Endorsing products as an affiliate marketer

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I've been having the same dilemma myself lately. I look at it like this:

TV adverts, see all the 'fake testimonials' on there. All the 'fake reviews'.

"Oh, this exercise bike has changed my life... blah"

"Then I tried XXX Loans, and I never looked back"

Think of your marketing as 'creative advertizing'. I don't think there's anything wrong with it as long as you don't go over the top, as in faking your earnings, faking any weight loss, claiming to have done extraordinary things, etc. Also I'm agains claiming you're something that you totally are not - a doctor, a millionaire, a footballer, etc.

On the other hand, if you're looking to build a list and be everyones friend then this is a no no.
 
Honestly, I try really hard only to promote products that I actually use or could see myself using. I think it comes from my days back when I was in sales... I was a top salesperson, but I only sold products that I believed in and would actually keep my customer happy.

Sure I've probably left money on the table, but at the end of the day I feel pretty good about getting the right product to the right customer (or, the right lead to the right company, etc).

Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of fraudulent individuals out there schlepping ebooks and guru systems. The two "gurus" that I listen to and seek out for advice are James Martell and Jeremy Palmer, because I've met them both, worked with them both, and know they ain't bullshitting. Hell, I even listen to Jon sometimes. ;)
 
That videos interesting. Kind of backs my initial thoughts...

My approach is always to make it about THEM, not ME.

What the product will do for THEM.

I think its very amateur to pose as another consumer, and its not looking from a business standpoint.

I want to act like the shelves in a supermarket, or the windows in a shop, or the typical sales person...

NOT as a friend recommending it.

Good thread.
 
I agree. Jeremy Palmer is one of the few that are legit but he still trying to cash in on the e-book craze and moentizing just about everything he mentions but he is good.



DaveEMG said:
Honestly, I try really hard only to promote products that I actually use or could see myself using. I think it comes from my days back when I was in sales... I was a top salesperson, but I only sold products that I believed in and would actually keep my customer happy.

Sure I've probably left money on the table, but at the end of the day I feel pretty good about getting the right product to the right customer (or, the right lead to the right company, etc).

Unfortunately, I think there are a lot of fraudulent individuals out there schlepping ebooks and guru systems. The two "gurus" that I listen to and seek out for advice are James Martell and Jeremy Palmer, because I've met them both, worked with them both, and know they ain't bullshitting. Hell, I even listen to Jon sometimes. ;)
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I Think it all comes down to money. If this campaign of yours is going to make you mad scrilla then yes, do it. It doesn't matter what the ho bank teller thinks when you are cashing in your $100,000 cheque. She works at a bank.

If you feel uncomfortable promoting a product, either just think of the money, or don't do it.
 
I think most people have probably been conned when buying something at sometime in their lives. I know I have. It's shit. So I try not to con or deliberately mislead anyone.
 
What made me ask this was the shoemoney post. Someone asked if he used a product he endorsed.

I don't have a problem marketing almost anything, but I do have a problem with acting like I have used it or love it when it's something that I don't use...if the main marketing point is my reputation.

In shoemoney's case, he is using his reputation to sell something. If that something isn't really an item he uses...that's conning people. If he were to sell it via a regular marketing angle (ie. "thousands of satisfied users"), he wouldn't be putting his own personal stamp on it, so not using it isn't lying (to me).
 
ioksane said:
That videos interesting. Kind of backs my initial thoughts...

My approach is always to make it about THEM, not ME.

What the product will do for THEM.

I think its very amateur to pose as another consumer, and its not looking from a business standpoint.

I want to act like the shelves in a supermarket, or the windows in a shop, or the typical sales person...

NOT as a friend recommending it.

Good thread.
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I agree. Unless it's something that I have used, there are a million other ways to market. The shelves-window-sales person is a good analogy.
 
I don't want this to turn into an pro/anti Shoemoney post but from his posts it would seem he is using that tool, keycompete. He used it as an example showing there is still money in ringtones a few months back. I'm not sure how this rumor of him not using the tool got started. He did sneak in the affiliate link without mentioning it in a recent post but that's all.
 
See, now I don't think putting an affiliate link in a natural post is bad. If you really do like a product and are talking about it in a post then it would be crazy not to put your link in there instead of a generic link to the site. I don't see why every last thing has to be PC disclosure, as long as you're being honest when it's a personal recommendation.
 
dekalog6 said:
I don't want this to turn into an pro/anti Shoemoney post but from his posts it would seem he is using that tool, keycompete. He used it as an example showing there is still money in ringtones a few months back. I'm not sure how this rumor of him not using the tool got started. He did sneak in the affiliate link without mentioning it in a recent post but that's all.
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I'm the one that asked about that after it was mentioned by someone else. I think I took the whole thing out of context and may have been better off just leaving it alone. Especially since someone came in after me and asked if I always use the products I sell as an affiliate.

However, when I do promote products as an affiliate, I pick products that I think would be fun for me to promote, and those are always ones that I think I would actually use if I needed to. So I never feel awful about it.

My real beef with that post was the explosion of paid blog posts out there lately where all the bloggers are essentially whoring themselves out for blogging review paychecks and whatever else. To me, that compromises their integrity. But like I said then, it's just my opinion.
 
Some people freak out over affiliate links and even cloaked ones. People just need to take it easy.

If you dont want to click on it: hover over it to see if it is affiliate or cloaked, if it is and you dont want to click on it, go to google and type in the name of the product. Its not hard
 
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