You know it’s the small things that amuse little minds ;-).
I just found out this morning that I won 5th prize in an affiliate competition… Whooo Hooo! I think it is the first time that I have ever won more than $100 because I am not a very competitive affiliate. I don’t have a very big list and I don’t do big bonus incentives… but I did help John and JP win 3rd prize in the MME3 competition (but they will tell you that even with my additional 20 sales they would have won anyway… which is true 
)
Want to know what my prize is? Well I’m going to tell you anyway.
5th Prize: $250 Cash USD or Insignia 10.2″, 16:9 Widescreen Portable DVD Player
Pfft cash… who wants cash when you can have a fancy DVD player that will stop the kids from watching DVD’s on my laptop (win win situation).
Want to know how I won? I really had only one factor that I had going for me… lack of competition… there wasn’t really any ‘big guns’ promoting the competition… so even with just one cut and paste email (and a tiny reminder) I hit 5th place pretty easy (I believe I had another 30 sales to get 1st place).
Imagine if I did offer a big bonus.
Imagine if I did warm up my list and really heavily promoted it with promotion after promotion.
Imagine if I created a video, going through why I strongly believe in the product and how I have used it myself to make $x/month.
But to be honest I totally forgot about it… actually had to chase the affiliate manager to get a 2nd affiliate account because the test one that I started with was no longer working. So on the 2nd last day of the competition I sent out the email (which reminds me that if the affiliate manager was doing his job he would be telling us what is happening every day (maybe I just missed them) ).
Want to know a secret? If you want me to put in some effort in a competition (and I’m sure there are a few other medium fish like me out there who think the same way) then do the following.
1) Product has to be good and different (JD’s was excellent)
2) The more time to prepare the better, don’t just go… oh I forgot to tell you… next week I’m launching this… help me! Because unless you are a good friend I won’t change around my promotional schedule for your amnesia.
3) Promotional material written especially for me in my style. I very rarely copy and paste… and don’t like to hype anything. So those sales pitches promotional material do very little for me, but if you write something for me in my language… I will send it straight away… that is what I did for Hos just recently.
4) I like prizes… not cash so much. I work for money but I compete for my toys ;-). When I saw that JD was offering a 55″ HDTV for first prize I was kicking myself that I missed the whole week to promote. Marlon does this very well with his monthly competitions… one time he offered a pinball machine which perked my ears up. $2000 cash zzzzzzzzz BORING! Give me TOYS! (not sure if everybody is like that but I am, I guess that is why JD offered cash or prize which is a good way to go).
5) Regular updates… specially with the number of sales and how much difference there is. Because if I find that the winner only has 20 sales I know I am in with a very good chance because I guess how many sales I make every time I promote (sometimes I surprise myself but I’m pretty good at guessing the responsiveness of my list). So if there are only 5 between me and the top place you can be sure I will email again.
6) Don’t name drop… if you have got 20 of the big guys promoting… keep your mouth shut… because I know I can’t compete with them… so I wont try. And the friendly rivalry between affiliates doesn’t really work for me. But if there is a small difference and I like that prize I will try harder but not to beat a mate.
Hope that helps in your next affiliate competition.
Sincerely,
Paul Kleinmeulman
Australia
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