⇒ Get 2020 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Promotions for Online Marketers

Why Good Friday & Cyber Monday?

Retailers get a large percentage of their sales during the November& December holiday months. It used to be that there was one special shopping day – Black Friday. Now the shopping season encompasses all of November and December …

Black Friday — The shopping day after Thanksgiving. Originally called Black Friday because so many shoppers created traffic accidents and sometimes even violence. … In the 1950s, people began calling in sick the day after Thanksgiving to a long shopping weekend.

Cyber Monday — The Monday after the Thanksgiving ,revenue estimates reached $7.9 billion. It topped every other shopping day ever online.

Black November — Black November is a newer term by a variety of retailers offering Black Friday deals as early as November 1 for consumers’ who wanted to get a head start on holiday shopping.

Small Business Saturday — The Saturday after Thanksgiving is dedicated to local and small business retailers.

Last Minute & Holiday — As big as the days in November are, it is just the start of the holiday shopping time. And then there are the last-minute shoppers who have the ultimate scarcity of the actual holiday.

This holiday season represents a huge opportunity for affiliate marketers. Retailers, hosting companies, SaaS and software vendors all will be advertising and promoting special pricing. Often these are the lowest prices of the year.

Let’s take a look at some strategies for maximizing the holiday period.

Go to our affiliate marketing guide for more tips.

Strategies to Maximized Holiday Sales

All of the hosting companies below are industry leaders. You may be able to find a few better paying hosting affiliate programs in second-tier providers. I have no interest in promoting second-tier providers. 

Hosting companies pay so well they must pay close attention to fraud and abuse. Of course, cookie stuffing and other technical tricks are not allowed. But almost all hosting companies will not allow coupon sites, rebates or any advertising with those and similar keywords. 

Content Marketing Strategies

You want to develop content around the products you plan to promote. If you are planning a Black Friday promotion for a photography site, you would first research what cameras, lenses, filters, etc. are going to be promoted on Black Friday. You can usually find the Black Friday specials as early as mid-October.

Holiday Niche Deals

Every niche marketer should have a post of holiday deals. It is a service to your niche visitors. It shows your leadership in the community. It builds authority …

It may make you some money!

This “Best Holiday Products for (your niche)” post is must-have. Depending on your niche it may make sense to have a separate Black Friday or Cyber Monday post. For instance, I do a lot of digital products, SaaS, and hosting promotions so I have a separate Cyber Monday post.

This article should be updated regularly during the holiday season as new specials in your niche come to your attention. You should get the post done as early as possible for SEO ranking purposes. But don’t skip it just because you didn’t post it in September or October. Your regular visitors and audience can benefit from it.

Also, consider a Deal of the Day page that you make evergreen for the holiday season.

Be Social

Now is not the time to be a wallflower. get busy with your social media channels and promote your content social posts can include …

  • Your “Best Holiday Products for …” post.
  • Any new item on the Best Holiday Products post
  • Any weird or crazy products you see for your niche
  • A best sale in your niche
  • etc.

If you don’t have a certain channel its a good time to start that FaceBook, Pinterest, Instagram or other social account that works for your niche.

Consider Reddit but only if you are already active in a subreddit. The same with FaceBook groups you are a member of. By all means, post if you are a regular who has contributed during the year (within the group’s guidelines of course).

Email Marketing

I use the holiday season as a time to get a bit more aggressive with my email outreach. I expect some opt-outs but that’s ok. I send an email at the beginning of November to kick-off the season. Give readers an overview of the plans for the email list. I resend this to non-openers to maximize this. Then, I send a Monday “Cyber products” email and a Friday email for Black Friday updates. Sundays I do a recap and upcoming emails. The weekend before Balck Friday I switch to daily emails. Here is my schedule for 2019.

2019 Holiday Affiliate Offers Email Schedule

Retargeting

To run retargeting ads you must first have installed FaceBook or other retargeting pixels scripts on your site. This is free from FaceBook but you need to install this well before you want to run ads so that a large enough group can be created. You can also mix in your email list if you choose when you create the custom audience for your ads.

I retarget based on someone visiting a specific page with specific ads. This works better for me. This is very easy to do with Facebook Custom Audiences

visited page audience

 

Bonuses, Contests & Sweepstakes

Everyone’s email inbox is full of offers this time of year. It can be hard to get opens and clicks. Consider offering a bonus s part of your sales funnel for Balck Friday offers. Do check the affiliate terms some programs like Amazon do not allow bonus offers.

Contests are great this time of year. Set up a contest for the strangest, best holiday product for your niche. This type of engagement both build traffic and get’s you more product ideas. The audience also is warmed for these product offers.

Guerrilla Marketing

This is where you can stand out. Some ideas here are …

  • Word of Mouth — Don’t overlook the value of talking about your specials
  • Infographic – Make a best Holiday gifts of 2019 for your niche infographic
  • Push Ads – Push Ads and notifications will help you notify visitors of quickly changing items
  • Lightning Deals – One-day sales and lightning deals are common during the holidays. Have a separate area for these scarcity items. Send emails a few hours before the best of them expire.

Wrapping Up

There are many special days, events, popup sales, and other scarcity based specials. These are ideal events to use for affiliate marketing. It gives you an opportunity to both help inform your audience and get great conversions.

Don’t drop the ball after Cyber Monday. Focus on November and December to maximize your annual success.