I need the help of some of the top minds at STM for creating an offer. (8)
I need the help of some of the top minds at STM for creating an offer.
Heynow!
In advance I want to apologise if this is not the correct forum to post to but after searching a bit I could not find much that matched this so had to guess which forum it was most appropriate for.
This January me and two friends opened an ecigarette shop in the UK. We have done some local flyer marketing which has worked nicely and is bringing in a steady stream of customers after only a month or two. Today we were discussing how we can market online and grow the website sales side of the business as the local community seems to be aware of our physical shop now.
The issue with online marketing via the traditional routes an SME would such as PPC, is that a lot of places you would want to advertise do not allow ecigarette related adverts as they have classified as tobacco products. (Wrongly so, but who are we to argue with what rules the giants set up)
So I suddenly had the idea of AM being the answer. I had to explain to the others what AM was and although I was not very knowledgeable about it, I was part of the best AM forum online and that maybe I could ask for help. They all seemed excited.
I suggested that we create an offer, let experienced STM affiliate marketers do their thing and see what results can come in. And here we are ......
..... So. What is my next move?
I wanted to try and make the best offer that benefits AM's. Is this something that an AM network can assist on, or am I doing the correct thing by trying to work directly with you guys who know exactly what you want to see?
In terms of an offer, we would be happy to put any products packaged together to make sales. Regardless of if it is a small entry level device, a large more advanced device, or even the ecigarette liquids themselves. The aim here is to get an offer, or a set of offers that AM's are able to convert so that they make their money, and we get a new customer via our site.
We would be happy to make zero profit on this offer(s). As long as we can buy the product in, cover the postage and packing costs and make sure that the AM gets a payout that makes running our offers profitable, we do not mind breaking even.
Is there anything I should be watching out for?
What is the best next steps to take?
Am I being stupid by thinking this can work?
I plan to be as transparent as I can with everyone here, so if you think this can work and have questions I will try to answer them as openly as I can. In terms of pricing of products, I will also be completely honest and open about them if it helps putting prices to offers.
Thanks everyone in advance 
It seems that either this was the wrong forum heading to make this thread in, or what I am asking is ridiculous 
Is anyone able to at least point me in the correct direction or where I might have more luck with this sort of thing?
No one is going to tell you anything when it comes to making your own offer. It's the next level where most don't want anyone to enter.
Only way to do it, is to put yourself in the shoes of the customer (the people as an affiliate marketer you convert) and approach it from that angle; then think how you can squeeze the maximum out of it from the other side.
Hey mate,
Honestly I think you are going about it the wrong way. You are trying to start a brick and mortar business and at the same time make it into an affiliate friendly business, they are completely different business models.
You are also asking experienced affiliates to test, run traffic and help build out an offer that is not proven.
I would do one of three things.
1. Make an e-cig company that is built to be run through affiliates. Start by looking at what competitors are doing (ask some affiliate managers, or search for e-cigs on offervault.com), what pricing they offer, and aim match the CPAs they give to affiliates.
2. Focus on your brick and mortar business and running campaigns internally. Once that is stable then move to one of the other points.
3. Partner up with an e-cig affiliate who is interested in building out their own product too.
Thanks both for your reply.
Now that it has been explained a bit, I think I understand why this is harder to do than I thought.
My initial logic was that instead of someone being told what offer they can run, I could offer any product/pricing that the AM thought would work for them as long as I broke even. It seems this was a naive thought as although there are limited offers available, the AM is almost guaranteed that they convert at some level and so are taking less risk while just trying to match up the angles, traffic sources, creatives etc.
Back to the drawing board I go 
The best way to start is to build out your own product in a vertical that you are already VERY successful in. That way you know the products, the market and the metrics. You can start testing your own and measure it against others. Once you have it honed in you can get networks and affiliates.
Just a few thoughts.
1. Honestly, affiliates will run pretty much anything, as long as the profit margins for them are high enough
2. In order for you to craft an offer that is compelling to affiliates without you going bust, however, you need have a solid understanding of your own unit economics first
3. The fact that you are willing to take 0 margin on the first sale probably will not make the economics attractive enough for affiliates. Most advertisers / offer owners actually make a very large unit loss on their affiliate (or indeed) any marketing or advertising activities. Uber loses money on the $25 off first ride promotions, free mobile cleaning apps lose money when they pay affiliates for the initial install. The model is built LTV, that is repeat purchase after the initial transaction.
4. You will be competing against other offer owners for the same product. You should definitely look at what other offers are currently available to affiliates in the industry and see whether you have a chance of offering a competitive payout.
Has anyone ever seen a succesfull e-cigarette offer?
We tried to run one in the UK last year but results were horrible. I don't know if there are people here who had success with it?
Also number of smokers in the UK is going down and e-cigarrettes are regulated (read: restricted) nearly the same as cigarrettes and getting forbidden in more and more places.
Add on top of that the fact there are a lot of alternatives to stop smoking (more competition) and not to forget that e-cigs are very expensive.
One can only conclude you're in a very difficult market.
Home > General > Affiliate Marketing Forum