Affiliate Tools - Part 3

Providing the tools and training for an affiliate to get started should be done in conjunction with giving the affiliate the information about the product that they will need to market it. Every affiliate should be familiar with the product or products. Give them all of the information they need in order to find their own ways of marketing, to write their own ad copy if they want to, and to answer questions that people may have about the product.

If the affiliate is familiar with the product, it may open up new promotion venues to them that they would not otherwise know were relevant. For example, if the product is an ebook, knowing the intimate details about the book’s contents will suggest to the affiliate other markets besides simply ebook sites. Is there a chapter about alternative health? There are countless alternative health forums and groups that may be interested in reading about it. Are there examples in the book about the income of fishermen? Fishermen gather around virtual water coolers just as other groups do, and may be interested in reading an ebook that outwardly shows no signs of being of interest to fishermen. The same can be said about software and the various applications in which it can be used.

An affiliate that is familiar with the product can also add something to their marketing that they otherwise would not. Their personal endorsement. A positive personal endorsement, based on the real product and their opinion on it, feels genuine and is a better marketing tool than a more hollow “it’s great- buy it.” This is not something that can be handed to an affiliate- they must know enough about the product to be able to add their own words about the product, and to tailor their endorsement to the different promotional venues they use. Ad copy mixing several of these components- the personal endorsement, the third party review, and the testimonials make for some seriously persuading copy.

Providing tools and training doesn’t have to be time consuming, and it doesn’t have to be done on a one-on-one basis. If you have a large affiliate network, consider a newsletter that gives the information to everyone in the network. This can also be done on a subscription basis so that the affiliates who don’t want it will not feel like they are being spammed. Also consider having one or more pages on your website, or having a second site for this purpose, that details these tools and how to use them.

If affiliates have problems using the tools provided to them, or don’t understand some of them, be available through email to answer questions. Not promoting the product may come down to simply one or two questions that the affiliate had about either the promotional tools or the product itself. Being available for questions goes a long way toward building a network where affiliates truly desire to participate.

It seems as though everyone with a product is using affiliates these days, and let’s face it, most of them are. Make your product stand out to affiliates and potential affiliates by not simply telling them a little bit about the product and hoping they sell it, but by offering them the tools that will give them an easier time of promoting it. This will make affiliates more prepared to carry out your promotions, and more willing to actually do it. This can only result in more sales for you and more cash for the affiliates. Being an affiliate and finding new ways to promote sales can be fun when the right tools and training have been provided and the affiliate sees the cash rolling in.

Jim Musselwhite is an internet marketer with a wide array of diverse, authoritative information sites including http://www.affiliatemanagementformula.com/

and http://www.youraffiliateteam.com

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