Connecting Pain Points to Products: An example with Dancing!

One key element for success in Affiliate Marketing is connecting the products you recommend to problems that people are having.

If you find a common problem and then you find a product that solves that problem, you have a real chance of making sales and profits.

But how can you find problems in the first place?

One technique that I've found useful is to search in online forums, such as Quora and Reddit, using parts of phrases that might be used if someone was describing a problem they were having.

As an example you might search for "Quora" + "Why can"

For research for this post, that's exactly what I searched for and I found a Quora thread titled: "Why can some people dance and some can't".

Interesting...

When I read through the post I found the following related questions:

So there's clearly a common problem here of not being able to dance in social situations (I can certainly relate to that!) and the wording in the questions indicate to me that the writers are actively looking for support or ideas to help them overcome this problem.

So with the problem identified, we need to look for a solution.

Now, as we know, WA has a great Affiliate Program finder within the HUBS module, but just for quickness I Googled "affiliate programs for learning to dance at parties".

Amongst the results, I found a company that offers online dance lessons and, particularly relevant for the problem we have identified, they specifically help beginners!

Now, I have no idea whether 'Steezy' is any good or not as I haven't researched them thoroughly (which you would of course do if you were to recommend them), but on the face of it their product seems to fit perfectly with the problem our Quora posters have.

So we found a problem - feeling awkward trying to dance at parties - and now we have a potential solution - an online dance course aimed at beginners.

Making this 'connection' is vital

Hopefully this example clearly illustrates the concept of connecting problems to the products that solve those problems. This concept is, in my opinion, vital as strong connections are the driving force behind successful affiliate marketing.

On the flip side, the online world is littered with product review web pages where there's no clear picture of who the product is aimed at, or they don't make it totally clear why someone would want to buy the product. Those web pages, the ones that lack the strong connection, just won't cut it.

PPC or SEO - it's the 'connection' that makes things work

Imagine you chose to promote the 'Steezy' affiliate program and say you chose to run a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) campaign:

• Your ad would target search terms similar to those questions that our Quora users used
• You would take visitors to a landing page showing the dance moves that people can learn
• You might include videos of yourself and/or your friends learning the dance moves
• You present the Steezy online program as the solution

Likewise, if you were choosing SEO as the preferred marketing route, you would:

• Create your relevant posts talking about the problem
• Include videos etc and other promotional ideas
• Present the Steezy product as a solution.

However, no matter which method you choose, the key, vital element is that you are providing a solution to a real problem that people are having.

Conclusion

In my opinion, I think that the concept of strongly connecting problems to products that solve those problems, is something that many people never properly get to grips with.

And not getting to grips with the idea, limits the chances of making sales. This is because, in reality, potential customers won't part with their cash online, unless they're getting something that solves a problem for them.

So, I recommend 100% that, as you build out your own affiliate marketing business here on the WA platform, please revisit who your audience is - identify clearly the problems they have - and ensure that the products you recommend directly solve those problems.

Hope that makes sense and is useful!

Thanks

John