Affiliate Marketing Basics & the Rule of 7

The Rule of 7 is one of many marketing concepts that get bandied about. Some say a potential buyer needs to see your product 11 times before committing to buying. Old school marketers say it needs to be even more than that.

The idea is that most people are not ready to buy a product the first time they see it. They need to be introduced, get past their skepticism, see the benefit to them before they can even think about buying. It’s a step-by-step process.

The Rule has its roots in marketing that goes back into the 1800’s. But it was the 1930’s when it really got going. Back then, movie promoters realized it took advertising and promotion to get people into the seats of theaters to watch their movies.

Affiliate Marketing with the Rules

Today, consumers–and your buyers–are deluged with information from radio, TV, print, and the Internet. Especially social media. Unfortunately, many new marketers think they just have to throw a link into a post just once and they good to make gold.

Not so. Especially once you start understanding the psychology of marketing. Buyers start out as a suspicious lot. The first time they hear about your product that might pooh, pooh it as not needed. The next time they see you promoting the product, they might have concerns about you… as in who is this seller? And, why would I want to buy from her?

It might take a few more times of seeing you plus the product to convince that buyer to take a second look. Then they want to know why they need it. The price. And then why they need it even at that price point.

As you can see, to get time and certainly more than one exposure before they are ready to take that call to action.

Putting the Rule of 7 Into Action with Your Affiliate Products

Whether you’re selling Amazon products, 3rd-party info products and course or even your own products, you need a strategy in place that will expose your buyers to the product and you as the seller they should buy from.

It starts with your blog posts. That’s right, I said posts with an “s.” There are a variety of types of post you can use, from round-ups to informational posts, to review posts to FAQs about a product. The idea is that you need to have a variety that talks about the product. Now, there’s no “set in stone” number you need. It might be three, five or more. How many may have to do with the price point. The more profit, the more post you’ll want to create.

Then you need to interlink all those posts. You also might want to add a special banner leading to all the posts to your sidebar or footer promoting that product.

Of course, you also want to promote all your post on social media. And you might want to create direct link ads to the affiliate offers. Just make sure to add the appropriate affiliate disclaimers to stay legal.

Just as don’t rely on one measly link in a post to sell your product, don’t rely on just one type of marketing. Spread your message around… and keep it going. Be consistent with your overall marketing plan and remember it’s a journey, not a sprint to the finish line.

This is the plan I’m starting to put in place. I’ll be honest, it takes works. But I’m hoping–betting–it will pay off in the long run.

I hope these tips help your affiliate marketing plans.

Now, go make it an awesome, money-making day,