Success by Brand Association

Have you ever wondered about that one tipping point that propels a product into insane success overnight?

Why is it that sometimes that a business can be around for ages, yet its products and services are not as widely exposed to potential customers and clients as they should be?

While longevity may or may not deliver results, there are certain proactive initiatives that a business can take to expedite the process of getting noticed by the masses…

Why Can’t Marketers Get the Traction They Need?

Whenever a new business enters the marketplace, it takes it some time for consumers to become aware of, and trust, its products and services. One way a business can quicken the pace of the “honeymoon phase” is by associating itself with a pre-existing, credible brand name.

Whether a business operates online or off, giving away free teasers in the form of products and services is a common way to gain initial familiarity, as well as trust and loyalty in the long run. For an internet marketer like myself, eBooks are one of the more common products used as an incentive for readers to sign up for email newsletters, blog updates, or perform any other desired action.

For example, I have a free report on my blog that demonstrates “how to go from $0 to a $1,000 a month passive and residual income stream all in your spare time”. Visitors find the value proposition attractive, sign up to become readers (i.e. consumers of my information) and download their copies instantly. Similarly, any other business may entice its potential customers (who are initially mere visitors) with a free giveaway before offering them the core product or service of their business.

In the internet marketing world, because eBooks are so easy to create, as compared to other digital and physical products, many business owners publish them to sell on their websites and blogs. Very often they use the ClickBank Marketplace, which is a platform that allows publishers to automate the marketing, selling, accounting, payment collecting and affiliate management for their eBook. Each one of my niche websites has a corresponding eBook, which is available for sale on the website through the ClickBank platform.

I have been selling eBooks online since 2008, and currently have over a dozen that are selling very well. In fact I haven’t touched my first eBook since it was published in 2008, and I am selling more copies of it today than ever before thanks to increasing traffic to the niche website that promotes it.

With this track record, I consider myself a successful marketer – at least in terms of eBooks! And what I did to accomplish the boost in my eBook’s credibility and sales is something any marketer can do in any business or industry.

Association with a Big Brand Name Helps Expedite and Multiply Success

One specific action that has helped me gain instant credibility – which in turn led to increased sales, is my association with a big brand name: Amazon. When Amazon released the Kindle, it also launched its Kindle Books program; a self publishing platform that allows authors to submit their eBooks to Amazon for inclusion in the Kindle marketplace.

I saw this as an opportunity to gain association with a big brand name quite easily. I already had eBooks, the program was simple and free to join, so I thought: “why not?”

The interesting thing is that, although generating sales through Amazon was not the primary objective of this exercise (marketing was!), I noticed my sales increase because of the massive customer market awaiting new releases on Amazon, as well as the instant credibility that my product gained from brand association with a widely recognized name.

Here is how I leveraged the Kindle Books platform for one of my niche websites on raw dog food.

The image sits dead center on my eBook sales page which is accessible through my website. I don’t know about you, but if I were a visitor to a website and saw that the site’s eBook was also selling on Amazon, it would give me added comfort and increase the credibility of the eBook in my mind. What about yours? 😉

You’ll notice that the price on Amazon is higher than the price of the eBook on my website. Why? Well, Amazon takes a big chunk of the sales price when the eBook is sold through their website, whereas I keep most of the proceeds if I sell the book through my own. I did this as a marketing initiative, mostly to gain credibility through brand association.

Similarly, any marketers in any business or industry can apply a similar approach to brand association. For example, a shoemaker may distribute free pairs of the latest spring sneakers to targeted celebrities they feel would be the most inclined to wear them. When a celebrity wears the shoe, the shoemaker can instantly gain a credibility boost which leads to bigger and better brand recognition which will, in turn, result in more sales.

An accounting firm can offer free or discounted services to a famous company or individual, just to be able to include them on their client list. Seeing that recognizable logo on the firm’s website, prospective clients will be that much more likely to make a buying decision in favor of the firm.

The Primary and Collateral Benefits of Brand Name Association

While a credibility boost was my main motive when I first signed up with Kindle Books, the collateral benefit extended into sales of my eBooks through the Amazon platform independently of my website, which created exponential growth in profits for me because of the number of eBooks I published on Amazon. If you create eBooks, a similar tactic could work for you.

I highly recommend leveraging your products and the platforms they can be sold on to gain maximum benefit from your marketing initiatives. If you offer an eBook as part of your marketing initiative, check out Amazon Kindle Books for an instant boost to both your sales and credibility.

Over to you – what tips can you share on increasing one’s sales and credibility through brand association?