Earlier this year, I celebrated my 5-year anniversary working for Jon Morrow and Smart Blogger. 🎂🥳
And during that time, a TON happened…
When I came aboard, “the blog” was my sole focus. Soon, I was in charge of the company’s Lead Generation and Marketing departments.
Translation? I got to work on big, fun projects every single day.
And even better? Probably 95% of those projects were relevant to entrepreneurs and solo creators (aka you).
We did the same things solopreneurs do — just on a larger scale.
So, with that in mind, I’d like to take you behind the scenes of an email campaign we launched for an affiliate product.
By showing you what we did, explaining why we did what we did, and offering takeaways so you can do what we did (in your own future emails), this email can serve as a 3-minute crash course on “how the pros do email marketing.”
We’ll start with the most important lesson…
Choose a Top-Notch Product From a Top-Notch Source
A mistake many businesses and entrepreneurs (both big and small) make is they aren’t particularly choosy when it comes to the products they pitch to their readers.
If something offers a high commission rate and looks even somewhat legit, they’ll sign up as an affiliate, get a referral link, and share it with their audiences.
The problem is many of these products stink.
And the stench doesn’t just cling to the company/person that created them, but to the greedy, careless businesses and marketers that promoted them.
In short: if you promote a crummy product to your trusting readers, they’re going to stop trusting you.
Thankfully, Jon was very mindful of this at Smart Blogger. We only promoted products we knew were good.
In this instance, the product was Kieran Drew’s High Impact Writing* course.
*FYI 👋
An asterisk means it’s an affiliate link.
Jon heard good things about Kieran’s course, so he decided to purchase it. Jon loved it — so much so, he encouraged me to get it too.
I got about half way through the material when I decided, “this will be a good course to promote to Smart Blogger’s readers.”
Kieran’s commission rate didn’t matter. Neither did the reality that Kieran was a competitor in our market.
The course was excellent, Jon and I knew Smart Blogger’s readers would benefit from it, so we happily promoted it as an affiliate.
Takeaway:
Smart marketers care about the quality of the product and the benefit it’ll provide to their audience more than they care about the commission rate.
In short: only promote stuff you know is good.
Next, let’s look at the emails we sent to our readers about Kieran’s course:
Email #1: The Trust Builder
SUBJECT: ANNOUNCING: High Impact Writing 2.0
There are precious few writing courses I recommend to friends or loved ones.
Smart Bloggers’ various offerings would be on that list, of course…
And so would this:
High Impact Writing* by Kieran Drew.
I bought it, loved it, and encouraged my entire team to grab it. It’s that good.
And today, Kieran is relaunching an all-new version of it.
High Impact Writing 2.0 went live minutes ago and, for this weekend only, it’s at a ridiculously low price.
>> Click here to get all the details*
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Despite his popularity, we knew many Smart Blogger readers would be unfamiliar with Kieran.
So in our initial email, we wanted to make him “bonafide” in their eyes.
We highlighted:
- how Jon recommends very few writing courses
- how Jon bought Kieran’s and loved it
- how Jon encouraged his team to get the course too
It was a short email. But it said a lot in relatively few words:
“Kieran’s course is unusually good. You should check it out.”
Takeaway:
Your readers, whether they’re few in number or many, trust you. A crucial task when crafting an effective affiliate promotion email is transferring that trust to the product you’re promoting.
(Note: This is why it’s essential you only promote products you know are good. If you transfer your audience’s trust to a product that sucks, the trust is unlikely to return to you.)
Now let’s take a look at the second email we sent:
Email #2: Tease the End Result
SUBJECT: Here’s how to transform your writing
Lemme tell you a secret…
You know those popular accounts on social media with rabid followers and thriving communities?
They all have one thing in common:
They know how to write.
It’s a painfully obvious but misunderstood “cheat code”…
When you write really freakin’ well, you’re able to connect with your audience.
You gain followers, fans, and — if you have something to sell — buyers who are happy to shout your virtues from the rooftops.
And teaching you how to write well for social media is an area where my friend Kieran Drew EXCELS.
>> Click here to learn about his High Impact Writing system*
It’s one of the very few non-Smart Blogger writing courses I recommend.
It’s powerful. It will transform your writing if you apply what you learn. And for this weekend only, it’s heavily discounted.
Tap my affiliate link above and look around. I think you’ll like what Kieran has to say.
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After showing readers that Jon trusts Kieran in our first email (and that they should too), in the second email we highlighted the potential outcome to those who purchase his course.
Those popular accounts on social media?
You could be one of them.
How?
By learning the simple “cheat code.”
And Kieran’s course aims to teach it to me?
Yep.
Again, brevity is key.
We didn’t need to paint the entire picture — in fact, our email discusses maybe 2% of what the course offers.
Our goal was to give them a glimpse of the picture so they’d click the link, go to Kieran’s landing page, and learn more.
Takeaway:
Tease the end result to your readers. Show them what’s possible if they breathe deep, close their eyes, and take that crucial first step.
If they can see the end result, they’ll begin to believe reaching it is possible.
Let’s look at one more:
Email #3: Show It’s Doable
SUBJECT: [PIC] Wow, they really love this guy
Even though we’ve received thousands of testimonials at Smart Blogger over the years…
The endorsements my friend Kieran Drew have received for his High Impact Writing* course are impressive.
Here are a few of my favorites:
And there are many, many more:
It’s these glowing testimonials…
Plus the fact I’ve bought the course and know how good it is…
…that I happily endorse High Impact Writing to my readers.
>> Click here to learn more about it (and see more testimonials)*
But don’t wait too long.
After tomorrow, Kieran’s bumping up the price. It’ll never be this low again, so don’t miss out.
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In this email, we leveraged the testimonials that Kieran had received from past customers.
“If these people can do it,” our email says…
“Why not you?”
If your reader can picture themselves in the shoes of those who’ve already climbed the mountain, reached the top, and have returned to tell the tale, it makes the promise laid out in the course more tangible, more real.
This isn’t a hypothetical thought exercise anymore — these people took the course and got the thing I want to get.
Takeaway:
Showcasing testimonials helps your readers picture themselves as the “after” in the proverbial before/after photo.
They also build more trust.
Yes, you already told your readers how YOU think the course is solid. But testimonials help them see others think it’s solid too.
Wrapping Up
We barely scratched the surface here…
(Why did we use the subject lines we did? What about how we created a sense of urgency by stating the price was only for a limited time? What about the OTHER emails we sent in this promo?)
…but this should give you plenty to chew on.
Dissect our emails above. Commit them to memory. Use them to inspire your own emails (when you’re ready to begin promoting products).
And here’s one more tip:
Create a “mailing list” email address (i.e., one you’ll use for nothing else) and subscribe to as many good content marketers, copywriters, etc. as you can.
Why?
It’s not so you can buy anything from them — it’s so you can learn from them.
Study the subject lines they use. Study the way they tease products (whether it’s their own products or affiliate products). Study the CTA (“call to action”) they use to get people to click their emails.
The more you study, the more you’ll learn, and the better you’ll be.
That’s all for today…
Appreciate you…
Honored you’re subscribed to my newsletter.
Talk to you next time.
