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Monday, June 8th, 2009

Affiliate Tip #4: Invest in Your Business

Affiliate Tip #4: Invest in Your Business

istock 000007826703xsmall 150x150 Affiliate Tip #4: Invest in Your BusinessEditor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of five quick affi­liate tips by guest blog­ger Robert Plank. Videos of each are also pos­ted at the end of this article. Enjoy!
– Michel Fortin

No pro­duct ven­dor likes poten­tial affi­lia­tes to ask for free “review copies.” It reeks of inex­pe­rience and penny-​​pinching. If you want to pro­mote a pro­duct and need to see what it looks like on the inside, just bite the bullet and pay for it like ever­yone else.

As an affi­liate, you have two rela­tionships to work: with your buyers, and with the pro­duct ori­gi­na­tor. When you try to go the cheap route, you burn too many brid­ges early on.

Let’s also remem­ber that whe­ne­ver you pay for something, you’re more likely to take action with it. Just ima­gine you’ve work and saved your entire life for your dream car. Once you buy it, you’re going to actually use it and take extra care of it, right?

Then ima­gine some­body gives you the car outright. You didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it, and didn’t pay anything for it. You still might che­rish the car but you aren’t going to enjoy it the same way.

The same is true for get­ting “affi­liate review copies” of pro­ducts. If you actually buy the pro­duct, you’ll have more of a drive to pro­mote and make your money back.

There is also no excuse for trying to save money buying from your­self as the affi­liate to get your review copy. Peo­ple have tried to jus­tify them­sel­ves doing this for years, but there’s simply no way to explain it without soun­ding cheap.

Can you really see Michel For­tin, John Reese, or Frank Kern asking for review copies from each other? No way… $20 or even $100 is a drop-​​in-​​the-​​bucket invest­ment for their busi­ness. You want to model those people.

Did you know that Rus­sell Brun­son and Matt Bacak attend each other’s $20,000 workshops, and pay each other for hourly coaching? There is no “kee­ping score” to see who makes more money off the other’s coaching.

If one of them needs an extra boost in their busi­ness, they pay for the tools and it pays off.

Usually I will pay full price for even my clo­sest busi­ness part­ners’ pro­ducts, even though I “could” get it for free — I’d pre­fer to have the tax wri­teoff, stron­ger rela­tionship, and extra moti­va­tion that comes with paying full price.

I don’t always buy the pro­ducts I pro­mote as an affi­liate… but if you want a review copy, pay for it ins­tead of calling in favors. You owe it to your­self, your pro­duct ori­gi­na­tor, and your cus­to­mers to actually invest in your business.

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  • Do you treasure gifts others give you? Robert Plank says you aren't going to enjoy a car given to you in the same way you would one that was paid for by you. We were given two cars, purchased new and used cars and have been grateful to God no matter how it arrived.
  • Yeah I often find it useful to risk large sums of money, because it produces an almost frantic drive to make whatever a success, to recoup the money.
  • Bill
    Well, call me cheap then. I can understand buying when somebody has a reputation already and it is clear that their product will provide value. But I am not going to go around spending money on every product just to see if its worth promoting or not.

    Samples or free demos are part of every business I have worked in offline. You can't ask a distributor to buy your product first if he wants to sell it. Why is internet marketing different?

    Sure, there are people who make a habit of seeking freebies and then not producing much in return, but you can quickly figure out who those people are. But I don't think that's what you are talking about here.
  • Hmm, interesting post.

    I've heard the phrase "if you can't your friends/family to buy your product, why would anyone else?" and that seems to fit here as well. I do feel, however, that the correct way to get "affiliate review copies" is to NOT ask for them! If the product originator wants to give review copies of their work, they probably will--it's your job as an affiliate (and your right) to make it known that you want one, but not to be pushy.

    A simple, "hey, I'd be interested in reviewing your product if you'd like a testimonial," will show a benefit to both parties.
  • { Hit the wrong button and posted unfinished. }
    Instead,they flounder and download tons of free information and never fully read nor study it.Worst of all they don't take suggested actions.
    One step at a time allows a toddler to walk before he can learn to run with the big boys.
  • Believe me if someone gave me my dream car I would cherish and enjoy it more than buying it myself.
  • Many new hopefuls join affiliate product promotions to try and make a few sales to get started."Then they will buy" some other products or maybe ones they are promoting.Investing in a product to start with to invest in their own future should be the way to go , but they have heard of or experienced debt for products that didn't give them the "secret entrance" to the affiliate marketing world.
  • Guest
    Great insights, Robert - thanks.... I'm finally getting started with affiliate marketing for my trading sites, and your series has provided a lot of useful insights. Good ideas re buying vs asking for review copies for affiliates, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks again for sharing your insights, they make a lot of sense.

    -k
  • Hi Robert

    What a different way of looking at things. I always hear about marketers being sent a review copy of a product and it's helpful to do that if you want to get your product in front of a "guru" in the hope they might promote it but actually asking for products didn't even occur to me!

    I don't think I would mind if a well known marketer like yourself or Michel Fortin emailed me and asked me for a review copy of my product though :)

    For me it would depend on who is doing the asking!

    thanks for the great article
    Diane

    P.S. Still turning articles into videos!!!
  • Robert,
    This is an excellent tip on a subject that isn't often addressed. When getting started as an affiliate, it is very important to build good relations. By purchasing a copy of the product we show that we are professionals and are willing to commit to the product.

    Thanks for the info and a big thanks to Michel for publishing it.
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