Ian On The Red Dot

The common way of affiliate marketing has been to write copy, stick it on a website and hope the copy convinces people to purchase your product. I’m simplifying of course but you get the drift. New York Times has an article about a new system for affiliate marketing from the company TrialPay.

I’m actually more interested in how the idea for this company’s innovative product and service came about.

Mr. Rampell started TrialPay in 2003 as he looked for creative ways to entice software customers to pay for his products. In the first incarnation of the service, he offered customers his PC-security software free, as long as they signed up for a Netflix account.

He started with the desire to find a solution for his own needs. This is something I have been a big believer of - companies with products and services which work tend to be those that meet some need. It helps if the needs were those that the founders had.