The rise of affiliate marketing continues.
The ecommerce industry is growing and gaining more influence in the global economy. The example below indicates revenue made in Germany within recent years, with roughly a 15 percent increase each year.
Affiliate Marketing Revenue 2014 – 2016 in Germany (in € billions):
There are many revenue opportunities within the affiliate marketing industry, and typical affiliates should work with discount offers and coupon codes to gain advantage within the market.
Seasonal Promotions
While they promote smaller ongoing discounts and coupons throughout the year, typical affiliates flourish with seasonal promotions because commercial holidays offer the opportunity for affiliate sales to go through the roof. Note the graph below showing revenue during Cyber Week and Singles’ Day.
Chinese Singles’ Day spending vs. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (in $ billions):
Cyber Week, the seven-day period following Thanksgiving, and Singles’ Day, a holiday quite popular in Asia, drive a substantial amount of seasonal online sales.
It’s crucial for affiliates to participate in such seasonal promotions, including website links and a variety of marketing materials. Merchants themselves should also support the cause by empowering affiliates to advertise seasonal promotions. Always remember, if you’re not providing these discounts and coupons, somebody else will, and you risk losing business to your competition.
Our experience shows that the following events gain a ton of traffic and sales:
• Thanksgiving
• Cyber Week (Black Friday and Cyber Monday)
• Singles’ Day
• Winter holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year’s)
• Valentine’s Day
• Easter
• Summer holidays (back-to-school, typically end of August)
The above events should be included in your promotional schedule, and consider less popular events like Green Monday or various Independence Days as well.
Unique Promotions
If you’re willing to go the extra mile, there are additional seasonal opportunities to take advantage of. Every year we celebrate more unique events that attract immense public interest. These often take place during the summer from May to August where the ecommerce industry records lower revenue.
Here are a few examples for upcoming events in 2018:
• Soccer World Cup (June 14 – 15 in Russia)
• Octoberfest (Sept. 22 – Oct. 7 in Germany)
• New iPhone releases
In addition to global events where you can adjust your messaging to attract customers, take into account opportunities in your company’s niche. When we think about software products, we think about upcoming changes related to that software, and the incorporation of its hardware counterpart – a new iPhone release, for example, which can be combined with pushing Mac software.
Cash in on the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia
The FIFA World Cup, slated to kick off on June 14 in Russia, offers another key opportunity for affiliate marketing. We recommend running themed promotions for a few weeks in advance, which can help you capitalize on one of the biggest global sports events in years.
The last world cup, held in 2014 in Brazil, recognized $527 million in ticket sales according to FIFA; sportswear manufacturers recorded $14.5 billion in revenue; and many companies running campaigns witnessed significant benefits. These numbers are not surprising given that more than 3.2 billion people around the world watched the final of the games.
We want to use this type of thinking in our software industry. By the end of January of this year, there were already 4 million tickets requested for the games in Russia. In addition to the local economy benefiting, think about travel agencies, or any other service providers that support accommodations for those planning to attend.
Russia is one of the countries that maintains internet restrictions, including the social networking site LinkedIn, the streaming platform Twitch, Google Cloud, limited Amazon Web Services, many Bitcoin-related websites, and many English Wikipedia articles.
Thinking in terms of the software industry, the first idea is to install VPN software to avoid those restrictions. If your company offers a VPN product, you have the opportunity to pair your product with FIFA World Cup messaging, resulting in an uplift in sales for your business.
Or, adjust your newsletter theme about new antivirus products with a special FIFA World Cup discount. But creativity doesn’t stop there. You can also inspire your customers by offering multimedia products like video or photo editing software to maximize the quality of their most cherished moments during the game.
Keystone
Given the number of potential customers engaged in seasonal events, it’s vital to organize your promotional calendar to ensure you don’t miss out on these big revenue pools.
And as it was said above, if you’re not offering seasonal discounts, somebody else will, resulting in lost customers and lost revenue.
Jannis Jörger is an Online Marketing Coordinator at cleverbridge.
