Chances are you’ve heard at least a little – maybe a lot – about “viral marketing”… Whereby one process you set up is taken up by other people without your having to work much at it. Less work and exponential growth… cool! But let’s talk about how it applies to affiliate marketing…
(Did you want to test your “Viral Marketing I.Q.” first?: http://www.Affiliate-Viral-Marketing.com/viral-IQ.htm )
What kind of “contagions” can you develop for your business?
Sure, viral marketing sounds great – but when you get right down to it, what exactly can you -do- about it?? Despite the popularity of a concept, the imagination sometimes balks at the details.
You very well may have in mind at least one example of a viral marketing strategy… Free e-books, right? – that’s to the fore in viral marketing discussions (along with HotMail and other such mega-businesses – not very helpful illustrations for most of us). I bet, though, that you know about a number of others, and perhaps just haven’t been thinking of them as such. And there certainly -are- a lot of others!
Here’s a glimpse at how hefty a viral marketing “toolbox” might be; let’s say that these are some of the many trays in the toolbox…
—E-books (free, sure – or even -not- free)
—Autoresponder documents
—E-mail and discussion forum postings
—Helpful/delightful downloadable files
—Something fun or unique on your site – or that -is- your site
—Spreadable articles
—Joint venturing
—Offline promotional techniques (such as press releases)
…And each tray contains a number of different tools – a choice of tools for different circumstances. …All applicable to affiliate marketing, whether you’re on the merchant side or are the affiliate partner.
How do affiliates and affiliate merchants make contagions spread?
On what is for most people familiar ground, then, let’s first see if you’ve thought of all these ways that an e-book could fit into an affiliate marketing business…
If you’ve been delving into affiliate marketing at all, you’re no doubt aware of the viral potential for e-books, first of all as affiliate products… It’s the affiliates who -make- them viral, after all, passing the word about the product to their website visitors, e-zine subscribers, and clients, in hopes of earning a commission from a sale.
Then, reseller licensing of the e-book product – or allowing those who buy the books to -give- them away – adds another viral layer to the promotion. In either case, there’s now even more incentive for the book to be pushed along.
The possibility of “rebranding” the e-book (that is, customizing certain portions of it, as a “brought to you by” statement, or changing the affiliate link coding so that the current host of the download can gain from the affiliate commissions) also adds pass-along momentum. …And rebranding might be offered for either a for-sale or a free e-book.
So… A merchant’s affiliates, or an affiliate’s sub- affiliates (in a two-tier program), could use their own links instead of the author’s. If there’s another goal that overrides the affiliate commission (say, e-zine sign-ups; or promotion of consulting services; or simply business name branding); or perhaps if only -some- of the affiliate links will be rebrandable – or the downloaders who rebrand a link will have to purchase the product first in order to use or evaluate it… The loss of immediate affiliate commissions can be amply made up for by the viral spread of the book!
Free as well as for-sale e-books might be used by affiliate merchants to promote their offerings. (Keep in mind that an e-book doesn’t even have to be a “book”. It can be a report, a catalog, a sales presentation, a detailed list of features… Whatever would be helpful to the downloader of the text. And it can contain graphics – and hyperlinks – and, with some compilers, even animated graphics and multimedia stuff. …A world of possibilities for free digital files with value to many folks.)
So… Affiliates might create e-books around a subject that pertains to the affiliate program/s they’re promoting. Or they could work mention of several programs into a broader subject relating to any topic on which they have expertise. (Especially useful to them, perhaps, would be a theme that relates to their website or e-zine.)
Affiliate merchants can create “adjunct” e-books around their program offerings. For instance, a businessperson whose core is consulting of some kind might produce a book that elucidates the importance of his service in achieving clients’ greater success. Another could write a book on how to use her product to its fullest advantage. Or an in-depth discussion of an interesting issue could lead into a mention of the product or service “in the background”.
Either an affiliate or a merchant can use downloadable e-books to enhance the attractiveness of her website or e-zine, of course – as an incentive… Or to engender a feeling of trust in his visitors/readers – by providing good information and advice therein.
…To name a few ideas that come to mind. (Can you think of a few more?)
Seems to me that it would behoove affiliate program merchants to help their affiliates to become more acquainted with and adept at viral marketing… I don’t think that anyone will complain about the increased profits that are liable to result!
More viral ideas for affiliate marketers…
How about a quick look into some of the other toolbox trays?…
E-mail and discussion forum postings — -Any- old e-mail message -might- become viral! – it just has to be interesting enough. (Er… have you given any thought to what’s -funny- about your business? Can you find a way to embed a mention of your affiliate program into it, too??)
Helpful/delightful downloadable files — An example: Have you ever noticed how many screensavers some people go through in a year?… And how they get passed around? Get your business name/URL – even your affiliate program link – on the really nifty one/s you create and give away.
Something fun and unique on your site – or that is your site — Word of mouth is a great viral tool, of course! What cool tool or amazing graphic or hilarious soundbyte, for example, is on your site and no other? …Make it “associated” with your affiliate program somehow. (And then let press releases – viral in themselves, since -they- get passed along in the media – help the mania grow.)
Joint venturing — Back to e-books for a minute… What about trading endorsing links in your e-book with another e-book author? (See my website http://www.ThinkJointVenture.com/ for an introduction to joint venture marketing.) When you tap into someone else’s subscriber or customer base… That’s a great viral marketing strategy!
These are just some of the many ways to apply viral strategies to affiliate marketing. For numerous others, see my e-book Viral Marketing Strategies for Affiliate Program Merchants (and Others)… over -70- strategies, a number of examples of their use, and 40+ resources to draw from. Get the bug!: http://www.Affiliate-Viral-Marketing.com/
Want to test your “Viral Marketing I.Q.”?… http://www.Affiliate-Viral-Marketing.com/viral-IQ.htm
Sherry Gordon – Gordon Pioneering – Copyright 3-2002
Sherry Gordon is the author of the e-book Ad Brokering
Opportunities – an explanatory idea manual of 135 different
ad space windfalls (and its companion e-book, Other
Brokering Opportunities… two for the price of one – or
one introductory volume for free!) – available at
http://www.Advertising-Broker.8m.com/
