So far, we’ve discussed the difference between joint ventures and affiliates as well as the first two all-too-common mistakes entrepreneurs make when building these types of relationships–forgetting the “what’s in it for me?” and failing to set yourself up for success. Now we have…

Mistake #3 — Giving Them the Wrong Promotional Tools

Just as you strive to make customers feel special, you should make sure JV partners and affiliates feel special too–after all, they’re using their resources to promote for you.

So keep that in mind when you craft messages to them. Also, make it as easy for them as possible by giving them the right tools. That means…

• Offering the tools they prefer. Some people won’t do three solo email blasts because they don’t want their subscribers running for the exits. They may prefer having you do a guest article or offering a free teleseminar instead. If you don’t have time to find out what they want then at least offer a variety of options.

• Sending “clean” email copy. It seems obvious, but check the spam score in your email software program and test it by mailing to yourself before you give them email copy to use.

• Checking video load time. Your partners won’t be happy campers if they’re prospects aren’t converting because your video takes eons to start playing.

• Also, hosting the videos for big launches on a different server. When Matt Bacak launched a new product back in August, all the video viewings crashed the server–the same server his sales page was hosted on. Again, a sure way to tick off affiliates.

Stay tuned tomorrow, for another big bone of contention for affilates–jeopardizing their commissions.

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