The Power of Product Knowledge When it comes to marketing online there is one power that anyone can have but most overlook. It’s not copywriting, although copywriting is important. It’s not list building, although that is important too. If you tap into this power – and remember that anyone can have this power - you will be able to make more affiliate sales and create happy customers at the same time. Your marketing will become as easy as falling off a log because it will come from a place of making an honest recommendation based on experience instead of trying to convince someone to spend money. If you have ever eaten at a restaurant and liked the meal and told a friend, you have this power. If you have ever seen a movie and told a friend or family member why you liked it and why they might like it too, you have this power right now. The power I’m talking about is the power of product knowledge. The power of really knowing the product you are promoting and believing in that product with all your heart. Most people never get to this part of selling. Sadly, they fall for the hype that says all they need to do is find a “high gravity” or “hot” product and place a few ads. Do that, the hype boys say, and the money comes tumbling in quickly. If you have been online for more than a few days I suspect you know that’s not how it works. Believing the hype, they spend the money and time they do have and end up selling nothing or very little. They conclude that online marketing is “not for them” or they are not “cut out” to sell things online when in fact nothing could be farther from the truth. I want to make the case for falling in love with the products you use and believe in, and promoting them with all of your heart. And I want to show you how to convert this passion into sales. Use what you buy Your parents probably drilled this into your head when you were growing up. It’s called using what you buy. Some call it getting the most for your money. I call it product knowledge. You see, when you really use, and I mean use to the fullest, the things you buy you will discover that there are some very good products out there. Because it’s so easy to become distracted by the next shiny object we often don’t really use what we buy. Instead we only partly use it and then buy something else. Not using what we buy and buying more is a sure road to failure. When you have real product knowledge you can promote with authority. When you know the product you are promoting, and when you believe in that product, some very good things start to happen. When you really have product knowledge, you can… Offer specific suggestions Share specific case studies from your own experience Help readers save time by providing shortcuts Provide meaningful bonuses for buying from your affiliate link Write articles that detail one specific benefit of the site Create review sites that create confidence because they are genuine Become a valuable JV partner based on your knowledge You see, most people struggle to sell things online in part because they don’t really know what the product will do for a person. They only know what the affiliate program says the product will do. So they have to use generic terms like “save money” or “make money” or “save time”. While these motivators are fine the problem is that everyone uses them. How much better would it be to point out exactly how a product helped you? Here are some examples from DOE member feedback. I had information overload and you helped me make a plan that brought me peace of mind I didn’t know where to advertise but your webinar helped me see the process My ad copy was not working so you edited it and now I’m making sales All of these, and more, have happened to DOE members. These members have something very specific to say to prospects when they promote the Directory of Ezines. And that means more sales. Another benefit of using what you buy is that you will buy less! We all do this – we buy a product, don’t use it and buy another product that does the same thing! PLR products are the best example. How many PLR products do you have on your hard drive right now that are not being used? If you are like most people the answer is “too many!” If you buy less and use what you buy you will find that information overload is eased as well. Much of the information overload problem comes in trying to learn to navigate the sites we buy memberships in and get a sense of what’s in there. Then we need to make a plan of how to use it and things start getting really confusing. Multiply that times five or ten sites and it’s easy to see why so many people simply don’t know what to do next! Another benefit to buying less is that your husband or wife — and your wallet — will thank you. :-) Action Steps If you see the logic of believing in the products you promote then here are some action steps you can take. First - make a list of the things you have bought in the last six months. If you are an active buyer go back only three months or even one month. Second - sort your list from the product you had the highest hopes for to the one that you didn’t really believe would work but thought it was worth giving it a shot. Third - take the top five products or sites on your list and write next to them what they are (membership, ebook, webinar) and what they are supposed to do for you. Fourth - find the site that most meets what you need right now and commit to spending 20 hours inside the site. Fifth - commit to ignoring new offers (even mine!) until you have spent 20 hours in the site you already own. If you do this I believe you will find that information overload will stop being a problem. You should be able to overview the site to get a feel for everything it offers and make a plan of how to use it in a few hours. After that, dig in and start using what you learn. Take action on it immediately. Keep good notes about your progress. Do what you can do today and tomorrow you will be able to do more. If you follow this process and find a site you really love, considering joining their affiliate program and promoting it. You should find this easy because now you will have real and deep product knowledge and never again have to wonder what you should say in an ad or on a review post. Developing deep product knowledge is the path to learning the skills you need to succeed, becoming a top affiliate and spending less at the same time. And that combination is a beautiful thing indeed! facebook/TrafficOnDemand
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 11:50:43 +0000
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