So the latest ‘oldie but goodie’ I’m reading is Dan Kennedy’s 63 “Killer” Marketing Strategies (see free download link below). Somehow I found it in my mile high ebook pile.

Although the focus is on direct mail, surely there are some nuggets for us affs to grab hold of?

Some notes:

Every element of an ad, printed piece, or strategy should advance the sales process. If something does not move the prospect closer to purchasing, what is its purpose?

I wonder if that means ‘dump the cursor trail’ or ‘dump the strobing, flashing banners littered all over your site’. Ya think? So I like my aff sites nice, tight, and clean. I don’t do well with clutter, both in real life and online. My sites do reflect that. But do I have wording placed in spots that really aren’t necessary? Do I have graphics that tend to take away from the product focus? Things to look at.

Dan also mentions the importance of a USP (we looked at that a few blog entries ago). He has an interview listed with Tom Monaghan and Domino’s Pizza and the USP he used: “Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less — guaranteed!”

Then there’s a quote from Eugene Schwartz from the book: Breakthrough Advertising:

‘The power, the force, the overwhelming urge to own that makes advertising work comes from the market itself, and not from the (advertising) copy. Copy cannot create desire for a product. It can only take the hopes, dreams, fears and desires that already exist in the hearts of millions of people and focus those already existing desires onto a particular product.

Dan comments on that:

This is why success comes from identifying a buying motive and structuring a product-service-offer to fit it not from creating a product-service-offer and then goin in search of a buying motive for it.

No amount of advertising can sell a product no one wants.

Let’s take a look at that. To apply this to aff marketing, what is one of the biggest recommendations? Find demand - then fill it. And that is what Dan’s saying here. This is the hard part (for me). I can find a great niche, lots of demand, little competition - yet no product to promote, or a merchant I’m willing to work with. I guess that’s why there’s little competition!

The ad copy needs to focus on emotions - not logic.

Another blurb:

What about “even dollars” versus $19.95 or $19.99? Overall, I find that a price ending in .95 works better than .99; often .89 out-performs .95, and the odd numbers almost always out-perform even dollars.

I know as affiliates we can’t fiddle with the pricing. But we can sure try applying this info to other things we do have control over, such as reseller products, our own product offers, etc. Good bit to note.

This was also interesting:

Direct Mail Best Months - Excluding Christmas Holiday Season

Best Months:

February - May
September

OK Months:

January
August
October

Worst Months:

June
July

Remembering that this excludes the holiday shopping season, how does this relate to your online marketing efforts? I’m surprised at how the two correspond (from what my current experience has been).

I’m not even half done the ebook yet, but found plenty of info to pull and apply to online marketing. If you’d like to read the ebook yourself, I’ve uploaded it here for you to grab:

63 Killer Strategies - Dan Kennedy