Affiliate marketing is all about connecting. In today's marketplace, due to its highly competitive nature, it's getting more difficult to form connections. That's because consumers have so much coming at them in the form of advertising that it's all a blur to them. That's why you have to be innovative as an affiliate marketer to get their attention.

Once you define a particular market for your affiliate product, you have to decide how to reach them. They need to know about you and the more of them that do the better. You cannot let your message be part of the aforementioned blur. You have to stand out. You do that by applying guerrilla-marketing techniques to grab potential customers' attention.

If you sell vitamins and other health care products, you need to get attention for your product. Why not dress up as a giant vitamin tablet and form an association with a local retailer or gymnasium whereby you give informational lectures as Mr. Vitamin to youngsters. You create interest for the retailer, your product, and reach a younger audience that may be a perfect market for your business.

That's one example of moving away from staid old "here's my pamphlet and product catalog" advertising. It isn't relying solely on someone clicking on a banner add on a website. It doesn't matter what you're selling there are different ways to sell it that are beyond the traditional. That same vitamin product can garner a new niche through joining an association such as a running group or whatever else that interests you. You then become a member of running forums online, where you talk about your health interests and point people to your affiliate product.

That's why guerrilla marketing is suited to the internet. With the new social media portals, e-mail newsletters, banner advertising, and viral marketing you really reach new audiences fast. The thing is to pick a targeted niche then focus your guerrilla marketing to them to meet their needs.

If your affiliate product is gourmet-chocolate then you may want to target high-end gift retailers in large metropolitan areas. You have to focus your e-mail campaigns to them. You may have to send them unique sales letters with small samples. You may have to attend trade shows where they are. You may have to advertise your chocolate in trade journals, online and off-line that they read. You may have to get out the phone book and get business addresses and start pounding doors. Just because you do business online does not mean you forgo off-line marketing methods.

You may need to travel to them with a wagon load full of samples with a unique digital media presentation in hand to get their attention. It's all about being creative and doing whatever you need to do to find your market and excite them. That high-end gift retailer may need someone vibrant and "outside the box thinking" such as you to perk their interest. You may excite them about your product due to your wild and crazy advertising methods. They may choose your gourmet product just because you livened their day up with your unique presentation of it.

Sometimes guerrilla marketing is nothing more than catching people off guard and getting them to loosen up a bit to give your product a chance. Don't be afraid to perform "contrast marketing". Direct a sophisticated campaign to a hip niche; direct a hip campaign to a sophisticated niche. Catch them by surprise and get them thinking outside the box themselves. Guerrilla marketing is unconventional, non-traditional, and contrasts from the expected norm. Try it; you and your pocketbook may like it.