Demographic wakeup call! Know your market…

ajensen · 10-15-2010, 10:11 AM

This is geared more towards beginning affiliate marketers, but I thought I would share an experience I just had.

You think you know your market? You’ve made all the right assumptions?

I’m not sure I was quite that presumptuous, but I was caught way off guard. I’m not going to tell you my exact niche. I’ll just make up an analogous example of what happened to me.

I was in the process of improving my ROI and thought it would be really useful to follow up with people who had actually signed up for my offer. When I did this, I found out the people signing up for the offer were the exact opposite of what I thought my demographic was! The people buying were actually the people who didn’t even need my product!

Here’s a made up story. It’s exactly what happened to me, I’ve just changed the niche and offer.

Let’s say your offer is “How I made $1 Million in 10 months”. As a smart affiliate, you market mostly to people with a lower income. However, when you follow up with your buyers, you find out the ones buying all make $2 million a year (not people with lower income)!

The above story isn’t true, but it's almost exactly what happened to me in a different niche. I marketed to the obvious audience with my own unique angle just to find out I hadn’t even picked the right audience. I had actually picked the exact opposite.

I'm surprised I made any sales at all...

The moral of the story is, don’t make assumptions, follow up with people signing up for your offer, and Test Test Test!

Hope this helps somebody out there :-).

KC-Coop · 10-15-2010, 10:24 AM

Good advice - there's always going to be a market that you think is the right one.

When you're marketing most affiliate offers you can check a variety of places to get an idea of the demographic. You can check Quantcast, Google Ad Planner, ask your affiliate manager etc.

All of those are great ways to get a rough idea but there's no substitute for testing every demographic and seeing which one works for YOU. Just because someone else is marketing an offer to a certain demographic - doesn't mean that it will be the same for the way you market it.

ajensen · 10-15-2010, 10:52 AM

Good point KC-Coop. It is probably best to go with the demographic data you dig up from various sources.

I guess the key is to make the most of the data you collect and see if it jives with your research or if there is something you can do to improve your campaign. Most of the time I bet it jives but you never know until you test :-)

KenThompson · 10-15-2010, 02:25 PM

Did you investigate why they bought your offer? Or maybe ask them
what appealed to them about it?

I think I would be more intrigued to know those answers more than
anything else.

I know you can't talk about your niche, but if you can provide anything
it would be cool.

Thanks,

Ken

williamrs · 10-15-2010, 03:24 PM

Very nice thread!

Knowing your audience is not only important when buying traffic and choosing placements, but also when creating landing pages and sales copies. If you don't know who you are marketing to you may put emphasis on the wrong point and end up not telling people want they want to hear to buy your product.

I always make a lot of research by analyzing similar sites and offers in order to determine the demographics of my campaigns, but the best way to find out exactly who I should target is testing. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why testing campaigns with paid traffic can be expensive, finding a perfect combination between lander, offer and audience can be tough.

William

ajensen · 10-15-2010, 09:58 PM

KenThompson, yeah I need to do a bit more follow up. Your questions are good ones. I will let you know if I discover anything interesting.

williamrs, good pointers. Based on my experience I'm beginning to think you can start just about anywhere with a campaign. You just have to be aware the less you know, the more it's going to cost to get profitable. This is a good argument for going after something competitive. You know people are making money at it and you start with a vague idea of what's working for them. This is bound to reduce the "startup" cost and the amount of "original research" required.

Thanks.

10-15-2010, 10:11 AM	#1
ajensen Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: In my house Posts: 104 Thanks: 15 Thanked 22 Times in 12 Posts	Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… This is geared more towards beginning affiliate marketers, but I thought I would share an experience I just had. You think you know your market? You’ve made all the right assumptions? I’m not sure I was quite that presumptuous, but I was caught way off guard. I’m not going to tell you my exact niche. I’ll just make up an analogous example of what happened to me. I was in the process of improving my ROI and thought it would be really useful to follow up with people who had actually signed up for my offer. When I did this, I found out the people signing up for the offer were the exact opposite of what I thought my demographic was! The people buying were actually the people who didn’t even need my product! Here’s a made up story. It’s exactly what happened to me, I’ve just changed the niche and offer. Let’s say your offer is “How I made $1 Million in 10 months”. As a smart affiliate, you market mostly to people with a lower income. However, when you follow up with your buyers, you find out the ones buying all make $2 million a year (not people with lower income)! The above story isn’t true, but it's almost exactly what happened to me in a different niche. I marketed to the obvious audience with my own unique angle just to find out I hadn’t even picked the right audience. I had actually picked the exact opposite. I'm surprised I made any sales at all... The moral of the story is, don’t make assumptions, follow up with people signing up for your offer, and Test Test Test! Hope this helps somebody out there :-).

10-15-2010, 10:24 AM	#2
KC-Coop Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 523 Thanks: 2 Thanked 62 Times in 55 Posts Contact Info	Re: Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… Good advice - there's always going to be a market that you think is the right one. When you're marketing most affiliate offers you can check a variety of places to get an idea of the demographic. You can check Quantcast, Google Ad Planner, ask your affiliate manager etc. All of those are great ways to get a rough idea but there's no substitute for testing every demographic and seeing which one works for YOU. Just because someone else is marketing an offer to a certain demographic - doesn't mean that it will be the same for the way you market it.
	Wolf Storm Media CPA Network Weekly Payouts, Free Training, Run by Affiliates For Affiliates Let Us Help You Grow Your Business

10-15-2010, 10:52 AM	#3
ajensen Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: In my house Posts: 104 Thanks: 15 Thanked 22 Times in 12 Posts	Re: Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… Good point KC-Coop. It is probably best to go with the demographic data you dig up from various sources. I guess the key is to make the most of the data you collect and see if it jives with your research or if there is something you can do to improve your campaign. Most of the time I bet it jives but you never know until you test :-)

10-15-2010, 02:25 PM	#4
KenThompson . War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 1,167 Thanks: 697 Thanked 595 Times in 421 Posts	Re: Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… Did you investigate why they bought your offer? Or maybe ask them what appealed to them about it? I think I would be more intrigued to know those answers more than anything else. I know you can't talk about your niche, but if you can provide anything it would be cool. Thanks, Ken

10-15-2010, 03:24 PM	#5
williamrs Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Brazil Posts: 3,496 Thanks: 174 Thanked 1,159 Times in 614 Posts	Re: Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… Very nice thread! Knowing your audience is not only important when buying traffic and choosing placements, but also when creating landing pages and sales copies. If you don't know who you are marketing to you may put emphasis on the wrong point and end up not telling people want they want to hear to buy your product. I always make a lot of research by analyzing similar sites and offers in order to determine the demographics of my campaigns, but the best way to find out exactly who I should target is testing. Actually, this is one of the main reasons why testing campaigns with paid traffic can be expensive, finding a perfect combination between lander, offer and audience can be tough. William
	>> STOP... << Stop struggling alone. Stop wasting time. Stop being scammed. Only 1 SPOT LEFT - CLICK HERE

10-15-2010, 09:58 PM	#6
ajensen Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: In my house Posts: 104 Thanks: 15 Thanked 22 Times in 12 Posts	Re: Demographic wakeup call! Know your market… KenThompson, yeah I need to do a bit more follow up. Your questions are good ones. I will let you know if I discover anything interesting. williamrs, good pointers. Based on my experience I'm beginning to think you can start just about anywhere with a campaign. You just have to be aware the less you know, the more it's going to cost to get profitable. This is a good argument for going after something competitive. You know people are making money at it and you start with a vague idea of what's working for them. This is bound to reduce the "startup" cost and the amount of "original research" required. Thanks.