This is something I’ve been playing around with and my results have been pretty good as well.
A few months ago a friend was launching a great product with lots of cash prizes for the best affiliates. He knew there would be tons of affiliate competition, with each affiliate trying to outdo the others with bigger and better bonuses.
How to compete?
I decided not to.
Instead, I thought about what each affiliate’s bonus pages would look like: very polished, elegant, professional, with lots of graphics, videos, etc.
Chances are, they’re all starting to look a lot alike, right?
So I thought… what if I do something different?
What if my page looked like something you might receive in the mail? Black and white sales letter, using Courier typewriter font, very old looking…
What if, instead of a highly polished professional photo of myself, I use one of me just waking up? Or one where I just finished working out or doing some yard work?
In other words, he saw me as the guy next door and not a slick salesman.
Taking this thinking to the next level, I decided that I didn’t want to spend time or money creating a bond. Everyone else was doing that, so why should I?
Instead, I would give a live class. Homework would be to go over the program before class. Then in class we were going to implement, step by step, what was in the program. And he would record everything, so people could follow him.
In case you’re wondering, it worked beautifully. My sales were a very decent 5 figure number, and my commissions were half that plus bonuses.
And one more thing: I also cheated. My virtual assistant led the class for me. She learned some great new skills, and I spent less than 2 hours on the entire project.
The bottom line: When you have a lot of competition, it’s time to stop competing directly and find another way.
If they’re using tons of slick graphics and video, go for an ’80s black and white typewriter look.
If they’re offering bonus packs filled with 5, 10, or 20 products, you don’t offer products (I offered hand holding training, which IMO is worth much more anyway).
You get the idea.
You know what would work even better than that?
POST the royal letter. Yeah. Talk about old school. If you collect the real addresses of your BUYERS, you might consider doing it on expensive items.
I know vendors who do this. They are few and far between, and they are KILLING it. They only send emails to buyers, which greatly improves their conversions. They use a service to send the emails for them. And they make more on one of these mailings than the most successful salespeople make in 6 months.
Which brings me to my second idea… if you don’t already have your buyers’ mailing addresses, start collecting them now.
When you have a sizable portion of them (at least 200, preferably 500) approach a seller with a product your list would love. Make sure there is a lot of profit on that product. Take the sales letter, fit it into a black and white envelope (cheap to produce) and send it to your buyers.
Look what happens. Adjust, rinse and repeat.
You can easily DOUBLE your income using this method.
Know why? Again, because it is the opposite. Is different. Almost no one is doing it.
Your client receives perhaps half a dozen pieces of mail in a day. Two are tickets. Two are sales brochures from local businesses. One is a catalog.
And then there’s that mysterious white envelope. Yes, it will open. Yes, it will be read.
Wow! They are surprised. Someone you know from ONLINE is sending you ROYAL MAIL.
They don’t throw it away. Instead, they open their browser, type the URL, and ASK FOR THE PROGRAM.
Sure, not everyone does, but… enough. Trust me, I’ve seen this work time and time again. That’s why I’m about to start sending sales letters through the snail mail (Shhh, don’t tell anyone!)