Video Marketing – Anatomy Of A Successful Affiliate Campaign
130So its been a while since my last post, due to a variety of reasons which I won’t go into in great detail, but basically the upshot is I have managed to lose a couple of months and fail in my commitment to update here regularly!! But nevertheless I am now back and more determined than ever, so stay tuned for some great content that I have coming your way…
Today I want to talk about the power of video marketing and selling affiliate products through popular video sharing sites such as YouTube (being the main one), Metacafe, Break, Daily Motion etc.
Not a new concept I know, but a very powerful one that is often overlooked or misunderestimated.
Perhaps the best example I have ever seen of an affiliate promo is the “Guitar” video on YouTube. This already popular video was also picked up by E4 show Rude Tube, presented by Alex Zane, and became one of its top featured videos (incidentally no doubt driving further traffic to it!). You can see the video itself below
So why is this fairly simple video such a good example of affiliate marketing, and how is it being used as such?
Well the reason is two-fold: to date this video has had no less than 76,747,771 views!!!! (yes thats almost 77M views – some traffic!!) and secondly in the description box it has a link and a simple statement “I learned to play guitar with GuitarMasterPro.net. Practice, Practice, Practice and get a copy of Guitar Master Pro, that’s how I did it! Good Luck!”
Unsurprisingly the link accompanying the statement goes to the Guitar Master Pro product (or as now, the updated Guitar Superstars program) which is a product costing a basic $69 with a 60% affiliate commission ($41.40) before any up/downsells.
Given what they have seen in the video, do you think that some of the viewers would be interested in such a product which could teach them to play like that?? Well of course they would….. so you can see the power of this campaign.
The numbers are absolutely mind boggling, just think that if it has a 1% conversion rate from the video, then thats 767,478 visitors clicking the affiliate link. Assuming the conversion rate of the page is only a low 1% then thats 7,675 people who purchase the product which generates a commission of $317,745!!
Not a bad return for posting one video I think!! Thats also assuming that the poster is not the product vendor (as with no affiliates to pay he would generate an additional $211,830 giving a total of $529,575), ignoring any up/downsells (available at $197 and $47) and of course assuming very low conversion rates of only 1% from both YouTube visitors and sales page.
In all reality this was probably easily a $Million Dollar campaign for that marketer!!
So I think you can see the power of video marketing – its certainly something I will be looking to harness in the coming months, and I will chart my progress further on this blog.
So what are the key elements you need for a successful campaign?
- Interesting appealing content
- Topical content – latest trends, interests, fashions
- A quality, useful product to provide or promote
- Swift and varied distribution network (speed is often the key to keep ahead of the game)
Obviously you will need to research your chosen niche(s) to ascertain whether they are worthwhile entering and if they have active customers who will spend.
Also you will need to consider whether you want to record your video yourself (starring you or your friends!) or whether you want to make a video from other material, such as a compilation of “best of…” (respecting copyrights of course) – either can be successful for you and I will be experimenting with both.
Finally you need to distribute your content….A handy resource that I found for rating video sharing sites and their features and functionality can be found here at Top Ten reviews, this should give you an idea of where you can post your content as a starting point…
Hope this helps give you an idea or opens up a new avenue for your business, let me know your thoughts or any successes in the comments below.
Until next time,
Tom
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Gwen Tanner
This is an excellent example of how video can help grab the attention of prospective buyers. Not only for affiliate products, but also for your own! It's a great way to think outside of the box and stand out.
Thanks for the post, and hope you're having fun with the 100 Comment Challenge!
Gwen
Tomharvey
Gwen, thanks for your visit and nice to meet you in the challenge. Indeed video is a massively powerful tool for both affiliate and your own promotions and its one that not everyone embraces and tries, for a variety of reasons, but hopefully just seeing the possibilities will get people excited like I am. Speak soon, Tom
John Edler
Great post,
When we play word association, it's easy for sequence to go 'search engine' .. 'Google'
It's easy to forget that Youtube gets nearly as many searches as Google, and maybe not by the same search criteria and that Ebay gets more searches !!
Love Google, but by polygamous LOL
John Edler
Author of 'Sticky Memory' http://johnedler.com/blog/sticky-memory-have-i-co…
Pete Carr
Hi Tom,
WOW 77million views. It just goes to show the power of video. If your figures are anywhere near the real ones (low i suspect) then you would only need to do 1 per year to make a very nice income.
Pete
Tomharvey
Pete – the mind boggles doesn't it!! One piece of work and you are set for the year…. probably didn't take too long either. Whilst may be an extreme example, as surely we cant all hope every video goes viral like this, you only need to tap into a proportion of that to do very well. Certainly a method I will be pushing forwards with. All the best, Tom
Abizer
Hi Tom
The video was very good .. I first heard the whole video – think it was 5 minutes long – and then progressed reading the rest of the post
You're spot-on about video marketing and these days no marketing seems to be complete without the video marketing strategy booster dose!
And the guitar example was absolutely good which exactly shows the power of video marketing …
Nice to meet you here … all the best for the 100 blog comment challenge
Cheers!
Abizer
Tomharvey
Abizer
Thanks for stopping by, im just on the last round of my commenting (albeit slightly late!) so will no doubt speak further soon.
Video is a great strategy to add, even if its just another complement to our existing offering, as its another way of connecting with people and also a way of teaching and developing visual people. All the best
Tom
Abizer
Thanks buddy for sharing the URL of top 10 video websites …
Cheers!
Abizer
Tomharvey
No problem, glad you also found it useful!
Brandon Connell
That's an excellent example of viral video marketing. People don't understand the power of such a thing, and most tend to simply ignore or neglect it.
Tomharvey
Brandon, exactly – viral marketing is so powerful! Seems to be a degree of good luck/fortune involved but as always you have to be in it to win it and by that I mean actually put content out there..
Dawn Kay
Hi Tom
I have to admit video marketing is on my to do list as I've been putting it off cause its another thing I need to learn – how to use Camtasia.
I recognize and have listened to that guitar track on You Tube as my husband has played it many times.
Good luck with the challenge and it was nice to meet you
Regards
Dawn Kay
Rick Byrd
Hey Tom,
Thanks for sharing this great example of good video marketing.
I still have not really got into using video but this video just goes to show me that videos do not have to be professionally created to get the message across and to be able to make money using video.
Thanks for sharing!
- Rick
Tomharvey
Rick
As with everything in IM it would seem, the key is actually taking action, as something that isn't perfect which has been distributed will do better than that work in progress still on your camera/hard drive. Quite often you find that the semi-professional, or novelty, videos work better as they seem less scripted, flashy and salesy. All the best
Tom
Ed The Ed Files
Hey Tom,
Fantastic video and as you point out a new approach, however it begs a question the guys that talented he should be making a living playing the guitar!
He was absolutely amazing, but I look at affiliate marketing as lucrative but I think to do it as a full time venture you have to be well seasoned, to know what works and what doesn`t!
Cheers Tom….Ed.
Tomharvey
Ed. Always good to learn new approaches to test and integrate into our efforts. Going full time is a difficult one as I do agree that you need to be seasoned (not to mention generating reasonable income to cover bills etc), however the best way of getting the experience and learning is by devoting the time to it which you can only do 100% if you're full time – a real catch-22!! Will get there in the end…. All the best, Tom
Rob Corrigan
Hey Tom,
great post I really did not see the full potential of video marketing until I saw your post, it has realy given me something to think about.
Cheers
Rob
Tomharvey
Rob, glad its motivated you and got you thinking – certainly served its purpose in that respect!! All the best, Tom
Brian Alcock
Hi Tom,
Brilliant video, loved every minute of it.
Thanks for sharing this excellent example of video marketing at its' best. It really does get the mind working overtime on the possibilities of using video.
Also enjoyed visiting your blog by way of the challenge and will be back soon.
Regards,
Brian
Tomharvey
Brian, indeed video and cases like this get the mind racing and the creative juices flowing as you can really make it big time off one well thought out creative idea!! Worst case its another useful facet to our business so win-win either way. All the best in your endeavours, Tom
eof737
Great points… I see video as the huge direction we are all going in as more people wish to cut the information delivery time in half. That guitar story is amazing… You do have a point that video marketing is growing as a field. I believe we will see more innovation there too. Thank you!
Stopped by on my 11th hour visit for the 100 comment challenge.
Best,
Elizabeth
Tomharvey
Elizabeth – thanks for your visit – still doing mine so guess that makes them the 12th hour visits!! I still get excited every time I think about that particular example and the potential of video – never fails to inspire me – just need to ramp up my action alongside everything else (including the blog). Speak soon,
Tom
Justin
Hi Tom,
This is an idea whose time has come of age. Something we should all learn to apply and take advantage of. Wow. 77M. that is awesome. I would settle for a tenth of that right now
.
Nice to meet you. need to move along as the night is short and the list is still long.
Justin
Tomharvey
Justin
Thanks for stopping by, I'm doing my rounds too so will see you soon!! Indeed the numbers are huge (also check out my recent post on Twitter too) as goes to show what the markets are like and we just need a small slice!! All the best,
Tom
Thu Nguyen
Hi Tom,
Thanks for the top ten resource page. I haven't yet ventured into video marketing because I'm still working on blogging. Although you can only focus on so much, I'd like to work on things one at a time. Thus, I do overload myself with to-do but it's all part of the fun.
Thanks so much for the share! See you on the 100th comment.
Tomharvey
Thu
No problem, stay tuned as got plenty more resources to share!! Don't blame you for focusing on one thing at a time as otherwise its easy to get waylaid and do nothing, look forward to charting your progress. Regards
Tom
Andreas Spyrou
Hi Tom,
WOW! This video has a LOT of views even with a bad title!
When you search for “guitar” on YouTube, the video comes up in the first page. It gets hundreds of unique views every single day but these visitors are not targeted enough. Some people might want to buy a guitar; some others want to learn to play a classic guitar and some others an electric guitar etc.
Even though I can see that he sends visitors to a squeeze page which this is great!
Video marketing is excellent way to build a list and most of the times for 100% FREE! Making at LEAST $300,000 with almost no investment if EXCELLENT! I can’t imagine of how much money he can make in the future from his list.
Personally I have 2 videos on YouTube that have nearly 1 Million views EACH! YouTube (and other websites where the video is shared) sent me more than 50.000 unique visitors (and STILL sending me lots of targeted traffic). This FREE traffic source made me $10,000!
Take care,
Andreas
Tomharvey
Andreas
Thanks for your visit and your insightful comments. Agree that the traffic isn't laser targeted but then again at that level and because of the intrigue I think the creator has done very well for himself!! Indeed his list must be a massive asset now, and as long as he provides value he will be set for a long time to come.
Congratulations on your videos – thats some numbers – must check those out. Good to see an example of someone making it work for them and the $10k is a great result from free traffic!! Speak soon
Tom
Tomharvey
John
GREAT point – a lot of people are unaware that YouTube and Ebay are as searched as Google and therefore they are great tools to use and markets to be in and to research and dominate. Thing about them is they can be morte targeted as Ebay traffic in the main tends to be more buyer traffic, so exactly what you want your product to be in front of!! All the best
Tom
Tomharvey
Wasnt your husband in the video was it!? lol. I'm no Camtasia expert but have found that its relatively easy to get up and running with it and to learn as you go. Look forward to seeing your efforts…. Tom
Deb
That was a great post, very convincing in the effectiveness of video marketing.
Dave Whittle
Hi Tom ,
Great post – and a reminder that I need to get out of my comfort zone and create some videos.
Recently got Camtasia but I can see it is another learning curve! Sigh!
I see you have well over your 100 comments – interesting isn't it?
Regards,
Dave
Tomharvey
Dave. Camtasia is a great program – I'm relatively new to it myself but it seems straight forward so you should be up and running in no time at all! I'm not sure if teh responses add to the comment numbers but either way its great stuff and I've met a load of great people along teh way so glad I joined. All the best
Tom
Eamon OKeeffe
Hi Tom
Video marketing like you have demonstrated here in your post is very powerful and effective. I dont know why I havnt followed up on it in the past even though I have been aware of it for ages. I suppose it is some sort of fear of technology. Although with you tube it really is dead easy.
Thanks for the tips and I hope you enjoyed the challenge.
Good luck
Eamon
Tomharvey
Eamon
Thanks for your visit and comments – I agree with what you say – I've procrastinated with video to date for one reason or another but it really is easy and the key is to get going and build confidence as your experience grows. Good luck with it!!
Tom
oscar costumes
Hi Tom,
This was a wonderful post on video. It good to read a post that teaches and suggest the right thing to do as well. Video can be very effective tool online marketing. It is more interesting and compelling. Thanks for putting together this post as I had not seriously considered video as part of my marketing strategy. I believe this is the kind of technique that bloggres must consider.
Paul Hooper
Hi Tom, I think you have highlighted the potential of video marketing really well here, and the guitar video you have shown is an excellent example of what i can achieve.
I would love to know how much the person who has the link in the description box earns in affiliate commissions just from that video. It would not surprise me if he is making 5 figures a month from that video alone.
But that is what can happen if you get a video to go viral like that, you will see an amazing amount of traffic to where ever your link points too.
Video really excites me, and is something I want to get into a lot more in 2011 as i think it can take a business to a whole new level.
Thanks Tom,
Paul
Tomharvey
Paul
Thanks for stopping by and your comments. Indeed it would be enlightening to see how much has actually been made from that video. Traffic is fairly untargeted so I reckon the low conversion rates that I have used are probably fairly decent estimations. I think its fairly extreme as it just so happens that it got featured on Rude Tube and added momentum. Im excited by video too and have been focusing my efforts more on You Tube and leaning video marketing so watch this space for further updates.
Tom
ryandeiss
Affiliate marketing is one of the simplest and most effective business opportunities on the web today and you have put some great information on here. Thanks!
Tomharvey
Thanks Ryan – great to have you over here and thanks for the kind words. Nolt been as active on my blog as I would like but plenty to share so hope to see you here again. Tom