How to Motivate Your Affiliates Before a Promotion or Launch

Planning a big affiliate launch or promotion in a few months? Getting your affiliates excited and ready to promote well in advance can be challenging. In this post, I’ll share proven strategies to motivate your affiliates weeks before the launch and keep their excitement high all the way through. Learn how to build anticipation, provide the right tools, and create a buzz that makes your affiliates eager to sell more. These tactics will ensure your affiliates are engaged and ready to go when the big day arrives.

How to motivate your affiliates to promote more

So you’ve got a big affiliate launch, a product launch, or a big promo coming up. Maybe it’s your annual promo or your big quarterly event. You’ve got some affiliates lined up; they’re in the system, on a spreadsheet, and they’ve said, “I’m in.” That’s great! But now, you need to get them fired up and keep them warm for your launch or promo.

Imagine this: someone commits to your promo five months in advance. In those five months, they’re exposed to around 3,000 marketing messages a day. That’s about 450,000 marketing messages in total! They have their own business, team members, marketing problems, and customer complaints to handle.

It’s a lot, right? How are they supposed to keep your launch or promotion front and center in their minds? The reality is, they won’t unless you keep them fired up and engaged. In this post, I’ll share ten ways to do just that. I share proven strategies to ensure your affiliates stay motivated and ready to promote your product. By the end of this post, you’ll have a complete toolkit to keep your affiliates excited and committed to your success.

Let’s get started and make sure your affiliates are motivated and ready to sell more! But first, let’s take a look at how most affiliate managers do it wrong…

How Most Affiliate Managers Motivate Affiliates (The Wrong Way)

Normally, when people have a big launch or promotion coming up, the way they usually warm up their affiliates isn’t effective at all. They spend ten months planning their promotion, and then a month out, they send an email to all their affiliates announcing the promotion. A few days before the promotion, they provide everything needed, like swipe copy, and that’s pretty much it. When the launch starts, they try to go all-in with contests and more. But this isn’t how you properly warm affiliates up.

Think about your own audience. If you went ten months without any communication and then suddenly showed up in their inbox trying to sell something, it wouldn’t work. You need to spend weeks, at a minimum, talking about the promotion, discussing the topic, and seeding the promotion. You have to warm your audience up. It’s the same for your affiliates. Even if they committed to your promotion six months ago, doing nothing for the next five and a half months isn’t effective.

Many people fail to communicate with their affiliate partners for months and then expect them to promote when the time comes. So how do you fix this? Start early and have a plan. The specific plan can vary, but the key is to have one. You can take the strategies I’m sharing today and put them into a plan. Even if you don’t follow all these steps or you add your own, that’s great.

At a minimum, start six months out. For example, with Stu McLaren, his launch is roughly the same time every year. We start seeding the next launch right after the current one and don’t let up. This doesn’t mean emailing every day, but communicating at least once every four to six weeks, just to stay on their radar.

Remember, they’re exposed to hundreds of thousands of marketing messages each day, pushing your promotion out of their mind. You want to keep replanting that seed in their brain. Each time you do, the roots grow a bit stronger. By three months out from the promotion, you’ll have a solid presence in their mind.

To keep your affiliates engaged and motivated, make sure your communication plan is clear. Start by outlining your plan six months before the promotion. Include regular updates, sneak peeks, and any new developments. This keeps your affiliates informed and excited about what’s coming.

Another way to keep them engaged is through personalized communication. Send them individual emails, acknowledging their previous efforts and successes. Make them feel valued and important to your promotion. Personalized messages can go a long way in building a strong connection with your affiliates.

Consider using various communication channels to keep things interesting. Mix up your emails with video messages, social media posts, and even direct mail. Different formats can capture their attention and keep your message fresh in their minds.

Additionally, provide your affiliates with useful resources and tools. Share tips on how they can maximize their efforts and reach more people. Offering valuable content not only helps them but also shows that you are invested in their success.

Regular check-ins are crucial. Schedule periodic calls or virtual meetings to discuss progress, address concerns, and provide support. These interactions help maintain a strong relationship and keep your affiliates aligned with your goals.

Remember, warming up your affiliates is not just about keeping them informed. It’s about building a lasting relationship and ensuring they are motivated and excited to promote you. Consistent, thoughtful communication can make a significant difference in the success of your affiliate program.

Below, you’ll learn a detailed plan to keep your affiliates engaged and motivated, ensuring they’re ready and excited to promote when the time comes.

In the meantime, if you’d like to get a copy of the EXACT timeline we use to warm up affiliates before promotions, you can grab it here:

Here are the 10 best ways to motivate your affiliates

1 – Announce the Promotion Dates

One of the easiest ways to motivate affiliates is to announce the promotion dates. Yes, it’s that simple. Just get them to mark their calendars and invite them using a calendar invite. This ensures they know exactly when the promotion starts and ends.

If your launch starts on June 1, send them a calendar invite for June 1 and every day of the launch. This gets them to commit. Announcing the dates and hammering them home is key. Remind them regularly as the dates approach to keep it fresh in their minds.

If you don’t know the exact dates yet, date ranges work fine. You don’t need to announce all the details. They don’t need to know the exact day of the third live workshop. Just tell them, “The launch is from June 1 to June 25,” or whatever your date range is. This gives them a clear timeframe to plan their promotional activities.

Adding the dates to their calendars helps affiliates organize their schedules around your promotion. It makes it easier for them to allocate time and resources effectively. Plus, it shows you’re serious about the promotion and helps build anticipation.

Regular reminders about the promo dates help keep your promotion front and center in their minds. They receive thousands of marketing messages daily, so consistent communication is vital. By doing this, you ensure your affiliates are always aware of the upcoming promotion, which helps keep them motivated and ready to engage.

So, announce the dates, get them to commit, and keep reminding them. This simple step can make a big difference in keeping your affiliates engaged and excited about your upcoming promotion.

2 – Keep in Touch – A LOT

The second key to motivating affiliates is to keep in touch a lot. Consistent communication is crucial to keep your promotion front and center in their minds. Here are some effective ways to stay in touch and keep them engaged.

Share Testimonials and Success Stories

One great way to keep in touch is by sharing testimonials and success stories. Send them a quick email with a success story from someone who used your product. Include a short video showing how it changed their life. This not only motivates your affiliates, but also keeps your promotion dates in their minds.

Educate and Share What’s Working

Another way to motivate affiliates is by sharing what’s working for you. If you’ve promoted an affiliate offer and found a strategy that worked, record a short video to share it with them. Say something like, “Hey, this worked for me. You can apply it to our promotion or other promotions.” This shows you’re invested in their success and provides valuable insights they can use.

Engage on Social Media

Engage with your affiliates on social media. Comment on their posts, congratulate them on milestones, and show genuine interest in their lives. This builds a personal connection and shows you care about them as individuals, not just as affiliates.

Send Personalized Gifts

If it makes financial sense, send personalized gifts to your top affiliates. A thoughtful gift, like a gift card to a nice restaurant, can go a long way in building loyalty. For example, I once received a $200 gift card to Ruth’s Chris from an affiliate program. It made me feel valued and strengthened my loyalty to that program.

Monthly Engagement

Aim to engage with your top 30 to 50 partners individually at least once a month. This could be through emails, social media, or even phone calls. Additionally, engage with all your affiliates as a group at least once a month. This keeps everyone in the loop and maintains their interest in your upcoming promotion.

Consistent and meaningful communication is key to keeping your affiliates motivated and ready to promote your product. By staying in touch regularly, you ensure your promotion stays at the top of their minds and build a stronger, more loyal affiliate base.

3 – Ask Your Affiliates for Referrals

The third way to motivate your affiliates is to ask for referrals. It’s very simple and effective. Here’s how you can do it.

Send an email to your affiliates saying something like:

Hey Joe,

We’re gearing up for the launch in six to seven months.

Just a reminder, the dates are such and such.

Do you have anyone in mind who might be a good partner?

Introduce them, and we’ll hook you up with a second-tier commission.

This approach does two things. First, it reminds your affiliates of the upcoming launch dates. Second, it gets them thinking about potential partners. If they introduce someone and that person signs up, both of them are now more likely to be engaged and excited about the promotion.

Asking for referrals is a simple yet powerful way to expand your affiliate network and keep your current affiliates motivated and involved.

In fact, it is the best way to get new affiliates that almost NO ONE uses.

As I mention in my post, The Absolute #1 Way to Get Your Best New Affiliates (That Almost No One Uses):

The number one way to get new affiliates is this:

Ask your current affiliates.

I hear you thinking (yes, I can hear your thoughts…it’s terrifying sometimes):

“Thank you, Captain Obvious!”

But here is the crazy thing about this…almost no one does it.

I’ve been a part of more than 250 affiliate programs and product launches in my life and less than 10 of them have ever asked me to refer other affiliates. That is ridiculous!

Your current affiliates should be your number one source of new, quality affiliates.

If you want to learn more about how to REALLY do this right, check out the full post. I share another example email template as well as when to ask (there are specific times that work great) and how to set up and structure your second-tier commission:

4 – Announce Affiliate Prizes for the Promotion

The fourth way to motivate your affiliates is by announcing prizes. This is a great way to get people excited.

As I mention in my post, The Easy Way to Pick Awesome Prizes for Your Affiliate Launch:

Having the right prizes for your budget can make your affiliate offer more attractive to potential affiliates. On more than one occasion, I’ve chosen to promote a launch based on the prizes, even when I realistically stood no chance to win some of them.

I’ve also gone out of my way to win certain prizes once I was in a launch. The fact is…they work.

Send an email saying:

Hey, we have a great contest and here’s what you can win.

Prizes can really motivate affiliates to go the extra mile.

Want to know how to pick the right affiliate prizes? Check out The Easy Way to Pick Awesome Prizes for Your Affiliate Launch. It walks you through the process step-by-step.

Picking the right prizes can significantly impact performance. The right prizes versus the wrong ones could affect performance by as much as 5%. Announcing prizes four, five, or six months out starts to build excitement. Affiliates will think, “Wow, you’ve got that kind of prize? I want to win that!”

If you want to know more about WHY they work (there are 5 big reasons) and HOW to pick the right prizes, look no further than right here:

5 – Create an Affiliate Group and Invite Them

The fifth great way to motivate your affiliates and warm them up for a promotion is to invite them to join a Facebook group or another community. We’re experimenting with different platforms, and I’ll report back on how it works. For one launch right now, we’re trying Slack. It’s new for us, and it might not work, but it’s worth a shot. The key is to invite them to some sort of group.

Whether it’s a Facebook group, a Slack group, a Telegram group, or a WhatsApp group, just getting them in there is important. Joining that group is a micro-commitment. It’s a small step that shows they’re engaged and ready to participate.

Having them in a group allows you to communicate with them more regularly. Filling their inbox with an email every week might be annoying if you’re seven months out from the launch. But posting a quick video three times a month about a lesson you’ve learned, a little reminder, or a testimonial isn’t too much. It’s on Facebook, so not everyone will see it anyway.

This kind of engagement is less intrusive and keeps the momentum going. It allows you to build engagement in the group months in advance. So when you need high engagement right before the launch and through the end of the launch, it’s already started. It’s been seeded and nurtured over time.

Creating and nurturing an affiliate group keeps your affiliates motivated and connected. It provides a platform for sharing tips, updates, and success stories, and it helps maintain excitement about the upcoming promotion. This ongoing interaction builds a sense of community and support among your affiliates, making them more likely to stay committed and perform well when the promotion or launch happens.

6 – Send Your Affiliates “Lumpy Mail”

Probably my favorite (but also the most expensive) way to motivate affiliates and really get them pumped up is send what we call “lumpy mail.” Send them some gifts to break through the clutter. I forget who originally termed it lumpy mail, but effectively, it’s anything that comes in a package that’s got some lumps to it.

Sending somebody a thank you note—that’s great. I used to do that and still do it fairly frequently. If somebody signs up for our affiliate program, I send them a thank you note. It’s just an initial, “Hey, thanks for signing up. Look forward to working with you,” or something like that.

But lumpy mail really breaks through the clutter, whether it be a T-shirt or something that they like. One of my biggest recommendations is to read the book Giftology by John Ruhlin. It’s a great book about the power of gifting. Again, the whole idea is just to break through the clutter. Some of my favorite gifts over the years have been unique and personalized.

A few years ago, I received personalized LEGO figures from Pete Vargas. He sent two versions to me. One was Batman, and the other was Superman. Each version had a little LEGO figure of me with glasses and one without glasses because I often switch between the two. The figures looked pretty much like me, and it was such a cool gift.

Now, every time I see those LEGO figures, I think about Pete and his launch. I have them in my office, so I see them all the time. That’s the kind of thing you’re looking for. He didn’t send me a T-shirt or a mug with his branding. Those are fine if you want to send those sometimes, but occasionally, just work in a gift that is simply thoughtful and nice.

Another idea is to send something related to their interests. If you know they love coffee, send a high-quality bag of coffee or a unique coffee mug. If they’re into fitness, send some cool workout gear or a personalized water bottle. The key is to make it personal and memorable.

Lumpy mail stands out because it’s different. It’s a physical item that arrives amidst the usual flat mail and emails. It’s unexpected, and that surprise element makes it effective. When your affiliates receive something thoughtful and tangible, it reinforces your relationship with them and keeps your promotion top of mind.

You don’t need to spend a lot of money. It’s the thought and effort that count. Personalized, thoughtful gifts show your affiliates that you value them and are willing to go the extra mile to make them feel appreciated. This kind of gesture can significantly boost their motivation and loyalty to your program.

So, start thinking about what kind of lumpy mail you can send. It might be a personalized item, a book that’s relevant to their interests, or something fun and quirky that makes them smile. The goal is to stand out and make a lasting impression.

7 – Train Your Affiliates

The next thing you have to do to warm your affiliates up and motivate them is to train them. You need to start this process early…much earlier than you might think. We used to do this training two weeks before a launch, then we moved it to a month and a half before. Now, we start even earlier. For a big launch coming up in late April, we will begin affiliate training in January, possibly even before Christmas. We might do one session before Christmas and another in mid-January.

We hold strategy calls typically starting about six weeks out from the launch. We do a weekly strategy call where we focus on one aspect of the launch. For example, we’ll have a call about warming up your audience, creating a promo plan, developing a bonus package, promoting the workshop, promoting the webinar, and sales strategies. This time, we’re planning to start these calls at least three months out. We’ll do them less frequently at first, maybe every other week, giving affiliates more time to digest the information.

You can start with a big training session. Make it an event. Walk your affiliates through the promotion calendar and how to prepare. Teach them how to warm up their audience and what they can do to get their audience engaged now. Share basic strategies about affiliate promotions, how to find their links, how to get their login information, and how to use swipe copy. Cover all these details in the big training session. If you’d like to see how we train affiliates and get the exact templates we use for our training, click here.

Starting about two months out, begin weekly strategy calls. Use Zoom or another video conferencing tool. Make these calls interactive, like a virtual room where everyone can see each other. Present key points and then open the floor for Q&A and mastermind sessions. Encourage affiliates to share their ideas and strategies. This not only helps them learn but also builds a sense of community.

For example, with Stu McLaren’s The Membership Experience promo, we hosted six strategy sessions. We started with warming up the audience. We taught affiliates how to get their audience thinking about membership sites and recurring revenue. We suggested quoting Stu in their content, even if it wasn’t directly about the topic, just to introduce him to their audience.

The following week, we talked about creating promo plans. We provided a template that affiliates could download, copy, and tweak. We walked them through what they should be doing each week, when to mail their lists, and other key activities. We also discussed promotion strategies for workshops, such as creating opt-in bonuses. We had affiliates brainstorm and share their ideas, which helped inspire each other.

In week four, we focused on creating affiliate bonus packages. We walked them through how to use their current assets to create attractive bonuses. We even provided a template for setting up a bonus page and writing sales copy for each bonus. This step-by-step guidance made it easier for affiliates to put together compelling bonus packages.

In week five, we talked about promoting the webinar. We shared strategies and tips for getting the most out of webinar promotions. In week six, we focused on closing sales. Initially, this was an open strategy call because the promotion had already started. We adjusted based on what was happening in real-time. The following week, we revisited closing sales and refined our strategies.

These calls are crucial. Each one lasts about 75 minutes, with 15 to 25 minutes of teaching followed by strategy and Q&A. Affiliates get to ask questions, share their experiences, and learn from each other. It’s not just about what you teach them; it’s also about building a supportive community where they feel connected and motivated.

Training your affiliates is an ongoing process. You need to start early, stay consistent, and be engaged. Share what’s working for you, and encourage them to share their ideas. This collaborative approach not only helps them feel prepared but also keeps them motivated and excited about the upcoming promotion. The more invested they are, the better they will perform, and that’s how you build a successful affiliate program.

8 – Create Affiliate Commitment Plans

The next way to get your affiliates motivated and ready to rock your promotion is to give them a commitment plan. When you create these plans, it gets them thinking about the promotion and starts getting them fired up. It’s an opportunity for them to co-create that plan with you.

One of the best things you can do to get your affiliates to mail more often is to create a personal promotion plan with them. Below, I have a video that walks you through how we do ours (this is some of our “Secret Sauce” when we run affiliate programs for clients), but here is the gist:

Meet with affiliates one-on-one before the promotion and craft a custom promotion plan that works with their calendar. I have found that when I meet with a partner one-on-one, they tend to agree to at least a few extra emails more than they had previously planned on sending.

So, jump on Zoom or Skype and go through the promotion plan spreadsheet (you can get the template here) with them. Work through each of the ideal situations and adjust their personal plan to meet their needs. Here’s a look inside what this plan could look like:

Then, once you have their plan set, have them commit to it. Email them a copy of the spreadsheet, thanking them for their commitment to promote. More often than not, they’ll stick to that plan. If anything, they will add to it during the promotion, but they will rarely, if ever, subtract from it.

I have personally done these plans with people whose products I’m promoting. When I have fallen short in the middle of a promotion, I have added extra emails to make up for it. When I promise someone that I am going to mail eight times, then, by gosh, I’m going to mail eight times at a minimum! THAT is the power of creating personalized promotion plans with your affiliates.

“Promo Plans” are great, but we don’t call them that anymore. In our last big affiliate launch, we learned something that completely changed the way we do these…and got us an average of 1.7 more emails from each affiliate. That is a HUGE gain!

All by changing what we call them…”Commitment Plans” instead of “Promo Plans.” The principles of commitment and consistency (Thanks, Robert Cialdini) mean that what people commit to, they stick to.

The affiliates leave that meeting with a tangible asset, that spreadsheet that says, “here’s what I’ve committed to doing.” They’re fired up about it and motivated to sell more.

What about the smaller affiliates?

Obviously you can’t meet one-on-one with every single affiliate, so you focus those on your larger affiliates. For everyone else, we use what we call “ABC plans” and send a mass email with suggested promo plans. Here’s how they work:

A – All-In or Aggressive: This plan is for people who are in it to win it. Typically 15-20 emails.

B – Balanced: This is our Goldilocks plan. The plan between All-In and Conservative. Usually between 10 and 13 emails.

C – Conservative: This plan is for those who just want to dip their toes in the water. They aren’t 100% committed to a full promotion…yet. This is usually 5-9 emails.

Here’s just one example of a Balanced affiliate mailing plan from Michael Hyatt’s 5 Days to Your Best Year launch we ran.

The great thing about these plans is that if you get someone to commit to the Conservative plan, they almost always bump up to the Balanced plan. And those who commit to the Balanced plan almost always bump up to the All-In plan, especially when you announce prizes. The key is getting them to commit to something, which is easy to do with these clear plans.

As much as you may want to meet with every single affiliate one-on-one, the reality is you can’t. So, what can you do for them? Well, typically in a launch, if we have 500 affiliates promoting, I will meet with between 15 and 25 one-on-one. For everyone else, you want to give them some generic mailing plans that they can use to plan their promotion.

Our objective with these plans, much like with the personal promotion plans, is to get your affiliates to commit to some level of participation. You’re looking to get them to commit to a minimum number of emails like I mentioned above. What we’ve found is that affiliates who commit to the Conservative level will often move up to the Balanced (or even the All-In) level as the promotion progresses, the competition heats up, and prizes are on the line.

They want to “dip their toe in the water” and see “is this promotion going to work for me?” And then, if it looks like it’s working early on, they’ll get more aggressive as they go. But the key here is to get them to commit to SOMETHING on the front end. So, make it VERY easy to commit to the Conservative level.

Typically, the Conservative plan includes 2-4 emails to their entire list, 2-4 emails to unopens, and 2-4 emails to engaged contacts (usually opt-ins). This gets them to commit to between 6 and 8 emails total, which is a pretty easy commitment level, especially when as few as two of them are to their entire list.

Promo plan for affiliates

9 – Send Affiliates Their Resources

Getting your affiliates motivated for your promotion means getting their affiliate resources to them early. The swipe copy, social media graphics, and other materials should be in their hands well ahead of the promotion. This preparation time is critical for them to plan their promotion effectively.

In the past, affiliates often received swipe copy just a couple of days before the promotion. That’s simply not enough time for them to prepare. I started pushing for earlier delivery, initially aiming for a week before the promotion, then ten days. Now, I get nervous if we’re three weeks out and the swipe copy isn’t ready. Ideally, affiliates should have their materials at least two weeks before the launch, but why not aim for a month?

Early delivery of resources allows affiliates to integrate your promotion into their schedules smoothly. For those of us with copywriters, staying ten days ahead of schedule is essential. If you provide the swipe copy a week before the promotion, affiliates are already behind. This delay means fewer emails sent and more stress on their end to catch up.

Providing social media swipe copy and graphics early means affiliates can schedule posts in advance. If they’re promoting you from July 10 to 25, getting everything to them in June allows them to plan and schedule their posts before July even starts. This ensures they are not scrambling at the last minute.

Late delivery of resources can lead to missed opportunities. If affiliates receive materials just a few days before the promotion, they might be too busy to incorporate them into their plans effectively. This could mean fewer social media posts, emails, and overall engagement in your promotion.

So, the key takeaway is simple: get your affiliates their resources early. The earlier, the better. This ensures they have ample time to prepare, integrate your promotion into their schedule, and maximize their efforts for a successful promotion.

10 – Give Your Affiliates Pre-Promotion Material to Share

One way to get your affiliates motivated and ready for a big promotion is to give them pre-promotion content. This includes workshops, webinars, video series, ebooks, or any other free materials that lead into the main promotion. Providing this content helps affiliates warm up their audience well in advance.

Pre-promotion content can be a game-changer. By giving affiliates interviews, quotes for social media, articles to share, and topics to discuss, you are equipping them with the tools they need to engage their audience early. This keeps the promotion on their minds and helps build excitement.

It’s essential to provide this material months in advance. During your training and strategy calls, talk about how to use this content effectively. Give them things to promote four or five months out. This allows them to start seeding the promotion with their audience about three months before the promotion.

When affiliates start seeding the promotion early, their audience will be ready and excited when launch day arrives. This early engagement translates to higher enthusiasm and better results when the promotion officially starts.

So, give your affiliates pre-promotion content early and often. This will help them build momentum and keep the excitement high throughout the entire promotion period.

Bonus – Announce Something Special

I promised ten ways to motivate your affiliates, but here’s a bonus tip. Announcing something special can create extra excitement. It could be an extra prize, a new contest, or a new bonus.

For example, if you’re doing a summit, announce a new speaker or a new resource. You might say, “Hey, we’re a month from launch, and we’ve added something really cool – extra webinar days!” This keeps your affiliates engaged and looking forward to the promotion.

Extra affiliate prizes are another great way to boost motivation. Announce additional prizes or new contests. You could also offer more spots for interviews or exclusive bonuses. Anything that adds value and gets affiliates motivated works.

The goal is to keep the excitement high and remind them why they should be all in for your promotion. Announcing something special is a simple yet effective way to do just that.

Final Thoughts

So, there you have it – actually more than ten ways to warm up your affiliates and get them motivated before your launch or promo. Use all ten, or just seven or eight, but make sure you implement at least five of these strategies. They really work.

Don’t forget to download the timeline and commitment plan template here. This will help you stay organized and ensure you have everything in place to get your affiliates excited and ready.

If you have any questions, feel free to text me anytime at 260-217-4619. I’m always here to help.

Know someone running an affiliate program who struggles with getting their affiliates excited? Share this post with them. These methods are proven and have worked for over 20 years. Get your affiliates fired up and ready to rock your promotion!

By using these techniques, you’ll see a significant boost in affiliate engagement and motivation. Remember, keeping your affiliates motivated is key to a successful promotion. Good luck with your next promotion!