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AMY PORTERFIELD: Well, hey, there. Amy Porterfield here. Welcome to another episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast. I know I say this almost every single week, but thank you so much for being here. I know that you have hundreds of different options for really good business podcasts to listen to, and the fact that you're tuning in today means the world to me. So thanks so very much.
Today we're talking about how to love up on your affiliates. These are the people that have achieved great results from your program or service, and, in turn, they want to share it with their audience for a commission. So when I'm talking about loving up on your affiliates, this means how you help them to best deliver and succeed as your affiliate partner promoting your program or service.
And by the way, there’s a whole other opportunity for you to be an affiliate for somebody else's programs or services that you believe in, like I do every year for B-School and like I do for Kajabi, a software that I use and love and talk about a lot. So if you want to recommend other people's programs, products, or services, I've got a few really good podcast episodes that will help you. So make sure to check out episode 223 with Pat Flynn, and episode 115 with Rachel Luna. I'll include links to both of these in the show notes at amyporterfield.com/290.
But today we're taking a really different approach to affiliate online marketing. We're jumping to the other side, the side where affiliates are selling your digital course. Good stuff, right? We're going to talk about how you can love up on your affiliates so they truly want to set big goals for your launch and are dedicated to going all in as though they were selling their own program. And also, you want to love up on them so much that they keep coming back. They want to continue to promote for you over and over again.
An affiliate relationship is very similar to a relationship that you would have with a company or a brand that you love. So for example, I love Model Meals, my meal delivery service that you've all heard me talk about on the show many times. So they have a great product, plus I've developed a friendship with the owner, Danika Brysha—shout out to you, girl. Love you—and also their customer support goes above and beyond, even refunding me when they realized I made a mistake and double ordered, although I had no idea that I had done that. So they go above and beyond, and I love that. So they have great customer service. So not only do I tell you about them on the podcast, but I tell my family and my friends about them. I know that JD, Jasmine Star’s husband, started ordering from Model Meals during really busy times of their launches. So I tell everybody about them. And I actually don't even use an affiliate code; I just love them so much.
So, it's actually the same with affiliate marketing. Having affiliates help you sell your product—the product that has helped them achieve results or some way transformed their business or their life or their relationships, whatever it might be—can seriously help you reach so many more people than you would have been able to do on your own. And you can blow your revenue through the roof as well.
So you want to know how I know? Because I've experienced it firsthand, especially during my latest launch for Digital Course Academy. And that's where I'm going to be pulling a lot of the examples today.
So you likely already know that when you work with affiliates your affiliates will earn a commission when they make a sale of your program. With that, you might be thinking, “But, Amy, I don't make enough money to give a portion away to an affiliate.” Or maybe you're thinking, “Right now, I just need to keep all the profits to myself.” I hear you, my friend.
So let me welcome you in on a little secret. You can literally double, triple, or even quadruple your income by including affiliates. And here's the best part: they often do most of the work for you. If you're multitasking, come back to me because I really want you to understand the value in working with affiliates. Affiliates can broaden your audience reach, and because they've already established that know, like, and trust factor with their audience, your conversion rate can be higher than if you were to target these audiences on your own with, let's say, cold ads.
So can you start to see just how powerful affiliate marketing can be for your next digital-course launch? I hope you're getting excited. We've got a lot to cover.
Before we go any further, I want to give a shout out to my brand new Digital Course Academy®️ members, those that joined me in the September 2019 class. If you're listening now, and I hope you are because my podcast is very much aligned with everything you're learning in DCA. But I want to let you know that I do not suggest that you invite affiliates to support you in your first launch. I believe that inviting affiliates to your launch is something that you do with your second or even maybe wait until your third launch. It takes some extra focused work and lots of planning. And I'd rather you hold off until you do one full launch on your own, just so that you don't overcomplicate things. Good? Now with that said, it's good for you to learn about affiliate marketing for your course now so that you can be prepared down the road. So for sure, keep listening. All right. So let's do this.
You can probably hear the excitement in my voice because this topic really does fire me up, plus working with affiliates that love your course and have gotten great results is always a lot of fun. You probably noticed a few of my affiliates from my last DCA launch, like Jenna Kutcher, and Jill and Josh Stanton from Screw The Nine To Five, and Stu McLaren of TRIBE, and Kate Northrup, Kajabi, and so many others. Here's the most important point I want to make. You have got to take the time to love up on your affiliates because there are a million and one other opportunities for people to choose from when it comes to being an affiliate, and what sets you apart is how you treat your affiliates and make their experience extra good.
So for today I'm going to share all my favorite secrets for how to love up on your affiliates so that they go above and beyond to market and sell your course. All right, are you with me? Grab a pen and notebook. You know I'm old school. I love to take notes in a notebook. But if you're a Google Doc kind of guy or girl, open up your Google Doc because today's episode is full of solid ideas that you can start implementing right away so that you can boost your revenue, increase your reach, and ultimately make a bigger impact with your next launch.
Now, real quick—you know how we do this—I’ve got a listener shout out. This one is from Gaby, and Gaby says:
“Where have I been? I've always heard and seen Amy's ads and social media posts but always thought, ‘Later. I'll get to that later.’ OMG, have I been missing out. This podcast is amazing. I'm already starting to plan out my next steps. Amy shares it all. I'm so happy and grateful for her natural ability to share a wealth of knowledge. Thank you one million times.”
Well, Gaby, thanks so much for not waiting any longer, and jumping into the podcast. Listen, when you said that you’re planning your next steps, you know that’s music to my ears, right? I love that you are a planner just like me, so thank you one million times right back for listening.
All right, guys, let’s go ahead and jump into today’s episode.
Here are four ways that you can love up on affiliates and make their experience as your affiliate magical. Number one, before we even invite affiliates to be a part of our launch, my team and I organize all the information and details that they would need, and we package it all up into easy-to–follow, easy-to–access, and easy–to–understand Google Docs that our affiliates can refer back to at any point. Now, this does a couple of things. First of all, it helps us to get all of our ducks in a row and make sure everything is in order before we welcome any affiliates onboard. Second, it minimizes confusion and eliminates answering the same questions over and over. So when your affiliates have a set place to go with all the information, they aren’t going to be coming to you with question after question about the program or commissions or dates for the launch or price points of the product or anything else like that. They are actually going to have all the answers they need so that you can spend the time really focused on your pre–launch runway or on your launch. So you get to stay focused, and your affiliates feel totally supported.
So let me give you a rundown of all the documents that we organize and we have ready for our affiliates before we even invite them to the party. And you're going to love this because I'm going to get specific here. Okay, so, what we do is we create, first, an affiliate launch FAQ Doc. Now, this little gem is golden. It has all the valuable information our affiliates will need. And I thought I would go over a few of the details.
So, first, one area our affiliate launch FAQ covers is the pricing of the course. So we include the pay-in-full option as well as any payment plans that we're going to be offering. It also goes over all the important dates that they'd need to know about, such as the timing of our pre–launch runway, when the doors open to the launch, when—doors open, as you all know, means when the product goes on sale—and then, all the webinar dates and times, and the timing of specific bonuses—so if we're going to release a mid-cart bonus, we say exactly when it gets released and when it expires—and then, of course, cart close, and when the refund period ends. So we cover all the dates they need. In addition, it lays out all the details about commissions and payouts, everything from what their commission will look like for a pay-in-full purchase to what it will look like for a payment plan as well as details about how we handle failed payments and, most importantly, when they can expect to receive their commission payouts.
Now, a quick side note about commissions. One question I get asked a lot is how much to pay in commission for a digital course. The standard is 50 percent, and that is what I pay in commission to all of my affiliates. However, it's not black and white. It's not the rule that you have to go with. I know some course creators who offer less, let's say around 40 percent, but they also include really big cash prizes to their first-, second-, and maybe third-place affiliates who make the most sales. So they hold back some of the commission, but then they use it to pay big cash prizes to the top affiliates. And if you're not going to run a big launch with big cash prizes, which I would never suggest you do in the beginning, then I think I would stay around 50 percent.
Now, if there’s a big cost of goods to factor in, if you literally are printing out binders or books or something where it’s actually costing you for a physical product along with whatever you’re doing with your digital course, you might want to factor that in. And in addition to that, if you're going to do a lot of one-on–one coaching or consulting as part of your digital course, you might want to hold back and not do 50 percent, maybe 40 percent will feel really good.
But at the end of the day, what you want to keep in mind is you want this to be incredibly attractive to your affiliate partners. The higher the commission, the more likely they are to play full out. So just keep that in mind.
Okay, back to the affiliate launch FAQ. This Google Doc also answers all the most commonly asked questions that we've gotten in the past when we've launched the same program. So it covers everything, and I mean everything, that the affiliates could possibly ask, so as you launch more and more, this list of FAQs will get better and better. Of course, there are still questions that come up, but this Doc serves to nip most of those issues in the bud so we're not repeating ourselves a million times over. So as you can see, an affiliate launch FAQ is essential because it's going to make your affiliate program run smoothly from the get-go. I can honestly say that my team cherishes this Doc because it allows us to spend quality time working on the areas of our launch that we really want to focus on.
Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to focus on the affiliates. We just don't want to have to keep repeating ourselves over and over again, because when you're dealing with ten, twenty, thirty, more affiliates, they've got questions, as they should. They're running a launch on their own for your product. So this Doc is just so good.
Now, speaking of this Doc being just so good, we actually put together a freebie for this episode that is a sneak peak of the top-ten things that we include in our affiliate FAQ Doc. So it gives you the most-important things to include in your affiliate Doc, and we give you some detail around it as well. So go to amyporterfield.com/290, and it will take you to the page where you could sign up to grab this for free. So if you want the affiliate FAQ details, go to amyporterfield.com/290, look for the opportunity to opt in for free, and I'll send it your way.
Okay, so moving on to the next Doc we give our affiliates, it’s called What’s Included in Digital Course Academy®️. Now, you might be thinking, “Don't your affiliates know that? Haven't they gone through the program already?” The answer is yes, they have. In fact, I require my affiliates to have gone through the course before they promote it. However, I'm always keeping my digital course up to date, and you can't expect somebody, no matter if they've gone through the course or not, to remember everything about your course, so especially when I'm updating things and adding new things and improving things. And people need all the details written out right in front of them. So this Doc gives them the 411 on what their audience can expect from the most up-to–date version of my course. So it includes each module and what each module covers, and it also explains each bonus that I'm going to be offering and what that bonus is all about. So this allows your affiliates to talk about your course like a pro, making it really easy for them to share accurate information with their audience.
Now, we also give them social-media images and swipe copy to use for their marketing. So we actually give them copy they can use in their emails or on their own bonus pages or on social media. So we really try to give them everything they need, but we don't want to overwhelm them, and we want to be careful that we don't give them too much so that all the affiliates look and sound the same. We want to give them starters, you know, templates to pull from in terms of copy or images or anything like that, but we also encourage them to make their own launch their own so it's unique.
So number one, provide your affiliates with the details to answer all their questions, and give them all the information they need for a successful launch. Don't forget amyporterfield.com/290 if you want to get that freebie to show you what to include in your own affiliate Doc for the FAQs.
Okay, number two, all about private Facebook groups. So I want you to create a private Facebook group just for your affiliates during a specific launch to communicate with them before you actually open the cart—so, in the pre-launch phase—and, of course, it will continue while the cart is open. So, similarly to the FAQ Doc, your Facebook group will eliminate answering the same questions, and it helps to build hype before and during your launch. It’s also going to give you an easy platform to give status updates and keep your affiliates in the loop throughout the whole prelaunch and the launch.
Now, you can use your private Facebook group to do Facebook Lives as well, where you give your affiliates tips and tools for the launch, get them fired up, share some good news. Maybe if the launch isn’t going as planned, you could jump in there and encourage them to try a few new things. Really, you’re just showing up, and you’re supporting them in the Facebook group.
Now, I had a Facebook group for this current DCA launch I did, and I’ll talk about this, actually, coming up. But I had somebody run my affiliate launch, meaning I hired a contractor to fill the role of what you could call an affiliate concierge. That sounds very fancy, I know. Her name was Laura Sprinkle, and Laura came into my business and acted as a team member for a few months, in fact. And she helped us prepare all the affiliate material, and then she helped us run the affiliate launch because we were short staffed, and I just didn't have enough people on my team to fill that role. And we have a lot of affiliates, so it was actually a full–time role during the launch. For you, it will not be a full-time role when you're starting out. But we had Laura come in and fill that role for us. So she was really active in the Facebook group.
But the role I played is I would jump in the Facebook group and do a weekly Facebook Live, and then I would cheer people on and get part of the conversations in the Facebook but not a lot, because the launch really kept me busy. But I did check in, and I did do Facebook Lives, and I did answer questions. So Laura played a bigger role than I did. And when your launches get bigger and your affiliate groups get bigger, I don’t want you being the main person running the show. But we’ll get to that in a minute.
Now, another thing you can do in a Facebook group is you can have a leader board. And that's basically when you are filling up your webinar, you can have a contest for leads. And so you might say, “Okay, I'm going to give a prize away to the top three people that bring in the most leads for the webinar,” and then you can do the same for when sales start. So you'll do a leader board, and maybe throughout the launch, let's say you have ten affiliates, you do the top five that are in the top-five sales positions of who sold the most units. And so you could do fun leader boards throughout and prizes as well. And don't be afraid to do some really fun prizes. From my experience, most people love a little friendly competition, and when there are some fun prizes involved, they pay attention.
Now, if you’re starting out small, you might do a fifty-dollar Amazon gift card. When you've done this twenty times, like me, those cash prizes get a whole lot bigger. So we like to do competitions, we like to give away prizes, we like to do leader boards in the Facebook group, but that's not the most-important thing. That's not the number-one reason for a leader board. So when you're starting out small and maybe you have five to ten affiliates, it's really just a place that they can ask questions and feel supported, and you can keep them updated on how the launch is going, what you're seeing is working. Maybe if you're noticing a trend in objections that are coming up or challenges, you're able to knock out on your webinar. When people say, “What about this; what about that,” you could talk about that in the Facebook group so your affiliates are really aware of the central theme that's running through your launch, what you're seeing is working or what you're seeing they need to address with their own audience. That's really the goal of it, but the prizes make it extra fun, if you want to do it. But again, on your terms. You don’t need to get crazy with these prizes.
What it really boils down to is that the Facebook group is a place to communicate and connect and support and build a solid foundation and relationships with your affiliates. And it's really fun, and it's totally free for you to do, so it's an easy thing to get going.
All right. So moving on to number three, consider assigning one person on your team to be your affiliate concierge. So I hinted at this just a minute ago, but this is something that could really help you out. So either someone on your team is assigned to manage the affiliates during the launch, or if you don't have someone on your team who could do it, you could also temporarily hire someone, like I did, to fill this role.
So assigning someone specific to the needs of your affiliates ensures that they are prioritized and heard and treated with extra-special care because there's nothing better than an affiliate that feels really taken care of. They're putting themselves on the line. They're promoting a program that is not theirs. They're doing you a huge service just as much as they're benefiting from it as well. It's a win-win when it works.
And so I am always really appreciative of my affiliates, and when I get to talk to them, I thank them over and over again for their support, because I know whatever they’re doing is going to benefit me as well. They’re not just doing it for themselves. And so taking care of them—why I’m doing this episode is to encourage you to love up on them—is so incredibly important. And assigning a go-to person for those moments where your affiliate is going to need help or they need a quick answer is a great way to love up on them. So if you do assign somebody on your team, make sure that all affiliates have their contact information and they know that they can go to that person any time they need any help.
Now, this person does not need to be full time, especially for your first few affiliate launches. You can easily hire a virtual assistant to take this role maybe a few hours a day, especially when the cart’s open. In prelaunch, it might be a few hours a week. But once that cart is open, I think a few hours a day, just to keep the pulse on your affiliates, is a great idea.
Now, if you only have, let's say, two or three affiliates, you don't need this. However, if you're going to go bigger and you have maybe seven or ten affiliates or maybe more, and you're going to put them into a Facebook group, like I've been talking about, assigning one person on your team to be their point person or their affiliate concierge, if you want to get fancy, is a really great idea. The more attention your affiliate gets, the more they're going to actually go all in for you. So if you feel like you're going to be pulled between managing affiliates and being present with potential students and selling and doing webinars and all that stuff, if you feel like you're going to be pulled too thin, then you definitely need to get somebody to manage your affiliates if you're going to be using them, because they're going to feel neglected the minute that cart opens when you're like, “Game on. It's webinar time,” because you do need to put all your focus on your webinars, but you can never neglect the affiliates that are giving you their all, promoting your program.
So to recap number three, consider assigning a specific team member or bringing someone on temporarily to support your affiliates.
All right. So, we’re in the final stretch. Number four, survey your affiliate partners post launch to help you improve for your next launch but also to make sure that you are creating solid relationships with your affiliates to ensure that they actually want to come back the next time. So after you launch, it is so important that you ask for feedback from your affiliates, even if you’re not sure if you want to hear it. Do it anyway, because, honestly, having repeat affiliates and keeping a positive relationship with them is so much easier than trying to find new affiliates and onboarding them. We did this with our recent Digital Course Academy®️ launch, and I'm so glad we did because the feedback was invaluable, and we learned stuff that I would have never even thought of, because when you're launching, your head's in the game in terms of that launch, but an affiliate has a different perspective. So you want to hear from them.
And the survey, it doesn't have to be long. Just simply ask them what worked best and why they felt those things worked really, really well, and then ask them what didn't work and why and what they would change in the future. Beyond that, you can get a little creative if you want to ask other questions, but it could just be those two things: what worked, and what didn't? And this is twofold because, first of all, it allows you to fix any cracks in the foundation. And second, it shows your affiliates that you care and that you want to improve the experience for next time, and in return, you get to keep working with really great affiliates.
So, remember earlier when I told you about the affiliate launch FAQ? Well, that was born out of getting great feedback from my past affiliates about a year or so ago. They told me they needed more information and more timely information. Like, they wanted it sooner, and they wanted it all in one place. So that all came out of a survey we did. So we knew we had to get more specific. One of the reasons why we hired Laura to come in, because she's really good at dialing in the details. So whoever you assign to be your affiliate concierge, make sure that they are good with the details, because there are a lot of them. So that's one thing if you do a Myers-Briggs test, they got to like the details, for sure.
So back to that survey. Take the time to ask your affiliates some questions. You’re going to be so glad you did.
Okay, now for our final tip on how to love up on your affiliates, here it is. Start out small. This is the same reason that I teach my students to master live webinars before using evergreen webinars. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Just because you want to have a ton of affiliates doesn't mean that you should. We're going to take baby steps here. I teach my students this all the time. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps.
So, be realistic about how many affiliates you feel you can manage, and start there. So you can be selective. Here’s something you need to hear. You do not need to say yes to anybody who wants to promote your program. Now, if you're just starting out, you might be thinking, “Why wouldn't I say yes to anybody that wants to promote my program?” Well, after a launch or two, you'll be singing a different tune. Some affiliates—I won't name any names, and this might be a little awkward—but I've come across some affiliates throughout the many years of me dealing with affiliates that are more work than good, meaning they just cause a lot of ruckus, and they're never satisfied, and they're just not happy. And this is very rare, but just like clients and customers and students, we all come across different people like this, people that just don't mesh with how you want to do things. And so I am very, very careful about who we say yes to because I want to make sure that I enjoy the process just as much as they do. And so you can be selective.
I think it's a great idea to have your affiliates fill out a survey before you actually approve them to become an affiliate. And you'll ask them things such as, have you gone through my program, what was your favorite part of my program, have you gotten results? Or you might ask them, do you have an email list, have you ever promoted before? These aren't yes or no. If they say “No, I don't have an email list,” you don't necessarily say, “You can't promote.” They might have a really huge social media following that they can tap into. But ask them questions where you just like to get to know this affiliate to make sure that you would like to work with them.
I do think it's important that they have gone through your program if you’re going to have them become an affiliate. So that leads me to what happened with Digital Course Academy®️. We had a lot of affiliates this time, and the reason why we did is that we accepted affiliates that were alumni of DCA from January 2019. So if you were part of the DCA program in 2019, we welcomed you into our affiliate program.
Now, one mistake I made is that some people hadn't launched yet, so they actually hadn't done the work of DCA and gotten results. And I think they really struggled being an affiliate because, some of them, because they couldn't talk about their own results and experiences. So I'm going to be a little bit more careful next time. So that was a lesson learned.
However, the reason why I'm not super black and white on this is that I had one gal who has an affiliate for DCA where she told her audience, “Look, I've gone through DCA. I'm launching in two months, and when I launch, I'll take you on my journey with me. And so part of my bonus”—because affiliates tend to offer bonus packages—one of her bonuses, she said, was that “You get to watch me launch, I'll share the good, the bad, the ugly, the wins, all of that.” And I thought that was brilliant.
And quite honestly, for all my bonus TRIBE members, I essentially did the same thing with you, right? So when I promoted TRIBE, which is Stu McLaren's program, I had not launched my membership, my program Momentum, yet. And so I said, “Look, I'm in the trenches. I'm working on my membership. It's launching in November 2019. And so if you want to go on the journey with me, I'll share with you the different stages I go through as I create my membership.”
Now, the reason that works so well is that I have a relationship with my audience. They know I'm a doer. They know I'm going to get in there and give my very best effort to create an amazing membership experience. And by the way, we have. I haven't launched it yet at the time of this recording. I’m so over-the-moon excited to launch my membership. But my students knew that I would really take them behind the scenes. So it did well.
So with that, why am I telling you this? I'm a little bit off on a tangent, but I'm telling you this to say that not all affiliates have to have huge results with your program to be a great affiliate. But you do want to kind of understand where their head is about how they might promote it. So just something to keep in mind.
So my point being is that you can be selective, and I think it's a great idea, even if you decide to only take on five affiliates, have them fill out some kind of questionnaire—I said survey earlier; I really meant a questionnaire—so you can learn more about them, and then you can make an educated decision to see if they are right for the program. Makes sense? Okay, good.
Okay, let me get you back on track here, and by you, I mean me. So with your affiliates, we were talking about starting small. And when you have fewer affiliates who feel important and special and you could really take care of them, they're likely going to deliver to the best, best, best of their ability. So I want you to start out with just a small group of affiliates, maybe they're your favorite students or, some of them, your closest friends that you do work with and partnership with, and they're the best type of group to start with. Plus, if you're just starting out in getting your affiliate-marketing systems in place, you won't be able to give all of your affiliates the attention they need if you get too many, because you're trying to launch and you’re new at launching and you’re new at affiliate marketing. So that's why, if you do use affiliates, first, I wouldn't recommend them for the first launch. Second, I would start out really small. I just can't stress this enough.
So the first time I used affiliates was a few years ago, and I think we had about six of them. And they were either friends of mine in the industry or they were some of my best students, but just six. And that was really manageable. We didn’t have an affiliate concierge. I had no idea what I was doing. We kind of were winging it. I sure as heck didn't have an affiliate FAQ. I wish I did, though, because that was painful to kind of piece together all the details.
Now in our first Digital Course Academy®️ launch in January, we had fourteen affiliates. So fourteen affiliates. And this felt really manageable to me because I knew all of the people—that was great—I knew all the people that were promoting, and it was kind of like a beta test. Like, am I willing to go even bigger than this? So this last time, we went a lot bigger. But again, I think I went too big, and we had over 100. But don't let that freak you out. I would not do that again. That’s too many. And I don't think I paid as close attention as I should have in terms of who we are inviting because of the fact that I think it was kind of a tough situation for some; they were so, so brand new. But at the same time, it was fun to get to know people. They were all in it for the right reasons, really big hearts. So I don't regret anybody that was in the group. I just know that I probably could've made it easier for some people by saying, “Hey, don't launch just yet with me, but make sure you get some big results and come back, and you'll be able to easily talk about it with your audience and then you'll see some big wins as an affiliate marketer.”
But, hopefully, if you’re one of the people that helped me launch DCA but maybe didn’t hit the goals that you wanted to, I hope you learned a lot in my group because I was aware there were a lot of newbies, so I kind of used it as a teaching moment as well to just give back. So I hope you felt the love with that.
Okay, so, again, start with a number that you can manage and over deliver. And then once you start really approaching affiliate marketing in a way that you feel like you've got it dialed in, then you can just start to grow, and it gets really fun, and you meet some amazing people, and a lot of people will surprise you. You won't expect this one person to do really, really, really well, because maybe they have a small email list or a small audience, and then they blow your mind with the results they get. So those are some of the most-fun affiliates to work with. They're kind of sneaky. They kind of stay under the radar, and then boom, you look at their sales, and you're like, “Hello. That was amazing.”
And speaking of amazing affiliates, here’s one little bonus tip. You want to show your gratitude and appreciation for your affiliates’ hard work. So if you have a short list of affiliates, maybe give them a call at the end of the launch or even if you want to do it at the beginning and at the end, just thanking them, letting them know that you really appreciate them helping you, making sure they have everything they need. A quick call goes a long way. I couldn't possibly do it with all of my affiliates, but I definitely reached out to some of the affiliates that were really going all in with big promotions, and I knew that they were treating this promotion as their own, and I made sure I reached out to as many people as I could, especially before all the crazy launch madness happened.
Another thing you could do is if you have a small group of affiliates, you could send them a thank-you gift afterwards. Or if you don't do prizes during the affiliate launch, maybe sending a thank-you gift to your top three affiliates. I mean, heck, even a nice thank-you note goes a long way. So gratitude goes a long way here. So just keep that in mind and maybe put it part of your project plan that as you're wrapping things up, you make sure that you reach out to your affiliates as well.
Okay, so, let’s go ahead and wrap this up.
All right. So, as you can see, making your affiliate experience special and organized is going to benefit everyone involved. And honestly, coming up with various ways to love up on your affiliates is really fun. I can't tell you how much my affiliates loved all the helpful PDFs. They raved about them. And also, it was so simple for us to put together, and it takes a ton of pressure off of you and frees you and your team up to focus on the launch when things really get heated up. So again, to make creating that affiliate FAQ Doc really easy for you, I want you to head on over to amyporterfield.com/290 and grab the freebie for this episode that gives you ten sections to include in your next affiliate FAQ Doc. You're going to find it really valuable. It's really simple, but it's exactly what you need to know. It's basically a plug and play, so all you need to do is feed the details of the freebie and insert your information in there for the launch. You are going to want to get your hands on this. Even if you're not ready to use affiliates, go download it now—it's totally free—and then save it for when you're ready. Amyporterfield.com/290.
Also, be sure to create a private Facebook group for your affiliates. When you are ready to do an affiliate launch, I really do think that was a game changer for us.
And as I mentioned in, what was it point, secret, step number three, whatever we're calling these, number three was to assign somebody on your team or hire somebody temporarily to be your affiliate concierge, and call them that because that's very, very fancy. And this position does not need to be full time, but it's really important because it's going to free you up, and also, I think even more importantly, it's going to make your affiliates feel really taken care of.
Now, the fourth tip I gave you was to not skip the post-launch questionnaire. So honestly, this is such an easy way to get feedback and strengthen your relationship with your affiliates.
And then lastly, remember to start small and build from there. A small group of affiliates that are well taken care of is by far better than a huge group of affiliates who don't feel heard and supported during your launch.
Okay, so, there you have it. Are you excited to start planning your affiliate-marketing strategy for your next launch? I hope so. It can be a lot of fun.
Now, I would really, really love to hear from you. What was your biggest takeaway from this episode? How are you going to love up on your affiliates? When you walk away from this episode, what's one thing that you're like, “Ooh, that was good. I'm going to definitely do that when I'm ready to plan an affiliate-marketing strategy for my next launch”? Like, I want to hear from you. So head on over to the Online Marketing Made Easy Facebook group. Did you know we had a Facebook group? Oh, we do. Search “Online Marketing Made Easy Facebook Group,” inside of Facebook, and you will find us. And go over there and post, and just let me know your biggest takeaway from this episode. I will be looking for you, so don't hesitate. I hope you'll join me because it's a really fun group, and you'll never miss an episode.
Okay, let’s talk about next week. Next week is all about how to build your confidence for live videos. Now, I'll be the first to admit that going live hasn't always been a walk in the park for me. You already know that about me. I used to hate, hate, hate doing live videos. I've done some work on myself over the last year, and thank God I do them now because it really has changed the game for me in terms of how I connect with my audience, how I feel communicating my message, and just my reach overall. And I really am on a mission for you to experience that as well.
So hear me out. Over the years, I've come up with some ways to skyrocket my confidence before jumping into a live video for social media or even a webinar. I do a lot of live video, direct-to-camera on webinars now. And like I said, that hasn't always been the case. So I've built up some arsenal to help me with my confidence in these areas, and a lot of it has to do with mindset—I'm going to give you a hint on that—but some of it is actually tactical. So I'm going to share it all next week. Specifically, we're going to hash out all the details around how to engage your audience on live video and how to make you look and feel like a pro in front of the camera so that you can start attracting your ideal audience and making more money using live videos. How does that sound? I can’t wait to share all my tips and tricks with you.
And before I forget, have you subscribe to my podcast? No, are you listening? Like I mean actually hit that subscribe button wherever it is you listen to podcasts. I don't want you to miss anything, and my podcasts are getting better. We've been cooking up some really good things on the back burner that you don't even know about yet. And we have extra bonus episodes coming out, and the only way that you'll hear about some of those bonus episodes is if you subscribe to the podcast and get a notification letting you know a new one just went live. So don't skip this step. Hit subscribe in iTunes or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
All right. I cannot wait to see you again soon, same time, same place. Bye for now.
