Affiliate Marketing is like a Parable : Free Product Samples from Merchants
posted in Affiliate Marketing, Moose's Proverbs |
Let me start with a folk tale:
“The story is told that there once was a blind beggar (the merchant) who sat beside a road, fingering the rice in his little bowl. He wore only a loin loth and sat in poverty beside the road that stretched nowhere in both directions.
The scarce travellers occasionally gave him a little rice. One day he heard the thunder of a chariot in the distance. It was the grand entourage of the king (the affiliate). This was a moment that had never come before and probably would ever come again. Surely the great king (the affiliate) would stop and give him baskets of rice.
Indeed, the golden chariot of the king (the affiliate) stopped before the poor beggar (the merchant). The great one stepped down, and the beggar (the merchant) fell before him. Then the sky seemed to fall in.
Give me your rice, please” politely asked the king (the affiliate).
A fearful and hateful scowl masked the face of the beggar (the merchant). He reached into his bowl and thrust one grain of rice toward the king (the affiliate).
“Is that all?” said the king (the affiliate).
The beggar (the merchant) spat on the ground, cursed and threw the king (the affiliate) one more grain of rice, then got up & walked away in a huff. The great king (the affiliate) then turned, entered his chariot and was gone.
The beggar (the merchant), angry, empty & crushed, fingered the remaining rice he had hoarded in this bowl. He felt something hard, different from the rice. He pulled it out … It as one kernel of gold. He then poured out the rest of his rice, caring nothing for it now … He found one other grain of gold.
Had he trusted the king (the affiliate), he could have had a grain of gold for every grain of rice!!!”
Now this was a story I sent to a merchant (the beggar) sometime back, that merchant (the beggar) was Linkword Languages who was looking for more business from affiliates (the kings), so I politely asked him whether I could have a sample of the product to learn Portugese & properly test the product. His direct response was that we will have to purchase our own via the commissions in the sales we pushed to him! So I sent the story & heard nothing more.
So for some merchants (the beggars), think about this Parable. Free product samples can go a long way.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few generous merchants (this time the kings) out there from Buyagift to Prezzybox to occassional freebies we unexpectedly receive to sponsors of Affiliates4U events … and more recently a massive thanks to the sponsors of the Affiliates4U Fantasy Football Competition which Mark at Existem has organised like Historic Papers, Best of the Best & Subside Sports.
Definition: Parable … is a brief tale intended to be understood as an allegory illustrating some lesson or moral.
Definition: Allegory … the representation of abstract ideas or principles by characters, figures, or events in narrative, dramatic, or pictorial form.
