Fitness Industry Solutions

March 1, 2007
Author: Tom Perkins - Business Development Coach and Certified Personal Trainer

Affiliate marketing is a cost effective way to create a sales force network rather than an expensive advertising campaign. An added bonus is that this sales force is motivated to sell your products and/or services because they will share in the revenue generated by sales or sales leads. In short, they have a vested interest in your success.

Affiliate marketing provides several benefits. One obvious fact is that it can lead to more sales, is the benefit of lead generation. Generally, affiliates are able to target and access large groups of prospects, and or high traffic niche sites with a loyal following. Affiliate marketing provides a strong return on advertising dollars. If promoted correctly, you can gain advertising on an affiliate’s network for very little if any money. After all, why wouldn’t they want to feature you prominently on their site, particularly if they are going to make money of your product and/or services?

Finally, affiliate marketing allows you to develop your brand name. To develop a brand name you need mass exposure and unless you have an unlimited marketing budget, that can prove difficult. A large network of affiliates can provide you with the ability to build that brand name at a lower cost.

Identify those candidates most likely to offer your products and/or services.

Ask yourself who would be the most interested in what I have to offer? What can I provide those potential affiliates? Target only those who are a good fit. For example, if you are promoting a nutritional supplement, websites promoting health and wellness would be a potential good fit. Websites promoting automotive or stamp collecting might not be great choices.

Although you may find yourself contacting several hundred prospects, try to personalize your conversations or email messages. Try to mention their website or them by name. Give them some indication that you did do your homework to see if they were in fact a good match for your products and/or services.

Associate directories such as Refer-It (www.refer-it.com) and Associate Programs (www.associateprograms.com) will review and discuss affiliate programs of interest. They have a wide reach when it comes to potential affiliate marketers.

Contact mailing lists, newsgroups and discussion boards and let them know about your affiliate program. Do not place banner ads. People tend to reject that simplistic approach. Instead share information about the program and offer your free materials to them if requested.

Prominently feature your affiliate program with links on your website. Let visitors know what you have to offer and how it will benefit them.

After you have signed up your affiliates, do not become complacent. Industry reports suggest that for some affiliate networks, as many as 45% of the affiliates who sign up do absolutely nothing. Keeping in touch with and motivating your affiliates is extremely important. Therefore, be sure that you set up advertising approaches that encourage their participation, i.e. create an automated email campaign, loyalty programs, incentives, contest, giveaways, bonuses, etc. While it may take some time to build your affiliate marketing program and see results, it can be well worth the effort.

With a degree in Accounting, certified as a personal trainer, and primary function as a business development coach; Tom Perkins works with personal training departments, fitness professionals, management of health clubs, as well as fitness product and sports nutrition companies in the areas of sales, marketing, and promotion; operations and administration, and staffing and human resource management. With 6 startups in 17 years under his belt and over 20 years of working with the fitness industry Tom leads companies to profitability through Fitness Industry Solutions www.fitnessindustrysolutions.com.