Launching products or services is always a great idea. Some business owners, who don’t understand the marketing dynamics well, simply throw out their product or service for the audience to discover.
Yeah, that’s what differentiates between ‘launching’ something and simply starting it. And that is also one of the many reasons why 90% of startups fail.
If you are an entrepreneur, startup, marketing guru, or even an established business, we already know how concerned you are about launching your next big idea perfectly.
You wouldn’t want to become just one of the statistics from above. So, here is a concept that you need to digest well. And if you do so, it can increase the chances of your success manyfold. It’s called Launch Jacking.
Launch jacking is when you piggyback off of the success of another business in order to generate traffic and sales for your own business.
Well, if you’re curious about what launch jacking can do for you, here are my results:
In this blog post, we will discuss everything you need to know about launch jacking. To give you some idea before diving in, we will discuss what it is, how you can do it, have people already done it? If they have, did they succeed?
Let’s get started!
- What is Launch Jacking?
- How Does Launch Jacking Work?
- How to Start Making Money with Launch Jacking?
- Can You Launch Jack Digital Products?
- Can You Launch Jack Physical Products?
- Launch Jacking: Physical Products Vs Digital Products
- Is Launch Jacking Profitable?
- Is Launch Jacking legal?
- Pros & Cons Of Launch Jacking
- In Conclusion
What is Launch Jacking?
Launch jacking is the “buzzword” in affiliate marketing these days. It’s a marketing technique where an individual or company promotes products or services during the pre-launch phases of another business’s product or service.
The aim is to benefit from the exposure and hype that surrounds a launch and grab all the traffic and sales for your own business. This practice is gaining fast popularity, especially in the digital marketing and affiliate marketing spaces.
Now, according to some institutions (you know the nerd ones), it is “unethical.” Well, it would be unethical if you ‘steal’ someone’s ingenious ‘idea.’
But here, we are not talking about stealing anything at all. Launch jacking in affiliate marketing is actually all about being super vigilant. If someone is a hawk of affiliate marketing, you have to be the falcon.
Excited enough? Keep reading, and you will find out exactly how you can do it, too.
How Does Launch Jacking Work?
If you have ever made any online purchase, which of course, you have, you already know you can’t just rely on a new name so easily.
What do you do, then?
You read its reviews online or watch a YouTube video.
And who does these reviews? Affiliate marketers do!
Professional affiliate marketers often have a long email list of consumers. They acquire it gradually by working their way up in sales and marketing.
Then whenever there is an upcoming product or service within the niche, they write a direct-response email copy.
They then send this email to their list. Now depending on how good of a job they have done with the email, consumers will either buy the said product or service from their affiliate link or not.
In case a consumer feels skeptical about this strange email, they will go straight to Google or YouTube to know more about it.
And this is where launch jacking comes into the picture.
You may already have posted a review on your blog or made a YouTube video about it. It will rank quickly because of the high search volume.
This search volume would be there because of all the traffic from those emails (which some other marketers have sent).
Basically, they create all the hype, and you simply set a trap and then wait and watch.
How to Start Making Money with Launch Jacking?
So here is your complete step-by-step guide to launch jacking. If you have made it here, without skipping any of the above information, you already have an abstract picture in your mind. It’s time to make it concrete.
Step 1: Pick a Niche
Depending on your experiences, expertise, skills, knowledge, or interests, you can easily pick a niche for starting with launch jacking. Here are a few of hundreds of product-launch calendar websites where you will be doing all the hunting:
1. Muncheye
2. JVnotifypro
3. Flashreviewz
4. Mei-review
For this guide, our reference will be Muncheye. But other websites also work in similar ways.
You can see a list of categories in the screenshot below. If you are able to find a suitable niche within these categories, you can carry on with Muncheye. Otherwise, you can check other websites. We are sure you will find the perfect niche as per your interest.
Step 2: Keep an Eye on the Launch Dates
All the launches that take place on a daily basis can be directly seen here. You will need to bookmark these websites and visit them often if you want to stay relevant.
Since this guide was written on the 4th of March, 2022, you can see in the screenshot above there are 4 launches in the “All Launches” section and 1 in the Big Launches.
While on some other websites and in different categories, you will find several launches taking place in a day. As a beginner, while you are not ready to start launch jacking your first product or service launch, you will need to notice trends.
You will observe several patterns or trends in these launches. In a week or two, you will get the hang of it, and it will start making more sense to you.
Now, let’s take one of the above launches and explore a little further. For example, we are going to go with “Offline Sharks: Home Services Jackpot.”
When we click on that link, we can see the following information about the launch.
It has the launch time, front-end price, commission, and most importantly, the JV page. JV here stands for Joint Venture (details coming in step#3).
You also need to know that when you are considering a product or service launch for jacking, there will already be hundreds of thousands of emails flying from affiliate marketers to the consumers.
They will be promoting that same product or service. And that’s the reason why you would always want to work on a launch at least a week in advance.
You will need time to work on the review. Whether you review using a blog or make a YouTube video about it, you will need to cover all the important aspects of the product or service.
Because remember, you will be sitting and waiting for the skeptical consumers. 90% of the people who will come to your blog or vlog will be curious to know about the product or service.
And that’s the reason you will need to make a genuinely impressive one. One that convinces the visitor to agree that you are the right person to talk about that particular product or service.
Step 3: Don’t Cop Out on the Review
Once you get it all into your head, there is a high chance that your eyes will be looking for DOLLARS. And with the greed for making quick money, you might want to skip all the hard work.
You might want to cop out on the review and simply copy the original video from the creator of the service or product, post it on YouTube and cash it out. But remember this, IT DOESN’T WORK.
If you expect to sell something with this technique, which most people try when they begin with launch jacking, your launch jacking venture will drown before even floating.
So, make an absolutely genuine review. To do that, you will need to go to the JV page we discussed earlier. In the screenshot below, you can see all the important information and necessary announcements regarding the service or product.
Based on this information, you will be able to make as detailed a review as possible. There will also be some information on the upsells. So make sure to include that in your review as well because you shouldn’t leave out any chance of making free money.
And if you want to go the extra mile, you can always reach out to the creators of the product or service. See the screenshot below.
Step 4: Get Your Affiliate Link
So, in the sequence, this would be the first thing to do when you begin with any actual launch jacking project.
But listing it here later in the guide was important as not to confuse you with what this link would do for you. But now you already know!
You will need this link for your review. Regardless of the way you choose for making the review, video, or blog, this link is what it’s all about. This will be your affiliate link. And here is how you can apply for this link.
This section will be available on the same JV page. As soon as you register on the website, you can simply apply for the affiliate link.
But as a beginner, it’s not that simple to get this affiliate link. When you apply through this link, you will be put on a waiting list for approval.
So, our advice to all the newbie launch hijackers is to apply to as many products or services as possible. And of course, you will be applying for this affiliate link weeks in advance.
Then you will need to keep an eye on what affiliate link you get and which ones get denied. In the beginning, you will be denied several times.
But no need to worry. There are always some creators who give chances to newbies as well. And if you want to best avail that chance, make sure to generate some sales through your affiliate links.
Not only is that important for making money but also building a good reputation in this industry as an affiliate marketer.
The best way to keep track of all the applied links is to set up your Google calendar on your phone and computer.
This way, you will always be able to enter the important launch dates, approved affiliate links for those dates, and more. When you organize your work, you will be able to look at the bigger picture.
Step 5: Get Yourself a Review Copy
This is the final step before you can make your review that will sell like crazy. Once your application is approved and you have got your affiliate link, you need to go to the Contact section on the JV page (discussed in step#3).
But remember this, you need to do this only after your affiliate link is in your hands. So go to the contact section and find out the contact details of the creators.
Then send them a proposal for obtaining your official review copy. This way, you will be doing all the launch jacking thing legitimately with all the approvals. All you have to do is, take the other route.
Another route here refers to the review you are going to make in the form of a blog or a YouTube video rather than sending promotional emails.
Can You Launch Jack Digital Products?
The answer is a big yes! The reason why we say that is because launch jacking digital products is a viable method to make money online.
Hundreds of affiliate marketers are already doing it. Since digital products are easier to promote, it is a good way to get started.
We should say that launch jacking digital products is the most effective way to make money online. However, you need to get the hang of it. It takes time and patience. But it is worth it.
The concept here to understand is you are making money in the form of commissions. This means you are helping the original seller promote their business.
Every consumer who buys the digital product from your affiliate link not only makes you money but also builds your trust with the seller.
Let’s recap it once again:
You launch jack a new digital product, let’s say a new e-book or a new software product. You get an affiliate link to promote the product.
Then you obtain all the information you can on the product from the JV page. Once your detailed review for the product is ready, you simply place the affiliate link there and ask the visitors to buy the product using that link.
Your email subscribers will click on your affiliate link, and they will be redirected to the product landing page. Once they are redirected to the landing page, they will have a chance to purchase the product.
Can You Launch Jack Physical Products?
Of course, you can. Physical product launch jacking also works the same way as you do for digital products (as explained above).
The only difference is the trust issues. Consumers often trust a new brand for a digital product easily. But they find it hard to rely on the reviews for a new physical product, especially when the product is not circulating in the market already.
So, in order to launch jack a physical product, you need to follow the same steps which we discussed above. But in addition to that, you need to create a video with a testimonial of a consumer who has used that product and has had an amazing experience with the product.
This way, you can show your consumers that the product is worth trusting. You will be able to show your consumers that it is safe for them to use the product and that they can trust it to work for them.
Now the problem with this is where to get the testimonials for the product that hasn’t been launched yet?
And the answer is again with the creators of the product. You will need to contact them to provide you with genuine testimonials.
They must have some testimonials ready for you because they may be testing their product and collecting its testimonials before announcing the launch.
Launch Jacking: Physical Products Vs Digital Products
| Physical Products | Digital Products |
|---|---|
| Affiliates will see a high conversion rate. | The conversion rate will be a little low for obvious reasons. |
| Very easy to promote as people believe in physical products. | A bit tricky to sell and find unique selling points/angles. |
| Low commission rates will be offered because of the inventory as well as the shipping. | High commission rates because everything is profits other than the marketing. |
| A high volume of returns and conflicts if the products are damaged. | A lot of strategies/conditions that can resist refunds. |
Is Launch Jacking Profitable?
Another big yes! Only here, we also have a real example of someone making money with launch jacking.
This is an example of how Dan Morris launch jacked a physical product and made some serious cash.
He had a website about heat press machines – a product that decorates clothing. He also had cutting machines for sale.
Dan owned and used Cricut’s cutting machines since they were the most popular in his target market. Several of his reviews dealt with Cricut machines. In addition to heat press search terms, Dan’s site ranked well in Cricut search terms.
Almost every year, Cricut released new products, and Dan was always on the lookout for the next one. A new product was teased for a month or so before release, and Dan and his team always wanted to write the first review.
It was announced in 2018 that Cricut would be releasing its first heat press – the Cricut Easy Press. This product gave Dan the perfect opportunity to launch Jack.
In a 500-word post, Dan summarized whatever information he had found about the product. The post topped the search results for all terms associated with the machine the following day.
Cricut EasyPress’s launch date was still several months after the initial announcement, and this article ranked in position number one to three for several weeks after its release.
The search volume for ‘Cricut Easy Press’ was estimated to be 35K. This is in addition to all the other keywords the post ranked for.
Imagine how awesome it was for Dan to rank number 1 for all of the main keywords at launch.
Is Launch Jacking legal?
Theoretically speaking, launch jacking a product or service is not illegal. The issue arises when you get involved in it without permission and try to make a profit out of it.
In other words, when you start promoting another person’s product or service before its launch, without their consent.
According to our method, you will just be sharing information that has been freely provided by the owner of the product or service.
It’s just that we have already cracked the equation of all the traffic movement from the emails sent by other affiliate marketers. We also have found that this method works 100% of the time.
In this method, you are doing all things legal. You are getting your official affiliate link from the original seller. You are getting your official review copy.
And you are also providing all the genuine information about the product or the service. So, yes, Launch Jacking is 100% legal with this method.
Pros & Cons Of Launch Jacking
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Very easy to get started for beginners. | A lot of upfront work is required. |
| Launches generally pay a lot of money and attract a lot of visitors. | There aren’t going to be great launches all the time. You will have to wait. |
| Chances to win extra money via bonuses. | Not every time your reviews are going to rank and drive traffic. |
| Marketing resources will be provided to every affiliate. | Sometimes you might end up promoting products that do more harm than help. |
In Conclusion
In conclusion, you should write honest reviews and actually care about the consumers. If you ever try to make your reviews all shiny and harmless (that is, when you don’t list any of the real cons of the product or service), you will have to face an enormous refund rate.
A lot of consumers will refund the product or service. And ultimately, you will lose their trust. It will also tarnish your image as an affiliate marketer in the long run.
So, make sure that you keep things transparent from day one, and launch jacking can be the best way to make serious money online.
