# Affiliate programs?



## CG Kid (Apr 1, 2017)

I've done research, read countless threads, but I always like to ask questions specified to what I'm doing before diving into anything.

After research, I want to sign up as a merchant on Share A Sale. My shirts will be $18.99 with free shipping and I'm giving $5 for every sale to affiliates. 

My shirts target a pretty specific niche' of psychedelic drug users. My primary concern is getting seen by the right affiliates, I have no doubt if the right affiliate sees it they'd jump on it and would sell them like hot cakes. I'm offering a style and trend that has never been offered before and hitting a huge untapped market.

My question is finding these affiliates in Share A Sale. Is there any programming I can do on the back or front end that will make me more favorable? Is their SEO when searching for merchants based only on relevancy to the query? Would it make sense or be possible to target affiliates looking for "tobacco pipes" or another product relevant to what I sell?

Is Share A Sale the best option for me? From my understanding it's $650 to sign up, which I don't mind if it works.

Here's my store for reference:

https://www.shamelessprotocol.com/shop/

Thank you!


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## tshirtriches (Apr 20, 2009)

Here's the deal, no matter what affiliate platform you use, you're still gonna have to actively seek out and recruit affiliate partners yourself. Most successful affiliate programs have 'affiliate managers' whose sole purpose is to seek out partners and recruit. That's their job 8 hours per day, 5 days a week.

The idea that you can pay your $650 fee to Share a Sale and that a massive amount of affiliates will come pouring in is a false narrative ... It ain't gonna happen.

I've built up several thousand affiliates in the past and it took a couple years. It didn't happen overnight.

Nothing is as easy as it seems.

I'd personally would not spend the $650 with them. You'd be better off investing in a nice piece of software and use that money elsewhere. I'm not saying it'd be totally useless, but one thing that is known for sure in the 'affiliate' space is that the vast majority of affiliates who signup under you will NEVER sell anything.

About 15% - 20% of all the affiliates you sign up will generate all the referral sales.

Also, consider upping your commission? Why not give up 50% of the commission? That's what we did.

It made it extremely attractive to the affiliates we sought. It was a no-brainer.

Think longterm. Think of the lifetime value of the customer who purchases from you.

How many t-shirts will they buy from you each year? How many times will they buy? How many referrals will they send your way? 

SO if your tees cost $19/ea, and you give up $9.50 to the affiliate, is it worth it to acquire a new customer?

If your customer comes back and buys 5 tees from you over the year, that's $100 bucks in business, that you would not have gotten.

SO is it worth paying out $9.50 to get $100 bucks in business? Absolutely!!!

What if that customer buys $100 bucks worth of tees from you each year for 3 years, is it worth the $9.50 to acquire the sale?

The front end money is chump change.

It's possible you'd spend as much or more to acquire a customer at that $9.50 price point, especially since your'e getting started.

At the end of the day, it's your responsibility to create follow-up marketing campaigns to get these customers coming back to buy more shirts from you throughout the year.

Sending out a monthly newsletter to your customers with special offers and discounts... Dropping postcards in the mail with new designs (to existing customers), sending out holiday promos, etc...

Most people focus solely on getting the one-time sale.

The most valuable thing in this equation is a customer whose already purchased from you.

They voted with their wallets and they now know you, like you and trust you.

You'll get far more out of them, at a much lower cost, than you would spending to get new ones.

And when you know how much a typical customer is worth to you, then you'll know how much you're willing to spend to acquire a new one.

One of the reasons we won BIG is because we were willing to outspend our competitors to acquire a customer. We knew their worth.

So if your numbers suggest your customer is worth $300 to you over the course of 3 or 4 years ... then giving up $9.50 to get that customer is chump change.

I'd happily spend $100 bucks to acquire the customer. No doubt.

And that's real talk.

Go out there and get that money!

Cartess 'BIG TEES' Ross shawty ....


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## PrismGraphx015 (Nov 8, 2015)

Dude I hate to break your heart but that markets been tapped since the 70's go to a Dead Concert and walk down Shakedown Street. I've done it for years and its become my inspiration for the t shirt business. That being said the stuff looks pretty damn good


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## decipherdev (Aug 13, 2017)

Do it do it do it, the simple answer is do it. if you don't sell any what have you lost, because it's their leg work.
If you do,You can always order more stock.


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