How We Went From Affiliate to Advertiser (7)
It’s late…
I’m sitting in my parent’s basements…
House music popping in the back…
Beautiful landscapes and chicks on TV…
In front of my eyes that are almost ready to pop...
My computer screen that I’ve been staring at for hours
“Got to fucking create a few variations of this headline!!”... I tell my partner
Who’s about to pass out as I look into his eyes…
Mine are not looking good either...
“Damn code on this landing page, need to hire someone on upwork, can’t figure it out.”
Deep down, I knew I was focusing on the wrong things.
But when you run a lean company, and every dollar counts.. Well you fucking do work you shouldn’t be doing.
So I’m trying to get this campaign going, right? Then my partner stops me as I’m getting impatient.
“Bro, there is a new virus coming from China, it’s going to fuck shit up and create massive change”
I’m like… Viruses come every year Motherfucker. How’s this different…”
1.5 months later...
“Let’s get into health bro, find a good offer in that vertical.” - You guessed it, same partner.
And guess what…? I’m doing the exact same fucking thing…
Yes.. Trying to figure out code and optimizing campaigns...
Like a good fucking affiliate with stingy financial acumen does.
The difference is… This TIME… COVID HIT. His prediction from China was right.
I thought, yeah. Let’s hit up networks and ask what’s out there. Keto was good for us, but this could be better.
Pop up Skype... Ask managers how they’re doing through all this current corona situation. Then ask for health offers. NO FUCKING ONE HAS ANY!!!!!!
Fuck it, let’s keep running Keto or maybe go to financial offers due to people loosing jobs. No attractive health offers around…
UNTIL…
I wake up with a Skype Message from [Unnamed Network For Privacy]...
“Hey bro, run this health Immunity offer. Just like you asked…
Also, run these masks offers. Perfect for the current situations. Affiliates are crushing it.”
(me thinking inside) “ MR Fucking Network, EVERYONE OF MY FRIENDS HAD THE GENIUS IDEA OF SELLING MASKS LATELY” Give me a break… Simple Supply & demand.
Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll stick to Immune Supplements. I mean we crushed Keto and already have good angles in mind.
So… New vertical. Back to the drawing board. We get to work:
- Partner and I brainstorm angles
- Hit other networks for split testing offers
- Research competition and market pain points
Result: No competition on search (where we usually start all our nutra campaigns), and angles are flowing.
Angles we came up with: current virus situation, influenza, etc… We know we got to base the copy on Fear & Hope.
Networks immunity offers are now opening: a few trials and SS.
Got a few pages from the advertiser. Improved the copy.
Create ads testing different angles.
Set the campaign and LAUNCH.
Look at my partner… “Damn! we launched in a day.” Fingers crossed.
Now… Let’s just wait for the date to come in. Pop open the beer.
Next day… Wake up.
Partner is already awake.
“Bro, did you check the stats? We gucci!”
I rush to find my laptop and look with my heart beating faster.
Login the tracker… DAMN!
100% ROI at $XXX already. Hell yeah looking good.
Let’s optimize a bit, keep the budget the same for more data.
Next day. O conversions on same traffic. DAMN!!!
Let’s keep it going. We know we’re investing in data.
All the while, connect with new networks, find similar offers.
Days later…
100%+ ROI one day, 0 conversions the next.
Then offers go down as we finally reach EPCs.
Went on for two weeks with high four figures spent.
Partner and I have our Monday wine and strategy session.
We zoom out and solve our problems.
How can we keep consistent profit?
We shoot a few ideas.
Then we look at each other and understood without talking.
LET’S OWN THE FUCKING OFFER.
We’ll have control on all the data and stats.
I’m like: Are you SURE? If we commit to this, no going back!
He says: YES.
OK.
I say with excitement… I’ll hit up people and get going.
We decided to go Straight Sale in the USA for longevity and ethics. Trial offers are great but come up with issues.
It all started by leveraging my network as this is a new world.
Whats our strengths?
- Good network
- Ability to build a strong team
- Media buying
- Data in the vertical
- Start-up capital
- Solid industry knowledge
What’s our weaknesses?
- Never owned a supplement company
- Opportunity cost of launching affiliate campaigns
- Tech
Ask around and the biggest bitch is getting merchant accounts.
Got a recommendation. He gets to work.
My friends recommend a fulfillment/supplier company on demand. Research the company… Very LEGIT. Perfect.
We now have the product. Let’s come up with a good brand name.
Took a few hours and beers. YES THAT IS GOOD.
Hire a designer, spend a whole night going back and forth.
Next… Let’s set up the tech.
Need: CRM, Fast hosting, Web dev, Phone number, Customer service
Do research… Hired the best consultants we could in the industry.
They own offers and experience scaling supplements companies for others.
We pay them a LOT but they set up everything for us.
A lot of work, calls and setting up later…
Our merchant account is live, the funnels are ready for traffic, and the products ready to be shipped.
WE CAN FINALLY LAUNCH.
Used the same ads and data from offers we ran.
Boom. No conversions for a couple days but high CTRs and leads coming in.
We improve the pages. First sale. HELL YEAH!!!!!
Keep improving as we study our competitors.
6 split tests later… We’re already at $x,xxx/day at 100% ROI. EPCs are high!
But now we own the data and offer.
Now… How do we go to $XX,XXX per day bro?
Monday strategy… You guys know the drill.
Let’s go to networks and super affiliates. ( we can use better word without saying we looking for super affiliates , like we would like to expand business )
I get to work and hit up the ones I trust.
Some love our offer and stats.
Some don’t want to run immunity. (hmm. Why?)
We sign deals with networks.
And… You want to know what happened?
I’ll let you know later.. This was a few days ago.
LESSONS WE LEARNED:
- Market research is vital. Find the needs.
- Adapt to changes to get an edge.
- Network is everything.
- Fast execution but very patient research.
- Don’t be afraid to spend more to hire the best. Saves time.
CONCLUSION:
We believe the immunity market will be good for a while with the second wave of COVID about to hit America. Also, the vaccines will take some time to get to mass production adding to the need for people to find alternative solutions.
So, what are our next steps?
- Set up digital products around health in the back end to improve ACV
- Work with an exclusive team of super affiliates to scale by offering higher payouts and equity opportunities. We think long term.
- Duplicate top funnel in other verticals to build a portfolio of offers
That’s it guys and gals… Hope this case study helped. Happy to answer any questions and help the community.
this is a great post. So, I have been providing high risk merchant accounts to internet marketers especially ones who go from Clickbank affiliates to running their own offers for 15 years. They are AWESOME at marketing and getting sales. The one thing they miss time and time again is taking the time to learn the process(it's different than going zero to a thousand like on the aff side) and investing in the right areas- merchant accounts and consultants. It's the bloodline to the business. Love this outline! :-)
This is some awesome motivation, I love the pacing, rhythm and balls you have.
Go forth and KICK ASS 
You make the process sound so easy - I know super-affiliates with all the cash and connections in the world that have tried to achieve the same, that have either given up or are still at it after months of hard work. So it must have taken some dedication and a tremendously amount of luck for you guys to have pulled this off!
Congratulations!
Amy
What you did was not easy. Well done.
Great work guys. Its very inspiring. I have been in to ecommcerce and its not easy but the kind of networking you own makes it great.
Somehow I missed this thread when it got posted originally 
Great read leeshelby, thanks for that
In case you're still around, how are things going for you guys with this project?
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