Dear Affiliate Manager, Women Are From Venus
Article by Stefan Boyle
Question: My target market is women, and I’m having a hard time getting them to promote my products. They just seem unmotivated. I don’t get it. Does my affiliate program stink or am I recruiting bad affiliates?
Dear Affiliate Manager:This just goes back to basic psychology. Women and men value different things.
Car salesmen are taught this in their training. When a husband and wife walk into a car showroom, the car salesman will face the husband when he talks about things like … horsepower and engine stuff. Then, he’ll turn to the wife and talk about safety and color options. Is this condescending? Yes. But, it’s also effective. My eyes glaze over when it comes to horsepower, but I want to know what I’m going to look like in my car! Sunroof? Radio? Now we’re talking.
So, what does this have to do with your affiliate program? Simple. Although I can’t speak for all women, obviously, I can tell you the things I value in an affiliate program.
Quality. I value my newsletter subscribers and am building a relationship with them. (According to recent studies, women go online to find relationships and support.) If your product or service is junk, then you could offer me 99% commission with a 99% conversion rate and I’m still not going to sell it to my visitors.
Affordability. I can’t promote a product that I, myself, would not buy. If you’re overpriced for what you offer, I can not promote your products to my subscribers.
Dollars and Cents. Of course money is a factor. It’s just not the #1 factor, as you may be surprised to know. 20% commission vs. 40% — I’m not as concerned about that as I am the other items in this list.
Tools: Yes, tools. This is really big, and so few affiliate managers “get it”. I think I’ve finally pinpointed why this is such a big thing (at least for me). This scenario happens way too often: I find a product I am really excited about and I eagerly sign up for their affiliate program. I log in so I can start telling everyone I know about this great product or service. I can’t wait to see what they have in the “links” section. Will there be articles, or a rebrandable e-book maybe? Or even an informative video? It’s like Christmas morning… what will I find? And, then the affiliate section opens and there’s one measly link and a button.
My initial gut reaction is “They’re not even trying!” And now, I don’t feel valued or motivated in the least bit. You just succeeded in turning your biggest fan into someone who stuck a lousy button on her page and knows it’s not going to sell at all.
I know what you’re thinking. It’s the affiliate’s job to sell. Yes, you’re right. As an affiliate, I know that writing reviews and recommendations is the best way to sell a product. No doubt about it. All I’m saying is that you’ve got to give us at least an indicator that you’re interested in building a working ‘relationship’.
Is it hokey to want a relationship with an Affiliate Manager? Yes. It is. But, I can tell you that any affiliate program where I get some attention and appreciation is going to get a lot more loyalty from me than an Affiliate Manager who sits on the couch drinking beer and watching football while I’m running around working my butt off… (Hmmm…. did I say that?)
So, yes, women are from Venus. You can decide to embrace it and reap the rewards, or ignore it and wonder why your affiliates aren’t motivated. It’s your choice. As an affiliate, I’m challenging you to embrace this information and run with it.
About the Author
PrintRepublicChesham, Buckinghamshire, United KingdomAt http://www.printrepublic.co.uk/ we work for the owners of Small Businesses, managers and marketeers of Small and Medium sized businesses to help them produce great quality printed items that help them promote their marketing messages to their clients. Often people running SME’s are extremely busy and are looking for quick, easy and effective ways to market their business. They also want help from a company who makes things straightforward and simple as they simply do not have time have meeting after meeting organising everything. At PrintRepublic, we help people running SME’s to focus on what they are good at whilst we look after their printing requirements, delivering high quality, great value for money business cards, leaflets, brochures and much more. Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/Print_Republic BlogCatalog
A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing: Quick Reference for Affiliate Managers & Merchants
A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing was written to be an indispensable handbook for all affiliate managers and merchants, alike. In addition to providing concrete, practical answers to common (as well as not-so-common) questions, the book gives usable ideas on promoting affiliate programs, along with ways to keep affiliates motivated. This guide presents the author’s information in a logical, convenient format.A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing was written to be an indispensable handb
List Price: $ 14.49
Price: $ 14.49
No related posts.
Hands On and Useful for Affiliate Managers – I Recommend It,
There are not many books available that cover the subject of affiliate marketing from the merchant side, or its representative, the affiliate manager (AM). It is good to see, that all of the few publications that are available so far are of high quality and valuable for anybody who got the task assigned to manage the companies affiliate program and it’s vast number of all kinds of different types of affiliates. Geno is an openly outspoken affiliate manager who got his hands “dirty” and real life experience in managing the unmanageable.
His book is taken right from the practice and not an general academic view on the subject. It is not a guide that you can follow by the letter, but provides you with practical tips and ideas and trip falls to watch out for. You have to use your own brain to apply the examples used in the book to your own unique cases. There are no prefabricated solutions, but there are actually none that could be prefabricated and fit all needs and purposes.
That is affiliate marketing and something you have to get used to rather sooner than later.
I gave the book four stars instead of five for the following reasons.
Affiliate marketing happens mostly on the world wide web. The Web is a visual medium and so is affiliate marketing.
There is not a single picture in the book to illustrate things. I am also a visual person and use visualization to make it easier for me to comprehend complex issues.
There are also a few things that can be generalized in affiliate marketing. An appendix with some practical examples of an affiliate agreement, some standard communication templates etc. would not have hurt. There are a few throughout the book, but a bit more and in one place for easy look-up when needed would have been great.
I recommend this book to any fresh starting or junior affiliate manager. It is definitely worth every penny of its price. I would have given it a 4.5 star rating, if I could, but that was not an option and I had to make a choice.
Also look into Shawn Collins book, which is hopelessly outdated (written in 2000/2001), but to this day the de facto standard book for affiliate managers.
Was this review helpful to you?
|A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing,
This is the BEST business book I have ever read. Although I am not a professional businessman, I found this book very user-friendly and easy to understand (for anyone who is involved or thinking of getting involved in Affiliate Marketing). I literally could not put the book down.
I was not planning on getting in the Affiliate Marketing but this book made me want to do it and conduct further research on the subject.
This is a GREAT book for those who are starting out their businesses and whose who are involved in it already! Very educational and PRACTICAL in all aspects. This book is bound to improve your business and increase your revenue.
Dr. Alex M.
Was this review helpful to you?
|