One of the most overlooked segments of affiliate marketing is the crossover from the Web to the real world.
Most rely on marketing campaigns conducted on the web, email lists, and websites as their main vehicle for income; this is but a piece of the pie and there is much money left on the table.
Expand Your Affiliate Mindset
Affiliate marketing shouldn’t be seen as an “online only” thing; it’s just the promotion of other people’s products in which you gain a commission – so who said it can only be done online?
There are many ways marketers are making their mark on the real world:
- Speaking engagements
- Tutoring
- Consulting
- Print media of their works
- Local meet ups
Of these, I’d like to focus on the meet up.
I would bet you $1,000 that you could find someone interested in affiliate marketing within five minutes of searching your local Google listings. In fact, you may have readers of your website within the local area that you just didn’t know about!
The affiliate marketing business draws a lot of attention because it gives people tons of freedom and opportunity to make something for themselves – it’s an entrepreneurial dream.
However, not everyone wants to spend 10+ hours a day in front of their computer learning the latest techniques and strategies in promotion.
Many individuals want face-to-fact interaction with other like-minded individual’s entering this industry (networking with one another) but more importantly – they’re seeking guidance by someone who’s been there and done that – and that’s you.
There are local meet ups for just about any and every topic, hobby, cause, and interest.
You can use your knowledge of affiliate marketing and apply it to the real world by providing space for individuals to gain their entry into the industry. Expand your mindset outside of the Web and you will see this to be true.
Hosting Local Meet Ups
Two options:
- Formal
- Informal
It’s your choice.
Realistically, going the informal route may be the best option because you’re creating a stage where individuals are relaxed and open to the idea of affiliate marketer rather than cramming your message down their through some rigid classroom-like environment.
There are plenty of areas to set up a meet up:
- Workshops in your home
- Meet ups at a community center
- Coffee shop conversations
- Using a rented office or conference area
In essence, you’re developing an affiliate conference of your own but on a much smaller scale. You’re developing a local group and community around affiliate marketing where everyone can get together, discuss the industry, share new ideas, strategies, news, and aid each other with their business development (very much like a mastermind group).
The Easy Solution
The easiest way to get setup is either:
- Clear a space in your house to hold the meet up
- Use a community center (that has Internet access)
Like a party, you should include drinks, food, and other items that set the tone of the meet up. You can keep it informal in terms of interaction and setup but you should stay focused and formal when discussing the topics (when it comes time).
A group of ten individuals interested in learning about affiliate marketing works well if you’re holding it within your home. You can work with your living room as long as it’s cleared out and provides ample seating for every person and their computers.
A few items you may need include:
- Projector or large screen TV (to hook up to your computer)
- Print outs and worksheets (for people to take home)
- Your resource list (more on this later)
Setup the atmosphere like a classroom. Introduce everyone when they show, break the ice, and get things down to business.
Note: Get the word out about your meet up by posting to sites like Craigslist, Meetup.com, or through social sites like Facebook or Twitter. Contact each individual through email and over the phone to get a good idea of their current experience with affiliate marketing. Include them on the time and place when you have everything prepared for the meet up.
Income Generation through Meet Ups
Here’s the juicy part.
The local meet up becomes a classroom where you are teacher.
Your students will generally be newcomer’s to the industry but there’s no need to limit to just these individuals – a solid gathering of people from all levels of affiliate marketing will provide the best environment for everyone.
With proper documentation, “classroom” activities, and topics on hand, you can begin generating income through your affiliate marketing meet up through a variety of means:
- Website Setup – Help each individual setup their affiliate marketing website and have them sign up to the domain, web hosting, and purchase a website theme through your affiliate links. Guide them through the complete, step-by-step process to launching a site. A handful of people all going through your link doing this activity quickly shoots your income up by $1,000 in a single afternoon.
- Content Creation – Do a session where you talk about affiliate marketing through content; share how to develop ideas, create, and schedule content for traffic and income generation. Set a time for everyone to come up with a list of ideas and to work on at least one piece of content. Share your resources for content creation such as writing tools, keyword research software, or affiliated content creation ebooks.
- Video and Multimedia – Consider doing a meet up related to multimedia (especially video) which will get people hands on with equipment such as video cameras and podcasting equipment. You could provide affiliate links to ecommerce shops for them to order the items after they’ve tested them during the meet up or you could even buy them wholesale and sell them on the spot!
- Resources and Guides – Don’t let the individuals go away empty-handed. Provide worksheets, guides, and consider selling your premium products. Worksheets work well because it can become the “homework” for the individual and this gives them a reason to come back next time and talk about their success and ask for feedback. The guides are great for building trust and authority on your topic (much like building an email list through a freebie). Selling premium products (at some point) can be a viable venture especially if you provide physical copies; they can use these items to take notes and work on their projects outside of the meet ups (they may also share your work with others and bring them into the fold).
In all, you could realistically do this once a week if there are enough people within your community itching to learn about affiliate marketing. You could even divide the meet ups into segmented groups once each group reaches a new level of success.
Just imagine: $4,000 extra, each month, by doing a weekend meet up about affiliate marketing.
Ten or twenty people showing up for the weekend, which shouldn’t be too hard especially if you’re in a dense area, can quickly become a hot-ticket item for your affiliate marketing business. It’s worth a shot.
