Recently at a family dinner I heard ‘V’ (my wife) raving about how much she loves her pillow (I don’t know how that came up). Since she bought us new pillows (Denton pillows) she says she’s not had a bad night’s sleep.
I chuckled to myself as I heard her as it’s a conversation I’ve been hearing a lot lately – V’s become an evangelist for Denton pillows.
I joked on the way home from dinner to V that my whole family would be sleeping on Denton pillows by the end of the month.
The next afternoon my phone rang and it was my brother in-law. He and my sister were out shopping and wanted to know the name of the pillow.
Converted!
As I thought about my wife’s persuasive powers it struck me that she’d be great at affiliate marketing.
Here’s some of the characteristics that she possesses that I think bloggers wanting to generate income from affiliate products need to have:
- she’s a connector – Malcolm Gladwell talks about ‘connectors’ in Tipping Point as people who have wide social circles. The amount of people that V connects with on a daily basis makes me (a real introvert) want to curl up in the fetal position and rock backwards and forwards. Sure I have a lot of people read my blogs – but she’s at her best when she’s surrounded by people in real life and has an incredible ability to connect with each person as though they’re the only one in her life. This ability to connect with many people and to still give them individual attention is a great skill to have an a strong one if you’re a marketer.
- she tries lots of stuff – V isn’t one to hold back on trying new things. She’s always experimenting with new recipes, products, movies, places, restaurants etc. I think there’s something about trying something new that she finds quite energizing. This is why she’s an endless supply of knowledge on things to try – because she’s done them all. This sets her up as an expert in many things (another great attribute of internet marketers).
- she’s the type of person people seek out for advice – as a result of being well connected and trying lots of things out – she has a constant stream of people coming to her advice (on all facets of life). I think this is a key to internet marketing. If you can become the type of person that people seek out for advice instead of someone that has to push advice upon others – you’re already one step ahead of the field.
- she’s enthusiastic/positive – V has a wonderful way of putting a positive spin on life. While she’s not afraid to tell it like it is if something isn’t right (see below) she’s incredibly enthusiastic when things are right – and not in a false or cringe inducing way. I think a lot of internet marketers could learn a thing or two from this. Instead of bombarding their potential clients with tonnes of hyped up emails raving about a product – one single, genuinely positive review could have a big impact.
- she’s an evangelist – V can’t help herself – when she finds something that she loves (and she does only ever love or hate things – perhaps another characteristic worth mentioning) she tells everyone about it. This was the key last week with my family – she loves those pillows – so her natural first reaction was to share it. I emphasize ‘natural’ because I think this is something that some internet marketers miss out on. This last week I’ve been hit by one such marketer with at least 15 emails promoting his new product. The emails are all very excited – but every time I get one I get the sense that the excitement is more about the money he’s making and less about the product he’s selling.
- she’s brutally honest about the things she doesn’t like – many people will tell you about what they love – but they keep their mouths shut about what they don’t like for fear of offending. V’s not like this. If she tries something and doesn’t like it she’s as likely to tell people about that as she is likely to talk about what she loves. I think this makes her all the more credible as an evangelist. Again – this is something that I see missing in some internet marketers. The only thing you ever hear them talk about is the things they’re promoting (and making money off). While this appeals to some – my suspicion is that many tire of it.
Now I just need to get V to start blogging!
