Launch Jacking in Affiliate Marketing – Red Flags and Dirt!

Today I'm going to talk about launch jacking in affiliate marketing. I'm going to talk about what it is and give you the red flags and the dirt. I'm also going to give you alternative ideas on promoting offers.

What the heck is launch jacking?

Launch jacking is when you're reviewing a product that just got launched through Youtube or a blog post. Then your hoping someone will buy through your link rather than someone else.

Every day people create products and they do launches. You can find these launches on a site called Muncheye.com. Usually, you can find these product launches on Jvzoo, Clickbank, and the Warrior Forum.

These launches already have buzz around them. Sometimes the creators will even create urgency into the launch. For example, during a period of time, the price is this much then after this date, the price will increase.

What happens is marketers with email lists will be promoting this product to their list. Usually, when someone views a new product they are not sure about it.

Very rarely does someone buy a product as soon as they see it the first time.

There is a theory that some people have to view a product 7 times before they pull the trigger.

What happens is the person that saw the product then goes on Youtube or Google and they see what others think of it.

When you launch jack you are creating your review about the product as a Youtube video or blog post on Google. Then when someone sees your review, you're probably going to give away some bonuses and hopefully, your prospect will buy from you.

I know what you might be thinking and that is what about the cookie?

With affiliate marketing, if someone clicks on your affiliate link a cookie tracks that person. Then if they buy you get paid because it's tracked through the cookie.

What if they click on another marketer's link then a week later click on your affiliate link and buy through you. Who gets the sale?

It's a good question. Jvzoo, which is an affiliate marketplace the last cookie gets the sale. If the last cookie they clicked on was yours then you get the sale.

If they clicked on your affiliate link then a week later they click on another review site and buy through someone else they get the sale.

Clickbank has the last cookie that gets the sale as well and the Warrior Forum.

You might be wondering how long the cookie lasts. With Jvzoo the cookie lasts for 30 days. This means that if someone clicks your affiliate link if they buy within 30 days you still will get the credit.

If they clear their cookies then of course you don't get the credit. With Clickbank, the cookie lasts for 60 days. With Warrior Special Offers, the Warrior Forum the cookie lasts for 60 days as well.

Red Flags with Launch Jacking

As more and more people learn about launch jacking and start to do it, the competition increases and it can be more difficult to rank.

Another challenge with this type of marketing is the rule that someone has to look at something 7 times before they buy.

If you are doing a blog post or Youtube video that reviews a product you have 1 shot to close that person.

If that person views your content and decides to not click on your link, you lost that person forever. This is why I'm a big believer in an email list.

With an email list you can contact someone multiple times and this of course will increase your odds of making a sale. Plus you own that list and nobody can take it away.

All the major social media channels can make changes and if you only rely on them you can have a bad day. 

A better way to do launch jacking is to have an email list of people interested in a niche and then promote launches to that list.

This way you can allow your audience to see that product over 7 times. You can also do some nifty things to promote the product and your sales will probably increase.  

It's better to think long term rather than short term. A list is more long term thinking.

The next challenge with launch jacking is getting approved to promote the products. If you are a new marketer with no experience then it's harder to get approved.

The reason why is product creators are not sure if you're going to promote their product using shady tactics and if their refund rate jumps up that can hurt them.

One idea to bypass this is to send the creator a personal video explaining how you plan on promoting their product and asking if they would please consider you.

A video helps because it's credibility and you are already putting yourself out there, which is much more than the average person will do.

The next red flag with launch jacking is the ethics.

Is launch jacking ethical?

Some people who do launch jacking get the product for free through a review copy. Yes, if you're a marketer when there is a launch you can ask the creator to give you a copy for free because you want to promote it.

If your a new marketer then your chance of a review copy is going to be much smaller. If you have a massive list and your well known then the creator might even pay you to check out their product.

Think of it like influencer marketing right?

The question is if you got the product for free is it ethical for you to charge someone else for a copy? You are asking someone to do something that you didn't do yourself.

Some people have no problems doing that, others feel a little off. I'm curious what do you think about this? Is it ok to charge someone for a product that you got for free?

Another ethical question with launch jacking has to do with the review itself. If you do a review for a product that you never have used is that a good idea?

This is the dirt that every marketer has to face and it's a tough question. Maybe the commission is very high, but the product sucks do you still promote it?

A while back I read a book called "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Ryn. It's a wonderful book and it's very long. In the book, the main character is an architect who does the work he loves, doesn't listen to his peers, doesn't do what his family wants, and is very happy.

He is not a sale out – doing things just for the money.

The truth is we are all sell-outs to a certain degree because we have bills to pay. The argument is that if you can live your life on the lower side of being a sell-out you will be happier.

This has to do with living a minimalistic life, not buying dumb shit, and of course doing the work you love.

If you are promoting a product you absolutely love then people are going to read that.

You also might be happier with what you are giving to the world. You also might have an easier time promoting it because your enthusiasm and energy will be contagious.

This is a deep topic and I think it's healthy to think about it.

Other Ways to do Launch Jacking..

Another way to do launch jacking is to buy the product, this way the creator gets paid and then use it for 2 weeks. Using the product can help you with your review and it will give you credibility and of course trust.

In fact, I think money itself is just trust.

The more you can gain trust the better off you will be in the long term of things.

Another way to do launch jacking is by using a list. I talked about this earlier, but you would promote the launch to your list since the scarcity might already be included in the launch this can work in your favor.

The third way to do launch jacking is to create your own launch jack. What this means is you take an evergreen product. Evergreen means that it will hold value for a long time.

Then what you can do is create your own urgency into that product. One way to do this is to create really good bonuses, make them super valuable, and then after you promote the product for a week you simply remove the bonuses if someone doesn't buy.

This way if someone is on the fence and the bonuses they really want are about to be taken away it increases the chance of them pulling the trigger.

The benefit of an evergreen launch is you probably have more time to use the product and this can help you give a better review of it.

No matter how you do launch jacking the key is you have to promote something. If you get everything wrong, but you know how to promote products then you will make money.

On the flip side if you get everything right, but you don't know how to promote things it's hard to make any money. It helps to do something different than what everyone else is doing, especially with a launch.

I found a guide that I think is the most helpful guide on how to promote offers. I've used it for a long time, it helped me and if you want to check it out all you have to do is click on the link below or go to trustthelink.com.

You like that domain, you can trust the link? I thought it was different.

I hope this article on Launch Jacking in Affiliate Marketing was helpful to you, if it was then please hit the thumbs up button.

Enough about me, I'm curious about your thoughts. Have you experimented with launch jacking? Is it ethical to promote products you have not used? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Bye for now.