Note: This probably belongs in another section *cough*enlightened*cough* but my last epic thread went 100% unnoticed, so I'm posting it here.
The holiday season is upon us. Online spending is through the roof, and anyone willing to put in the effort to capitalize on it, has the opportunity to line their stockings with lots of extra cash.
Black Friday is a “holiday” that revolves around retail shopping, but it’s a big day for online shopping too. It may be too late to build robust campaigns around Black Friday, but there’s tons of new coupons being pushed out by pay-per-sale affiliate programs, and you can bet that your customers will be looking for them, and your competition will be promoting them.
The same goes for Cyber Monday. Depending on your niche, you may encounter savvier shoppers on this day, but a good deal is a good deal, so if you’ve got one for them, make sure they know about it. There probably isn’t a huge boost of volume for affiliate offers on Cyber Monday, since everyone is bargain hunting, but you can probably still get more eyeballs on your ads this day.
Christmas is obviously the big one, and the reason Black Friday and Cyber Monday exist. You won’t be getting massive numbers on this day (unless you’re in the Chinese restaurant coupon business), but there’s likely to be increased interest in your product all month.
On New Years Eve and Day there won’t be tons of people shopping, but the weeks after are prime time for affiliates in some of the more popular verticals like diet. People will have been indulging in overeating, overspending, and number of other bad habits for nearly 2 months by the time 2014 rolls around, and will be desperate for ways to make achieving their New Year’s resolutions easier. Provide them with an easy solution and ring in the New Year by making out like a bandit.
5 Ways to Cash-In on the Holidays
Know when and why people are shopping. There won’t be many people shopping on Thanksgiving afternoon while everyone’s eating, but there may be people preparing for Black Friday later in the evening. Adjust your campaigns accordingly. If someone is home shopping at 11:30PM on New Years Eve, what kind of state of mind are they in? Adjust accordingly. If you were in the same business last holiday season, now is the time to drag up last year’s analytic data.
Make your ads and landing pages more relevant by incorporating some holiday cheer into your ad copy. You’ll be amazed by what a “Ho Ho Ho” or a cartoon turkey can do for your conversions.
Show them the deals. People expect special deals and coupons this time of year, and you should do your best to provide. Many programs on networks like CJ are already sending out coupons to their affiliates, so start preparing to roll them out as they activate.
Get your holiday keywords ready. There’s going to be tons of searches for keywords that don’t get action any other time of the year. Get your holiday-themed ad groups (and landing pages) ready to go now, so you can switch them on at just the right time.
Close the deal with retargeting ads. More than 30% of the US has already started their holiday shopping, and won’t be done up until just days before Christmas. Keep reminding them there are savings to be had through your retargeting campaigns, and you may just get them to pull the trigger on buying your product.
Time is of the essence.
With Thanksgiving just a day away, you only have about a month to take advantage of this surge of consumerism, before people go back to their regular routines in 2014. Again, if you haven’t already started preparing, it may already be too late for you to cash in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there’s still Christmas and New Years.
You don’t have to create full fledged campaigns, with new landing pages and the works, for each holiday, but do something, anything. Tweak your ads, bid on a handful of seasonal keywords, promo some holiday coupons, and maybe you’ll be able to fill that void in your bank account left by your own holiday shopping.
There's a lot more that could be covered on the topic, but I think this is a good primer, and I'm happy to elaborate/answer questions.
The holiday season is upon us. Online spending is through the roof, and anyone willing to put in the effort to capitalize on it, has the opportunity to line their stockings with lots of extra cash.
Black Friday is a “holiday” that revolves around retail shopping, but it’s a big day for online shopping too. It may be too late to build robust campaigns around Black Friday, but there’s tons of new coupons being pushed out by pay-per-sale affiliate programs, and you can bet that your customers will be looking for them, and your competition will be promoting them.
The same goes for Cyber Monday. Depending on your niche, you may encounter savvier shoppers on this day, but a good deal is a good deal, so if you’ve got one for them, make sure they know about it. There probably isn’t a huge boost of volume for affiliate offers on Cyber Monday, since everyone is bargain hunting, but you can probably still get more eyeballs on your ads this day.
Christmas is obviously the big one, and the reason Black Friday and Cyber Monday exist. You won’t be getting massive numbers on this day (unless you’re in the Chinese restaurant coupon business), but there’s likely to be increased interest in your product all month.
On New Years Eve and Day there won’t be tons of people shopping, but the weeks after are prime time for affiliates in some of the more popular verticals like diet. People will have been indulging in overeating, overspending, and number of other bad habits for nearly 2 months by the time 2014 rolls around, and will be desperate for ways to make achieving their New Year’s resolutions easier. Provide them with an easy solution and ring in the New Year by making out like a bandit.
5 Ways to Cash-In on the Holidays
Know when and why people are shopping. There won’t be many people shopping on Thanksgiving afternoon while everyone’s eating, but there may be people preparing for Black Friday later in the evening. Adjust your campaigns accordingly. If someone is home shopping at 11:30PM on New Years Eve, what kind of state of mind are they in? Adjust accordingly. If you were in the same business last holiday season, now is the time to drag up last year’s analytic data.
Make your ads and landing pages more relevant by incorporating some holiday cheer into your ad copy. You’ll be amazed by what a “Ho Ho Ho” or a cartoon turkey can do for your conversions.
Show them the deals. People expect special deals and coupons this time of year, and you should do your best to provide. Many programs on networks like CJ are already sending out coupons to their affiliates, so start preparing to roll them out as they activate.
Get your holiday keywords ready. There’s going to be tons of searches for keywords that don’t get action any other time of the year. Get your holiday-themed ad groups (and landing pages) ready to go now, so you can switch them on at just the right time.
Close the deal with retargeting ads. More than 30% of the US has already started their holiday shopping, and won’t be done up until just days before Christmas. Keep reminding them there are savings to be had through your retargeting campaigns, and you may just get them to pull the trigger on buying your product.
Time is of the essence.
With Thanksgiving just a day away, you only have about a month to take advantage of this surge of consumerism, before people go back to their regular routines in 2014. Again, if you haven’t already started preparing, it may already be too late for you to cash in on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but there’s still Christmas and New Years.
You don’t have to create full fledged campaigns, with new landing pages and the works, for each holiday, but do something, anything. Tweak your ads, bid on a handful of seasonal keywords, promo some holiday coupons, and maybe you’ll be able to fill that void in your bank account left by your own holiday shopping.
There's a lot more that could be covered on the topic, but I think this is a good primer, and I'm happy to elaborate/answer questions.
