AP 0974: How Can I Give Value to My Affiliates without Being Biased?

AskPat 974 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up, everybody? Pat Flynn here, and welcome to Episode 974 of AskPat. Thank you so much for joining me. As always, I'm here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week here.

All right. Thanks so much, and here's today's question from Aaron.

Aaron: Hey, Pat. This is Aaron from PickaKit.com. First of all, thank you for all the amazing information that you share and for the way that you share it. I really do appreciate your positivity. I've been absorbing your advice about affiliate marketing, like treating the products as if they're you're own and referring your audience to the one product that they need to move forward. I'm wondering how this advice applies to sites like mine, where the value we provide is in helping users compare similar options. Currently, we give affiliates better positioning in our list of service providers and priority as we create new pages for the site. My question is, how else can we provide value to our affiliates without being biased in our recommendations? Thanks again.

Pat Flynn: Hey, Aaron. Thank you so much for this question. So what other value could you provide affiliates that would help? Well, one thing that I talk about that you didn't mention was showing people how the product is used, and giving them more information about what that experience is like before they buy it. That is by far one of the number one tips I have for those of you who are doing affiliate marketing. And I'm excited you're talking about this, Aaron. I'm actually currently working on an affiliate marketing course that's going to come out in November. So you should all get ready for that. I'm really, really excited about it. And before we get to that, though, I do want to answer this question because the number one tip I have, and this is across the board, is to show people what they're going to get before they get it. And you would do that with your own product, right? And like you said, that's something I teach. Like, treat it as if it was your own product.

Now, you wouldn't sell a product without showing people what's on the inside and how it all works. So do that with these affiliate products too. And perhaps there's some ones who get the top positioning where you can also offer a demo. And if you were to offer that demo too, and create demos for all the different versions, that would be a great way for people who are there picking through all of that selection, one that might make the most sense for them. You can also share more items like, “Who's this for? Who is it not for?”, quick start guides, and PDF files. Maybe there's just a checklist that can go along with those items too. Those are other bonus offerings that you can add in addition to what it is that you're already offering them, which is non-biased sort of recommendations from there.

So that's, I'm not even going to mention any other ones. That should be the number one thing that I think most people should be doing when it comes to recommending other people's products and such. It's creating demos. I have a demo on ConvertKit, for example, which is an email service provider that I'm an advisor for and affiliate for. And the demo that I created was so that I can do two things. One, have people who come across my website see that I know what's involved and how to get started with it, why it's great, hear my voice and my passion behind it. But also know what they're going to get before they get it. [Full Disclosure: I'm a compensated advisor and an affiliate for ConvertKit.]

But it also works on YouTube. YouTube—if you look up ConvertKit it's one of the top results there, I think. Actually, let me check right now. It changes every once in a while, because YouTube is a search engine. But if I type in ConvertKit, it is the number one result. And it says, “ConvertKit Demo by Pat Flynn, and why it's the best email marketing software.” And it's even right above where ConvertKit's actual channel is, where it says, “Subscribe.” So I'm stoked about that.

So yeah, that's what I would recommend. Do that. Make it great. Make those demos great. Make those tutorials, those quick start guides, those checklists, those PDF files, whatever you're offering on top of what it is you're already doing, that's a great way to go about it. So hopefully that makes sense.

Aaron, thank you so much for the question. I appreciate it, and I want to send you an AskPat teeshirt for having your question featured here on the show. And for those of you listening, hey, do you do any affiliate marketing? If you do, what's the one product that you sell more than others? Do you have a demo for it? Do you have a quick start guide for it? Do you show people what they're going to get before they get it? If not, well maybe you should do that. And also, if you have a question that you'd like potentially featured here on the show, just head on over to AskPat.com and ask right there.

All right, and here's a quote to finish off the day by William Lyon Mackenzie King. Well, that's cool. William Lyon Mackenzie King. “I really believe my greatest service is in the many unwise steps I prevent.” All right, guys. Take care, and I'll see you in the next episode next week on AskPat. We're launching a special fun little challenge next week as well; it's going to be completely free, and it's going to be completely awesome. I'll tell you more about it next week. We'll get started then, and it'll be great. Thanks guys. Love you. Bye.