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Don't be one of these... also, don't let your cat sit on a scanner.

It’s never been more difficult to be an affiliate marketer. Thousands are pouring into the space, hoping for a piece of a pie where the slices are already cut too thin. Affiliates are getting booted off of Google Adwords and Facebook. Advertisers are running out of money or can’t continue their continuity practices with merchant accounts being shut down. And networks are trying to make cut-backs getting rid of low performing managers, referral programs and bonuses given out to their best affiliates.

But I think what is really making the affiliate poorer than he really should be is the sheer amount of copy-cats trying to enter performance marketing. People are ripping Facebook ads left and right. I constantly get emailed and asked if I have a PPV spy (and the answer is “No”). And some are straight up giving you their campaigns. While there is nothing wrong with any of these tools or showing someone how they built a profitable campaign, there is a problem with everyone going straight out, ripping their exact techniques – same ads, same pictures, same targeting – and attempting to make a carbon copy affiliate campaign.

While I was doing my last few consulting sessions, a lot of the people say they read about a campaign someone else did or copied some ads like they saw on the ad board. As they’re probably someone inexperienced with affiliate marketing, I can’t say I blame them. It’s tough to make an original campaign when you aren’t in the right mindset. It’s easier to copy. Actually, sometimes I’m not sure if they’re taking the easy way out, or the lazy way out.

I try to talk to others about affiliate marketing, attempting to make you change the way you approach selecting and creating an ad campaign. Sure, you can run an ad you saw up on the ad board, but wouldn’t you like to make it better? Don’t you think there are already 10 others running that same ad targeting the same demographics?
That’s a lot of people all bidding for the same users view for the exact same thing. Your target demo will get bored, and you’ll get frustrated and come asking me why it isn’t profiting for you but you see everyone else doing it.

Take a step back, rethink how you can use the same techniques or same offer, but in a unique way. “Are there anyways I can still hit the same group of people but with unique targeting? Are there any specific keywords I can use to increase my CTR? I can target niche URLs, but targeting URLs where my customers might also visit could help. Why don’t I try targeting by workplace or college the user went to. Yeah… that might work!”

Copying ads you see creates competition (more so a challenge for yourself). It makes you a very simple marketer, which means you won’t be able to innovate when shit hits the fan and all your offers dump you. It increases click costs decreasing your change to profit. It increases CTR making it even more difficult to profit again. I’ll tell you once and I’ll tell you over and over again. Innovate, innovate, and god dammit! INNOVATE! Take advice with and campaign examples as a learning experience, and see how you can better top them rather than see how fast you can right out copy them.