the actual product creator through the product. You’re also giving them access to your thoughts and opinions on the product. That can help people make the right choice when it comes to buying the product.
Getting Started Interviewing
Hopefully, you’re ready to get started interviewing. It really can be a nice way to introduce people to the products you’re promoting and to increase your conversions.
But, what if you’ve never done any interviews before? It can honestly be really intimidating to get started, if only because it’s something that’s new to you.
Think of it as a conversation. The other parts are easy. Get some questions ready for the product creator or ask your audience what they’d like you to ask.
Use some simple recording software—you can use recording tools and Skype for an easy way to do this.
Prepare yourself. Paint a word picture for the audience of what the product is and how it’s going to change their lives.
For much of the interview, you probably won’t want to directly sell. You’ll want to focus on problems, emotions, and solutions.
At the end, though, you’ll probably want to include a call to action where you promote the product outright and tell people where they can buy it.
How To Get Interviews With Product Creators
If you’re newer to affiliate marketing or don’t yet have strong relationships with product creators, you might be wondering how you can get people to agree to an interview with you.
It might not be as difficult as you might imagine. After all, product creators want to sell more of their product.
It is a fact that many of them are short on time. There are probably other affiliates who are asking them for interviews.
Some affiliates interview the person and then do nothing with it, which wasted the interview subject’s time, so after a while people become reluctant to be interviewed. You need to assure your guest that you’re really anxious to not only interview them, but to actually use that interview to promote their product and make sales.
You just have to approach people and ask them. It does help if you get to know their business and build at least the start of a relationship with them. But, you really don’t even need that.
Just ask! You might get some “no” answers but you’ll certainly get some “yes” answers.
Figure out where people would best like to be approached. If they’re active on email, it might be email. If they’re on Skype, they might prefer Skype. Or, it could be Twitter or Facebook or wherever they tend to spend a lot of their time.
You can make it clear that the interview won’t be long (or maybe it will be—highlight what’s in it for them). Detail the size of your audience or where and how you plan to promote the interview to make sales.
Making Your Interview Available
After you’ve run the interview, you should save it and make it available. Depending on your level of skill, you can edit it to make sure it’s great. You can eliminate any dead space and things like that. You can add an intro and an outro.
At the very least, you should email the link to the interview to the people on your email list. Make it available on your blog.
Upload it to file sharing and audio sites.
Your goal should be to get your interview in as many places as possible.
You’ll probably also want to give the interview to the product creator so they can share it with their audience. They may or may not want to share it because you’ll be getting the affiliate commission as part of the interview. Others won’t mind because it’s additional exposure and ready-made content they can use to get sales they might not have had otherwise.
Running A Webinar to Earn More As An Affiliate
I want to mention that in addition to recording interviews as a straight audio file, you might also consider running a webinar with the product creator.
Webinars and Google Hangouts are great because people can see your screen, and/or your faces, live. You can show things on your screen (or on the product creator’s screen) or a PowerPoint presentation or something like that.
People love being able to join live because they can ask questions and feel like they’re really part of something.
Interview and Profit!
Hopefully, you’re really excited about the prospect of conducting interviews with product creators to make more sales of products you’re promoting as an affiliate.
It’s really simple to do and helps boost conversions. It’s different hearing a candid interview with someone than it is to just read about them.
Make sure you ask great questions and ask members of your audience what they want to learn about the most. Make your interviews interesting and try to ask things other people aren’t necessarily asking.
Make it your mission to spread the interview in as many places as possible. Also, consider transcribing the interviews so people can read the content as well.
Comments