Niche Strategies and Affiliate Marketing – How to Get Things Rolling
Listen. So you’re trying to get started with affiliate marketing, or even if you’ve been at it for a while, there’s a pretty good chance you’re struggling with one question. What the heck do I sell? That was definitely my biggest bugaboo as I was beginning my marketing adventure, and it kept me from seeing any profits for a long time It’s safe to say then that I’m down with the disappointment you’re going through. However, I finally decided to listen to the big secret that experienced marketers try to teach you.
Looking for a product to promote is not a very good place to start out. This is what I mean. Let’s say you’ve found a really sweet product to promote. Not a lot of other affiliates are advertising it. The product pays well. And so on. Here’s the problem that you’re not seeing: Who’s going to buy it? Who’s your target audience?
Let me put it this way. It’s a steamy summer day at a hot and dirty building site. Your a vendor and you can offer the guys working there anything you want. Do you offer them a big, piping hot bowl of the best Chili ever made, or an ice cold glass of some terribly mediocre Lemonade?
I hope you said a cold drink.
You see, this is a vivid illustration of the direction your thinking should take you when you’re getting started finding a niche market to break into. The product you choose to sell is much less important than finding yourself a STARVING CROWD of buyers. So when you see a product that looks promising to you, you should ask yourself, “Who’s going to buy this?” The same thinking applies as you’re searching for your keywords. “Somebody. A real, living, breathing human being, just entered this into a search engine. So what does the problem they’re having feel like and what’s it like to BE THEM?
So the next thing you ask yourself at this point should be fairly clear. “How do I know if it’s a starving crowd looking back at me through my computer screen?” Well there are three indicators I try to look for when I try to figure out if I’m onto a hungry audience.
First is what I call Mind Share. I know this sounds like it’s about to get technical, but bear with me because it’s pretty simple. Mind Share is how much somebody thinks about the problem they’re having. Example, which would you think about more: A raging toothache or getting rid of some weeds in your yard? This is a very straight-forward theory, I’m aware, however, beginning with this idea in mind is vital to all your future success. Try to roughly determine what percentage of your target audience’s daily thinking is dedicated to the problem they’d like to solve.
Second, you need to take their emotional temperature. In other words, how strongly do they feel about the problem they’re having? You can see that this is closely related to their Mind Share. The more people think about a problem, the more likely they are to be emotional about it. Just be sure to use your own judgment when you’re figuring this stuff out. I brush my teeth a couple times a day, but it’s not something I’m going to lose any sleep over.
Also,the more emotional your target market is, the more motivated they’ll be to spend money to solve their problem. Check out online discussion boards and forums to get an idea of whether it’s a burning hot issue that occupies a lot of their thought
Third, do they want to talk about their problem? I’ll give you the same advice here and say to search for forums that cater to your markets particular problem. People who are emotional about something ALWAYS want to talk about it. Think of a woman who is having trouble getting pregnant or thinks her husband is cheating as a couple of examples. If you can’t find two or three active forums concerning your target niche, consider that a warning flag
So here’s the deal. If you want to get a leg up on 90 percent of the marketers out there searching for the Golden Ticket, then repeat after me: I will always think in terms of the PEOPLE I want to sell to instead of what I want to sell them. If you follow my advice, it won’t matter a dang what you want to sell, you’ll always have buyers.
Author Bio: Chuck Bishop, of NicheStrategies.net, is a part-time affiliate marketer who has been in the same situation as you may be right now, stuck in an almost three year cycle of trial and error – and frustration – with IM, before finally breaking the pattern of failure using the Niche Strategies and Marketing Techniques illustrated here.