The holiday season is when consumers are actively looking for deals, gifts, promotions and new brands to buy from.
Yet many ecommerce merchants still don't have a strong promotional cadence in place for their affiliate partners.
That is a missed opportunity. Hire ecomko to manage your affiliate program and Holiday promotions.
During Q4, millions of shoppers visit coupon sites, cashback platforms, deal communities, gift sites and shopping publishers specifically looking for ways to save money. These consumers are already in a buying mindset. Hire ecomko to manage your affiliate program and Holiday promotions.
Your brand needs to be there.
Consumers Are Looking for Deals All Holiday Season
Holiday shopping doesn't happen on just Black Friday and Cyber Monday anymore. Consumers begin shopping earlier and continue looking for promotions throughout December and into the New Year.
A strong affiliate strategy should create a consistent promotional calendar around the major shopping moments: Contact ecomko to manage your affiliate program.
| Holiday / Shopping Event | Typical Promotional Opportunity |
|---|---|
| Halloween | October 1–31 |
| Veterans Day | November 1–11 |
| Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving week |
| Black Friday | Black Friday weekend |
| Small Business Saturday | Saturday after Thanksgiving |
| Cyber Monday | Cyber Monday |
| Giving Tuesday | Tuesday after Thanksgiving |
| Hanukkah | Date varies annually |
| Christmas | December 1–24 |
| Christmas Eve | December 24 |
| New Year's Eve | December 31 |
| New Year's Day | January 1 |
| Valentine's Day | January 1–February 14 |
And the opportunity doesn't end with a holiday.
Gift guides, "best gifts under $50," last-minute gifts, stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, self-care gifts and post-holiday sales can continue generating affiliate sales throughout the season.
What Are Merchants Missing?
Consider the potential reach available through just a handful of major shopping and savings platforms.
Capital One Shopping attracts approximately 41 million monthly visits.
Groupon generates approximately 26 million monthly visits.
SimplyCodes generates approximately 18 million monthly visits.
Rakuten generates more than 100 million monthly visits globally.
Swagbucks generates approximately 20 million monthly visits.
Ibotta generates approximately 9.5 million monthly visits.
These are enormous audiences of consumers who are actively looking for savings, rewards, deals and shopping opportunities.
And that is before adding coupon publishers, cashback sites, gift sites, deal communities, shopping content publishers, influencers and niche affiliate partners.
The point isn't that every visitor will see or purchase from your brand.
The point is that your brand cannot convert consumers it never reaches.
Promotions Create Something Affiliates Can Sell
One of the biggest mistakes I see with affiliate programs is giving affiliates nothing new to promote.
A merchant may have a great product, a competitive commission and an excellent website — but if the affiliate doesn't have a compelling offer, there may be little reason for the consumer to click.
A promotional calendar gives affiliates something to work with. Hire ecomko to manage your affiliate program and Holiday promotions.
For example:
October
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Halloween promotion
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Early holiday shopping
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Gift guides
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Fall promotions
November
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Veterans Day
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Thanksgiving
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Black Friday
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Small Business Saturday
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Cyber Monday
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Giving Tuesday
December
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Holiday gifting
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Christmas
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Last-minute gifts
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Free shipping deadlines
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Gift cards
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End-of-year promotions
January
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New Year's promotions
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Clearance
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New customer offers
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Valentine's Day early shopping
Each promotion gives your affiliate partners a reason to feature your brand again.
And Here's the Part Many Merchants Miss
Affiliate promotions can provide exposure that would otherwise cost money to purchase through traditional advertising.
A coupon publisher can feature your offer.
A cashback site can promote your deal.
A gift website can include your product in a gift guide.
A shopping publisher can feature your promotion.
An influencer can create content around the offer.
A media buyer can test your promotion with its audience.
And your affiliate only gets paid when the agreed-upon performance occurs.
That's fundamentally different from simply purchasing an advertising placement.
You Need More Than a Promo Code
Creating a coupon code is only the beginning.
Successful holiday affiliate marketing requires the infrastructure behind the promotion.
At ecomko, we can manage the entire affiliate promotional process, including:
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Holiday promotional calendars
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Affiliate recruitment
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Super-affiliate outreach
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Coupon and cashback partner recruitment
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Gift-site outreach
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Affiliate communications
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Commission strategy
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Promotional code development
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Media placement negotiations
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Creative development
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Banner development
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Affiliate email creative
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Product and offer feeds
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Landing-page recommendations
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Seasonal merchandising
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Q4 optimization
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Affiliate performance monitoring
We can also develop the media affiliates need to actually promote the offer — rather than simply sending them a discount code and hoping they figure it out. Hire ecomko to manage your affiliate program and Holiday promotions.
The Goal Is Consistent Visibility
Your affiliate program shouldn't go quiet for three weeks and then suddenly wake up on Black Friday.
The strongest programs create a cadence.
New promotion.
New creative.
New reason to feature the brand.
New affiliate outreach.
New gift opportunity.
New seasonal message.
That cadence keeps your merchant in front of shoppers throughout the holiday buying cycle.
And because affiliate partners have different audiences, one promotion can potentially be distributed across coupon sites, cashback platforms, gift websites, influencers, shopping publishers and niche content sites.
Don't Leave Free Exposure on the Table
Millions of consumers are actively looking for ways to save money during the holidays.
The question isn't whether consumers are shopping.
They are.
The question is whether your brand is giving your affiliate partners something compelling to put in front of those shoppers.
If your answer is "we have a 10% discount somewhere on our website," you're probably leaving opportunities on the table.
A strategic Q4 affiliate program should have a promotional calendar, compelling offers, strong creative and consistent affiliate communication. Hire ecomko to manage your affiliate program and Holiday promotions.
That's where ecomko comes in.
We manage ecommerce affiliate programs and can handle the promotional strategy, affiliate recruitment, media development and ongoing communications needed to turn your affiliate channel into an active customer-acquisition channel during the most important shopping season of the year.
Don't wait until Black Friday to start thinking about holiday affiliate marketing.
Your customers are already looking for the next deal. Make sure your brand is there when they do.