Affiliate marketing is an excellent and proven way to fill events, particularly if your list is not big enough or responsive enough to fill your seminars, teleseminars and webinars.

Affiliates are individuals or companies who promote your seminar in exchange for a commission for every registration they generate. For best results, look for affiliates who already market to your target audience.

Marketing your event through affiliates allows you to leverage the relationships that they have already built with your target audience. When they promote your event to their lists, they are lending credibility to your seminar, essentially endorsing it and recommending it to their subscribers.

Here are 7 places you can search for potential affiliates.

  1. Search engines. Go to your favorite search engine (e.g., Google or Yahoo!) and think like your prospective customers. Enter the keywords you think they would use to find you and what you’re offering (e.g., wealth seminars, business building seminar, business coach, etc.). Check out the other sites that come up in the search listing.
  2. Pay-Per-Click ads. While you’re using your favorite search engine, take a look at the pay-per-click that pop up when you type in your keywords. Click on the ads to see what other experts are advertising to your target audience.
  3. Associations. Check out the membership roster for local state, regional and national associations. Investigate associations joined by your potential attendees. The companies you want to meet are likely to be listed as affiliate or partner members – the special class of membership created for vendors that serve the association’s main membership. Also check out organizations for members of your profession.
  4. Survey your list. Ask your subscribers and clients to tell you what other experts they listen to, follow and hire.
  5. Network. The more you are out and about, the more likely you are to hear about and meet your people who would make good affiliates.
  6. Read industry publications. As with associations, you should check out publications written for your profession, as well as publications that are geared toward your prospects. Study the ads to see what other events and products are being publicized.
  7. Phone book. Don’t overlook the Yellow Pages or its online equivalents, such as SuperPages.com. This resource is especially helpful if you are marketing a local event and want to find local competitors.

Affiliates can be your direct competitors. However, they don’t have to be. The key is that your promotional partners have relationships with prospects who are likely to need, want and pay for your seminar.