You know the “Seven P’s”? Oh come on now… It’s Q4. The busiest and most profitable time of the year. The time when your PPC and Affiliate Marketing competitors are raking in the dough. And it’s all related to the “Seven P’s”. It’s a cliche’, and I know you’ve heard it before. But just as a reminder…
Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!
Do you have your promotions, specials, email newsletters, twitter campaigns, etc. all mapped out through the end of the year yet? If you do, it’s time to review them. If you don’t, well, repeat after me… “Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance”… That means it’s time to plan. NOW! Not next week, not tomorrow. Today, now.
Let’s do this step by step so we get it right. You may or may not have some of the specifics here but ignore that. Just apply it to what you do. And if you do things we don’t include. Fine, just add them to your mix. It’s okay. Let’s just define what types of promotional venues, then add in some time constraints, then put it all together.
Let’s say you have your site (only one in this example, multiply for each site you own) and that site has some social pages like Squidoo, Hubpages, etc. A Twitter account, a blog, a newsletter, and a friendfeed, myspace, facebook. You get the drift. Places where you promote your site. You can easily add in your PPC adverts, etc.
Here’s how I plan it. I use a spreadsheet. Yes, a spreadsheet. There are columns across the top for the various types of promotions. Kind of like this:
AffSpot Promotion Planner Spreadsheet
Easy right? This is where you brainstorm. Go through your links, Check out the AffSpot Affiliate News for the latest merchant promotions, etc. and begin to build your plan. Notice that I’ve started at Halloween and went right through Christmas Day. Yes, that’s three months (2.5 now really). But if your not planning ahead.. I mean, come on, do you want me to make you repeat the “Seven P’s” again?
Now comes the fun part. You take the notes you’ve made while researching offers, etc. And you brainstorm a little bit on how you want to craft your message for each promotion. This takes time, and sometimes you get a little goofy (like the time I ran a “Hangover After Halloween” promo). But that’s okay. And yes, here’s some help for you there too. I have a second sheet just for recording this.
Now are you getting the idea? It’s not that tough. And if you looked at the second sheet close enough you’ll see I didn’t choose “On Sale” items for the Goulish Golf promotion. I chose stuff that I could tie into a Halloween theme out of golf items. Day glo golfballs, bright green shoes, safety orange golf bags, etc. Just because it’s a promotion doesn’t mean it has to be a special price. It just has to fit the theme of a promotion. Don’t avoid pushing price. But don’t avoid pushing regular price items either.
Now, here is the most important part… Putting the two sheets together. Creating some good graphics. And doing all the work at the right time to promote your sites. But you have everything on your spreadsheet… Right? So you can just sit down and do it. And if you visit your plan every week, review it, do a little more research, etc. you can do something the “big boys” can’t do… CHANGE! You can turn on a dime since you have the format down.
Just doing “The Seven P’s” and getting your promotions planned and on your calendar now will help you make more money. Oh, you want that spreadsheet? Sure thing. I’ve added it as a post in the AffSpot Forum thread tied to this blogpost. It’s right HERE. Log onto the AffSpot Affiliate Forum and it’s all yours.
Now repeat after me……
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