Online Marketing From Home

 

Every week I get several emails, requesting a so-called ‘Joint Venture’ or ‘JV’.

I am deliberately using the phrase ‘so-called Joint Venture’ because ‘Joint Venture’ is a term that is often thrown around in marketing circles although the vast majority of JV requests cannot really be called JV’s. More about this later…

There is no doubt that setting up a JV with another marketer can be very profitable. In fact, many successful marketers will testify that they only started achieving real success online once they discovered the power of Joint Ventures!

Unfortunately many if not most marketers get it wrong!

Here is an actual email I received this week:

Subject: JV Opportunity

Hello Francois,

I was inquiring about a possible JV?

We believe our product can help your
subscribers make more money online.

The videos were made by an expert in
the field and are extremely detailed.

We can setup a special page and pricing
for your subscribers. View a sample here:

Link Deleted

The commission rate is negotiable, but
our standard rate is normally 50%

Also, you can view some recent sales
figures here:

Link Deleted

Please take a look at our sales page
and if you feel you and your readers
could benefit…

contact us and we can
forward you to the members area to
view the course online.

The sales page is here:

Link Deleted

Contact me at: Email Deleted
if you are interested and would like
to see the product?

Thank you,

Name Deleted
 
Now first of all I have to admit that this is one of the better requests I have received in recent days! But, I have not even bothered to reply… Before you say that I am a bit harsh, let me say one thing… I am not the exception. If you have tried the above approach you will know what I am talking about! Zero response!

By the way, this marketer is actually not unknown to me. I don’t know him personally but I have seen his name mentioned a couple of times in marketing circles. Why I am saying this? Well, if I didn’t recognize his name I would have deleted his email straight away as his subject line ‘JV Opportunity’ sounds very spammy.

Let’s quickly have a look at this email in more detail and see what this marketer could have done…

1. Name & Subject

Okay, let’s start at the beginning… As I have already indicated, I only opened the email because I recognized the name.

If you are a new marketer you must realize that most established marketers receive hundreds of emails every day. A very large percentage of these emails can be classified as spam!

 If a marketer does not recognize your name (and he probably won’t if you’re a new marketer) he will have a quick look at your subject line. He will only open your message if your subject line is really good (not spammy!) or if he feels it is a personal email. In other words, an unique email that has been typed specifically for him.

The subject line should relate to him. Let me give you a couple of examples…

I will open all of the following emails:

“Re: Online Marketing From Home News”

I often use this headline when emailing my list and I always invite my list to reply to my emails. And, I read all emails from my list members!

“Question about Niche Marketing Uncovered”

‘Niche Marketing Uncovered’ is one of my books so this looks like a ‘personal’ email.

“About your blog Online Marketing From Home…”

Since my blog is indeed called ‘Online Marketing From Home’ I shall open the email.

See what I am getting at?

2. Salutation or Greeting

ALWAYS mention the name of the marketer you are contacting. And, make sure you spell his or her name correctly!

In the email I received the marketer greeted me as “Hello Francois” – That is okay.

3. Opening Sentence – Who are you?

You have to clarify your relationship (for lack of a better word) with the marketer you are contacting in your opening sentence. And, introduce yourself!

Tip: Compliment the marketer!

Think of it as receiving a phone call… Before you are even remotely interested in talking to someone you at least want to know who is calling you and why they are calling you.     

For example, “My name is Francois du Toit. You probably don’t know me but I am one your list members…” or “I have just finished reading your book ‘Niche Marketing Uncovered’ and I have a question regarding something you mentioned on page 87…”

You will notice that an opening sentence is completely missing from the email I received. At this point I already started losing interest…. Yes, within the first couple of seconds!

4. State why you are sending the email.      

Okay, assume you have my attention. Why are you contacting me?

The email I received was not too bad…

He did say:

I was inquiring about a possible JV?

We believe our product can help your
subscribers make more money online.

The videos were made by an expert in
the field and are extremely detailed.

The first sentence is certainly not great. But, what really bothered me was the fact that he did not mention what the product was all about! Big mistake!

I am not really interested in features such as “The videos were made by an expert in the field…” What field? What is the name of the expert? What makes him an expert?

5. Don’t expect anyone to jump through hoops!

One of the things that really irritate me, and I know I am not alone, is having to email someone before I can catch a glimpse of his or her product. Frankly speaking, I won’t do it!

If you want someone to review or promote your product you should always include a direct download link to the product.

If it is a membership site or something similar that requires you to log in, you should create an account and give the marketer you are contacting at least a temporary user name and password. Don’t expect him to contact you in order to set up his account. It is not going to happen! 

The marketer that contacted me wanted me to email him if I am interested. Why would I email him, especially if I don’t even have an idea what his product is all about.

6. Make an irresistible offer or proposal! 

Okay, maybe “irresistible” is a strong work… At least make an offer or a proposal that you will find irresistible if someone else sent it to you.

Let’s have a look at what this marketer said:

The commission rate is negotiable, but
our standard rate is normally 50%
 
Unless it is an exceptional product from a very reputable marketer you are not going to get people interested in promoting your product for only 50% commission! 

Most successful marketers have their own products or at least rights to products that they can sell for 100% profit.

Furthermore, an online marketplace such as Clickbank offers thousands of products that I can promote as an affiliate. Many of these programs will pay me up to 75% commission! I can literally pick and choose which product(s) I want to promote as an affiliate.

In all honesty, the marketer that contacted me did say that his commission rate is negotiable. However, most established marketers will not waste their time trying to negotiate a better commission rate. As soon as they see the “50%” rate most will simply delete the message, if they have not already deleted it.

Simply asking someone to promote your product for a commission as an affiliate is not a JV request. It is plain affiliate marketing. Nothing more.

What I found interesting is that the marketer that contacted me said: 
 
We can setup a special page and pricing
for your subscribers.
 
In my opinion, that is a very clever approach…

7. Social and financial proof.

It may not always be possible to provide social and financial proof with a new product but it is highly recommended!

A good example of social proof is positive testimonials. For example, if I am asked to promote a product I would like to see some testimonials on the sales page from reputable marketers that have reviewed the product or from people that have benefited from using the product.

Financial proof refers to the conversation rate of a product. What you are basically saying is that your product is selling well… For example, a conversion rate of 2% means that out of every 100 people that view your sales page 2 people will buy.

By the way, a 2% conversion rate may be the average for many products but it is certainly not very good! Another marketer is not going to get excited if your product is only converting at 2%.
 
Many top marketers will rate the conversion rate of a product as the number one criteria on their list when deciding whether or not to promote a product.

Tip: It is in your best interest to work hard on improving the conversion rate of your product by for example testing various versions of your sales copy using PPC advertising.        

Remember that online marketing is not a ‘hit and run’ business. You want to have affiliates that will be loyal to your products and that will promote your products for many years.

One of the easiest ways of destroying your credibility is to launch a product that does not convert or converts very poorly! Chances are most of your affiliates will never touch one of your products again!

The marketer that contacted me clearly stated:

Also, you can view some recent sales
figures here:

Link Deleted

Please take a look at our sales page
and if you feel you and your readers
could benefit…

If my sales page was converting well I would have made a much stronger statement!

Tip: Always have a look at the sales page of a product before you decide to promote it and walk away if there are elements you do not approve of, such as external links to other sites or products, Google Adsense ads that may distract people, etc.

This blog post is busy turning into a mini report! Time to wrap it up!

Here are a couple of additional ideas you may want to consider…

First establish a relationship!

* Contact the marketer just to tell him you love his product(s).

* Post positive comments on his blog.

* Invite him to post on your blog about one of his products.     

* Don’t ask him to promote your product. Ask him to review your product. And, do not send him reminders when you do not get a review within 24 hours!

* Offer him a 100% sales commission.

Remember that a relationship is ‘give and take’. Be the first one to give and give as much as you can. The more you give the more you will receive.

Furthermore, before I forget… Most top marketers will not promote a product that pays less than $20 in commission.

Personally, I don’t agree. I will on occasion even promote products for free or promote free products if I feel they are really good and will benefit my list members and blog readers. However, don’t expect many other marketers to promote your product for free or for only a small commission. We all have to make a living!

Do not get disappointed when it feels as if people are ignoring you. It is nothing personal. You are going to be ignored most of the time if you are a new or unknown marketer. Sorry but that is reality.

It is good to build relationships with marketers that are more successful than you are. However, it can be difficult and frustrating…

Lastly, always try to build relationships with marketers that are at the same level you are at. It is much easier and can become very profitable in the future! Remember that many of the close relationships that some of the top marketers enjoy today have been established many years ago when they were still unknown and not very successful.

Trust you have enjoyed this very long post and that you benefit and profit from it!

To YOUR Online Marketing Success!

Francois du Toit

This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under JV's and Networking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.