5 ms·

>But these days I am reluctant to dive into anything unless I know there is a repeatable sales process. Exactly. If you're incapable of selling the product, it

>But these days I am reluctant to dive into anything unless I know there is a repeatable sales process. Exactly. If you're incapable of selling the product, it doesn't matter how much demand you think there is; you're still going to end up wasting your time. Myself and other people in my shared office have started taking this up a level: can you find an affiliate program that involves a not-too-different product? If so, can you sell it? The aim isn't to make money from the affiliate program directly, breaking even or running a small loss is fine; the aim is to find out whether it looks like there's a business in there and you yourself are capable of marketing it and you can make sales. Superb comment BTW, thanks so much for sharing a real-world example!

marktangotango 10y ago
I feel like you're hinting at something I felt myself after failing to find a market for a service I spent a lot of time on. That is; pivoting to selling and marketing products others have created, and away from product creation myself. If in the end it all comes down to marketing and sales, why waste time on the creation part? I found this realization to be profoundly depressing. I'm curious if others have thought this as well?
- mootothemax 10y ago
  >That is; pivoting to selling and marketing products others have created, and away from product creation myself. One major flaw of affiliate marketing is that, by and large, it's hard to maintain a marketing relationship with someone else's customer. That is, once you've made the sale, that's it, and you never hear directly from the customer again. Sure, depending on what you're promoting and how, there may be angles - look at what TheWirecutter.com has achieved! - and yet the fundamental flaw remains. (The other angle is that you're leaving money on the table by promoting other peoples' products; why not investigate using your sales and marketing talents to take on the other side of the business as well?)
- shostack 10y ago
  Affiliate marketing is very different from owning and marketing your own product. For starters, you have next to no control unless you are a major source of revenue for the merchant. This is a huge risk factor. Just ask everyone who got slaughtered on eBay's program when they decided they wouldn't pay a flat $25 CPA for new sign ups who purchased. Businesses lost major revenue overnight. You also have lower margins and often can't use similar marketing tactics because in many programs you need to land the last click to get credit. That often rules out display, video, mobile in many cases (if the final sale happens on desktop you won't get credit), etc. Lastly, you are competing with every other affiliate. So instead of having an affiliate program that serves as a force multiplier for your business, you are competing for table scraps, often for only 10-15% of gross revenue as commission on many programs. So all of that said, affiliate programs can be great to vet a product space. You might get some small sense of market sizing, pricing, positioning, etc all from reviewing competitor program's terms and details.

marktangotango 10y ago

I feel like you're hinting at something I felt myself after failing to find a market for a service I spent a lot of time on. That is; pivoting to selling and marketing products others have created, and away from product creation myself. If in the end it all comes down to marketing and sales, why waste time on the creation part? I found this realization to be profoundly depressing. I'm curious if others have thought this as well?

mootothemax 10y ago
>That is; pivoting to selling and marketing products others have created, and away from product creation myself. One major flaw of affiliate marketing is that, by and large, it's hard to maintain a marketing relationship with someone else's customer. That is, once you've made the sale, that's it, and you never hear directly from the customer again. Sure, depending on what you're promoting and how, there may be angles - look at what TheWirecutter.com has achieved! - and yet the fundamental flaw remains. (The other angle is that you're leaving money on the table by promoting other peoples' products; why not investigate using your sales and marketing talents to take on the other side of the business as well?)
shostack 10y ago
Affiliate marketing is very different from owning and marketing your own product. For starters, you have next to no control unless you are a major source of revenue for the merchant. This is a huge risk factor. Just ask everyone who got slaughtered on eBay's program when they decided they wouldn't pay a flat $25 CPA for new sign ups who purchased. Businesses lost major revenue overnight. You also have lower margins and often can't use similar marketing tactics because in many programs you need to land the last click to get credit. That often rules out display, video, mobile in many cases (if the final sale happens on desktop you won't get credit), etc. Lastly, you are competing with every other affiliate. So instead of having an affiliate program that serves as a force multiplier for your business, you are competing for table scraps, often for only 10-15% of gross revenue as commission on many programs. So all of that said, affiliate programs can be great to vet a product space. You might get some small sense of market sizing, pricing, positioning, etc all from reviewing competitor program's terms and details.