An Affiliate Boost From A Couple Of Homeless Guys
Tonight the kids and I decided to swing through McDonalds for a CDC (chocolate dipped cone) after dinner. That’s what happens when we’re on our own for dinner while mom is out with the gals.
As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I saw a couple of homeless looking guys, with a dog (why is it that about 50% of homeless people have dogs?), standing on the sidewalk. They’d staked out a little high traffic spot and had the usual homeless person sign. Instead of the standard “Will work for food” or “Hungry, anything will help”, theirs read “McHungry”.
I have no idea why, but after a good chuckle, all I could think about was how creative that was both in the sign verbiage as well as their location. Didn’t make me want to give them money, but it did get me to thinking about my affiliate marketing efforts.
In an effort to turn the thoughts into useful action, I tried to summarize things into several takeaway points.
1. Don’t use canned creatives, create your own. Any time you start promoting a new product, especially if you’re on the newer side to affiliate marketing, it’s very VERY tempting to just use the creatives provided. In my opinion, that’s one of the worst things you can do. The reason being it’s likely every body and their dog (yes, even the homeless people with dogs) will have tried to use the same banners. Affiliate marketing is all about standing out. Differentiating yourself from everyone else. Breaking through the noise. So why in the world would you start things off with the same old stuff everyone else is using. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this same thing.
You need to make your own creatives. You may not have any skills. You may not have any confidence. But even if you think what you’ve done sucks, it’ll give you a shot at being different.
2. Take the creative approach with where you display your ads. I love that these 2 guys were standing out in front of McDonald’s tonight. We’ve become accustomed to seeing people on freeway exit ramps and busy intersections. This caused me to notice them. For us, where can we pitch our offers that would be outside the norm? Nursing home services on a mommy blog? Baby goods on men’s site? Gourmet food on a diet blog? Try something different. Step outside the norm and take a chance.
Lots of affiliates already do this, but if you haven’t tried it, it can be tough to get your brain to think that way. Our natural tendency is again to go with the norms on where we promote offers. The problem is you have to work all that much harder to differentiate yourself, just like with your creatives. When you go against the flow, it’s easier to get noticed. Sure it may be tougher to sell to particular audiences, but you also may be pleasantly surprised at what people respond to.
3. Step outside your offer promotion comfort zone. We get used to promoting certain types of offers or promoting to particular demographics and it’s healthy to get challenged once in a while. Mix things up a bit. Try an over saturated market like dating or ring tones. Challenge yourself a bit and see what you can do with it. The two homeless guys weren’t breaking the bank, at least when we saw them, but they were trying a new tactic to raise some capital. A different place and message.
I’m sure there’s more you could pull from this, but that’s just what came to mind while driving home tonight after seeing those guys. I almost went back to take a picture for this post, but the kids were ready to get home. It’s funny what little moments in life can teach you sometimes.
