How
To Investigate Affiliate Opportunities
How To Investigate Affiliate Opportunities
When it comes to website affiliation, you will need to know how
to conduct a market study because this is how you will find your
target audience. Without a targeted audience, your marketing campaigns
will not be effective. It is good to keep track of your objectives.
Now, initially you might have few ideas as to what to promote so
think of your hobbies or work activites that you have knowledge
of. So, while the article may seem to imply you start some corporation
to impress potential merchants, it is not necessary at all. Rather,
what follows gives you some idea of what to consider. There is no
point promoting companies that disappear quickly as it is a waste
of your efforts.
Marketing Study Outline
In order to be able to conduct a decent targeting and marketing
campaign, you must first understand the fundamentals of finding
out what they are. They only way to do this is to follow a specific
guideline for you to follow. Check out the guideline below.
1. Your Objective to the Research
Explain in one paragraph why the research is being done, what
you hope to learn and for what purpose the information that you
attain may be used
2. Description of the Market
This should be general like one paragraph
Who is your Target Market(s)
- Why you chose this particular market
- Get a complete profile of your market (e.g., demographics,
psychographics, behaviors)
- What benefits does your market seek (i.e., what points-of-pain
or problems are being solved)
- What factors can affect their decision to purchase or use your
product/service
- What attitudes do they have about the products/services that
are currently not on the market
- How is the product used
- Products and Services that appeal to the target market
- In general terms, what is currently so appealing to this market
- If there are no current providers, what types of products/services
may appeal to this market in the future (i.e., what is used now
to solve the problem).
3. Market Metrics
Get many Size estimates (current and future) for all of the following:
- Overall market
- Current size as it stands
- Potential size for the future
- Actual penetration of current products/service within the entire
market
Individual market segments
- Current size
- Potential size
- Actual penetration of current products/service within the total
market
- Usage rates
- Frequency of product purchases
- Growth estimates (current and in the future) for:
- Overall market
- Individual market segments
4. Competitive Analysis
Listing the competition by market share ranking (by each target
market if possible) is a good way to size them up. You can also
be more specific by searching for individual points listed below.
Current Competitors - full analysis of top competitors including:
• Products & Services (e.g., description, uniqueness,
pricing, etc.)
• Their Market share at current
• Current customers (targeted audience)
• Positioning and promotion strategies
• Partnerships/Alliances/Distributors
• Recent news
SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats
It is extremely important to focus attention on the SWOT section
of this report. While most other information in this report can
be gleaned from company and secondary materials, much of what appears
in the SWOT section is based on the researcher’s own opinions
of the competitor based on the information that is collected.
Potential Competitors (any competition in the future)
You will need to get an explanation (though it need not be as
detailed as Current Competitors) on who they are or maybe and why
they are seen as potential competitors
5. Additional
• Extraneous Variables
* Discuss factors that may affect this market (e.g., technological,
social, governmental, competitive, etc.)
• Market Trends and what is expected to happen in the future
If you can follow these basic tips for finding and selecting your
target market, you should be ready to search online and check out
the competition and their rankings in the search engines. Below
are some general guidelines for you to follow in creating your competitive
analysis which is the most important factor in being an affiliate
marketer. Knowing your competition just as well as your audience
is the key point which is going to keep you on top.
GUIDELINES FOR DOING A COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The competitive analysis section works best when it follows a format
like the one that is shown below.
• General Company Information which includes name, location
(headquarters, other locations of importance), website address
• Summary of the Business which includes a section that will
summarize the company, business units and the general nature of
the business
• Business Overview should include sections on the history,
ownership structure, types of businesses, mission, strategy/objectives,
and key executives
• Recent News/Developments such as important company developments
within last 6-12 months (e.g., reports from news sources, press
releases, financial statements)
• Financial and Market Share Analysis – includes sections
on corporate performance, trends, market share for product
• Marketing in general should include sections on products
and services that are offered, target markets, positioning, customers/users,
pricing model, promotional efforts, sales force, and distribution
• Other Miscellaneous Issues like adding sections on technology
capability, partnership arrangements, and intangible issues
• A list of your Competitors where you will list key competitors
facing this company
• SWOT – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
Once you have completed your market analysis and target audience,
you will want to choose who you are looking to affiliate with. You
can start by looking at comsumer sites on the web to get ideas of
what is hot and more importantly, what is not.
Now you may not be this comprehensive and that does not matter.There
are affiliate directories out there you can go to and find out more
and that is where you should spend some time conducting research.The
purpose of this article really is to convey the fact the marketplace
is huge and help you to consider the good companies from the bad
companies.
About
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http://www.seriousedge.com
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