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Affiliate Recruiting

Discussion in 'Affiliate Programs' started by Tapanti, Nov 15, 2004.

  1. #1
    I have a great product that I’ve just started to promote for a client, and I would like to see some opinions on what would be the best and most effective Affiliate Recruiting method or procedure, viewing it from the Merchant perspective.

    Thanks for your suggestions. :cool:
     
    Tapanti, Nov 15, 2004 IP
  2. iShopHQ

    iShopHQ Peon

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    #2
    Do it all in house if you can. Why pay a company to do something you can do yourself? You can offer a slightly higher comission and reduce you overhead. You will need a good affiliate manager though to keep the program under control.
     
    iShopHQ, Nov 16, 2004 IP
  3. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #3
    Start with your existigns customers. These would be the best people to promote the product intially.
     
    mudnik, Nov 16, 2004 IP
  4. iShopHQ

    iShopHQ Peon

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    #4
    True. You could offer them some sort of referral fee or discount for sending you new business.
     
    iShopHQ, Nov 16, 2004 IP
  5. exam

    exam Peon

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    #5
    What's the product, if you don't mind my asking :) There might be some people here that would help you out for piece of the pie :D
     
    exam, Nov 16, 2004 IP
  6. Tapanti

    Tapanti Peon

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    #6
    iShopHQ:
    By that you mean to submit the program to the leading affiliate directories, manage and monitor the accounts, etc.?


    mudnik:
    That is 100% true, repeated customers have been the best buyers and promoters of the product so far. They are the easiest to sale to and most of the current sales come from “word-of-mouth” advertising.

    I’m definitely going to start some kind of “rewarding” program for repeated customers who refer new customers, but I haven’t prepared anything yet. I would appreciate your suggestions.

    exam:
    The product is a proprietary formulation of a Costa Rican clinic and laboratory specialized in naturopathic and homeopathic treatments and formulations. They have a wide selection of products in the Costa Rican market, but this product has never been massively promoted, as the lab prepared it depending on patients’ needs.

    The product consist on lab-cultured human sexual attraction hormones, widely known as “pheromones”, but unlike others in the market, these ones are real human hormones, that are being cultured using homeopathic principles, and have been crystallized to stabilize its effects. They are mixed in oil scents, extracted from tropical rainforest plants that the indigenous cultures of Costa Rica use to promote sexual energy.

    They contacted me some time ago to begin the Internet promotion of the product, but before starting the Internet campaigns, I needed to have everything ready (website, online orders, CC processing, export permits, etc.) and everything is almost ready… The only thing I don’t have ready yet, is the affiliate system, which is the reason I started this thread.

    We have made some media advertising locally, and the acceptance of the product has been awesome. We even made a couple of hundred unit sales in the US from an interview made by a Costa Rican News Channel that was seen by a Miami local TV Station Executive who re-transmitted it. Therefore, we have had some very satisfied US customers. We have also shipped some units to Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Peru, and even Japan, but most of the sales have been made to Costa Rican customers.

    Exam, I will send you the URL via PM, so that this thread is not turned into a commercial ad (more :eek: ), but if anyone else is interested, just PM me and I will send the details. Please remember that the affiliate system is not ready yet.

    Thank you all for your comments. :cool:
     
    Tapanti, Nov 16, 2004 IP
  7. 5starAffiliates

    5starAffiliates Well-Known Member

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    #7
    I do affiliate program PR for a living so here are some ideas. Submit to all the top affiliate directories. Some affiliate forums allow free or paid program announcements. Then also you can search Google to find top sites that sell similar products and do a short VERY personalized invite to join yours.

    I don't do ANY email recruiting because it's tricky and some affiliates consider it SPAM. I know companies that will do the email recruiting I could refer you to though.
     
    5starAffiliates, Nov 17, 2004 IP
  8. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #8
    well, you just need to setup your affiliate program...then inform your existing customers of this new program whereby they can earn commission by refering new customers.
    You can also make it multi-tier affiliate commission or even MLM...
     
    mudnik, Nov 18, 2004 IP
  9. Tapanti

    Tapanti Peon

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    #9
    Thank you for the ideas. I will definitely consider the Affiliate Forums. I’ve got to know the power of forums but hadn’t considered them for the program before. A+ tip!

    I ONLY use e-mail to send and receive messages, but NEVER use it for advertising as I’m convinced that it is us, people who work in the Internet, who are solely responsible for trying to purify and cleanse this great communication tool from all the garbage that it’s been polluting it during the last years, turning it from being an aid more into being a hindrance.

    Great info on your sites by the way! :cool:

    .
     
    Tapanti, Nov 18, 2004 IP
  10. Chatmaster

    Chatmaster Guest

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    #10
    Hi Tapanti

    I think what is very important is that you setup the tracking and commission structures as soon as possible. But another thing you should considder is setting up a multi tier commission structure to get others to advertise your affiliate program for you, that will save you some admin functions.
     
    Chatmaster, Nov 19, 2004 IP
  11. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #11
    Email is a great tool (and cheap way) for you to keep in contact with your customers. Keeping in contact with them does not mean sending them advertisements all the time. If you can give them free information or a product that they need (with a good offer), I'm sure your existing customers will appreciate it. This is totally different from those spams that we receive daily. Those should be crucified. :mad:

    If sending email to your customers is really taboo for you, then you can consider using direct mailing. It's much more expensive though.

    My whole point is to keep in constant contact with your customers. Making the first sale is not the most important thing. You can even make a loss on your first sale if need be. In the long run, it's the backup sales and residual lifetime value of a customer that counts.
     
    mudnik, Nov 19, 2004 IP
  12. Tapanti

    Tapanti Peon

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    #12
    Hi Chatmaster,

    I’m working on software that will allow affiliates to open accounts in the main site and manage their own affiliate programs, see statistics, give rewards, etc. and at the same time, open sub-user accounts. My idea is that every affiliate considers his/herself a top level affiliate, with the ability of starting and managing their own network of affiliates from the main site, and this way, they would be more prompt to make it grow.

    Maybe this concept is not new at all, but remember that I don’t have much experience in the area, and I would appreciate your opinion on it.

    Thanks

    ************************
    I’m not against using e-mail as a communication tool. In fact, I believe it is one of the greatest ever invented!

    What I meant when I said that I never use it for advertising is that I never use it to get new customers, but I definitely use it to keep in touch with the existing customers. In fact, repeated customers are the most important clients that any product has, not just because the selling process is very easy with them, but also because they offer a priceless source of feedback about your products and about the whole performance of your company.

    The only value that I might on e-mail advertising, and even on direct mailing, would be the potential of branding your name’s product, but there you have to consider if you want your name associated with spam and unsolicited mail… I don’t.

    Thanks for the comments. :cool:
     
    Tapanti, Nov 19, 2004 IP
  13. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #13
    Agreed totally with your comments. Email should never be sent unsolicited. But, having said that, there's still a effective way of using emails to reach out to new customers without sending unsolicited emails. Make a guess. :confused:
     
    mudnik, Nov 19, 2004 IP
  14. Tapanti

    Tapanti Peon

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    #14
    Perhaps publishing newsletters?

    Usually people who search and read information on specific subjects, are prompt to buy products related with that same subject.

    This also has the potential of giving you the status of an authority, adding to your product the power of being offered by an expert. :cool:

    ??? :confused: ???
     
    Tapanti, Nov 20, 2004 IP
  15. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #15
    That's one way. But wouldn't your newsletter be sent out to your existing cutomers?

    One very effective way is to do joint ventures. Seek out non-competitors (preferably complementary) and ask them whether they can endorse/recommend your product to their customers (through email). Offer them 100% commission on every sale made. A wonderful way to increase your customer base.
     
    mudnik, Nov 23, 2004 IP
  16. Tapanti

    Tapanti Peon

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    #16
    Sorry, but wouldn’t that be sending unsolicited mail too? Through a third party, who might have received authorization to send mails to their own customers... maybe, but again, they never requested ME to send them info about my product through email.

    For me, that´s 100% unsolicited e-mail... maybe too radical, but have seen too many ways to bend the rules about not sending unsolicited mails. :rolleyes:
    .
     
    Tapanti, Nov 23, 2004 IP
  17. mudnik

    mudnik Peon

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    #17
    hmmm..but the person sending out the email is the owner of that list..and not you..and it all depends on how the email is worded...For eg.

    Imagine I have a energy bar (cost price $2) that can boost the performance of sportsman by 10% and the retail price is $10. I start looking for JV partners. One example I can think of is owner of gyms. So, I ask them whether they want to promote this item to their members. I offer them 100% commission but they have to sell it at an offer price $8. It's a win-win situation for all as the gym makes $8/sale, the customer gets a product (that would help them) at 20% discount, and I gain a new customer for just $2.

    But something I would not do is to buy/rent the list from the gym owners and send out the emails myself. It would qualify as spam and as the people do not know me, you can expect very poor conversion rates.

    To look for JV partners, you need not send out unsolicited mails...you can always call, do direct mailing, etc. In any case, I would not think sending a personal email to another person asking for a joint venture (that would help both of us) qualifies as spam. Spams are those emails people send out in bulk to people they do not know about some crappy product.

    At the end of the day, as long as you know that your product would be able to add value to the people using it, wouldn't you want to help more people know about your product?
     
    mudnik, Nov 26, 2004 IP