Scaling – Affiliate Marketing Programs

This week on the Affiliate Marketing Podcast, Lee-Ann is joined by Melissa Feemster, co-founder of Team Bespoke for a conversation about planning for holiday and peak periods in affiliate marketing.

Talking points include:

The importance of planning and anticipating consumer behavior
Strategies for leveraging different marketing channels
Diversifying marketing channels and being prepared to pivot based on competition

Melissa also shares insights on managing coupons and loyalty partners, as well as the future of retail performance marketing, including the role of AI and personalisation.

Listen in here for all the insights….

Peak periods

Lee-Ann asks Melissa to explain what the big periods are going to be that brands need to be aware of.

Melissa explains, “So, holiday, especially in the United States, traditionally always started with Black Friday and then moved through the Christmas holiday. But now it’s become longer. We really look at the holiday shopping season starting in October. Amazon Prime has moved their Prime Day into October in some years. That’s really kicked off a lot of holiday shopping.

“Singles Day has been very big in the United States, then of course, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and then moving into the key holiday shopping days throughout December. So that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about peak. The five days of Black Friday through Cyber Monday to potentially even Giving Tuesday, Thanksgiving, depending on how you look at it, tend to be the days when many clients make most of their money for the entire year.”

Get proactive

Lee-Ann says, “Let’s try in the rest of this podcast to help people get their plans in place so that when October hits, they’re ready to rumble and all of their partners are ready to rumble with them. Let’s start off with thinking about key economic factors because obviously it’s a peak period. We need to be getting in front of consumers in advance to leverage the offers and the sales that are going to be coming. You obviously need to be thinking about your sales processes.

“But what do we need to consider on the economic scale? Because year-on-year changes when you’re planning for peak, depending on whether we’re in a recessionary year or not. Talk to us about things that we need to be aware of for this year at the moment.”

Melissa replies, “The consumer is still really seeking value right now. So that value can come in the form of a coupon, it can come in the form of loyalty points. They can come in a lot of ways right from the product value itself.

“The election is happening in the United States in November. And so those things definitely tend to change how the consumer feels. When consumers feel uncertain, they don’t buy. So us as folks who are wanting consumers to buy as much as possible are hoping for as much security for the consumer as we can make. Just anticipating those times when they might not be as ready to buy and being ready to give them what they need in the times when they’re going to feel potentially more secure is important.”

Get the timing right

Lee-Ann asks, “Are there things that we should be planning for like three months before we get to the October-November time and what are some of the best ways to do that?”

“Absolutely there are!” Melissa advises, “Start planning for getting into gift guides in August or September. I know that seems super early, but each of the content sites, the media houses start writing those gift guides in August and September. So making sure that you have presence within those is really important. They’re going to start to come out with those in October, which is a great time for people to really go through consideration and learning about the brand. Then the actual purchases will come through, of course, in the actual holiday peak time. So that’s one thing to think about.

“The next thing is to know that Meta is going to get very expensive around that election and beforehand. So October and end of September are going to get super expensive for any retailer who tends to spend quite a bit on any of the Facebook properties. So know that you might not be able to afford it. You’re going to have to think about how to shift your budget differently.”

Listen to find out more about:

Preparing for Economic Factors
Managing Coupons and Loyalty Partners
Nailing It During the Peak Period
Avoiding Common Mistakes

Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:

[04:32] Understanding Holiday and Peak Periods

[16:15] Contingency at the Ready!

[31:05] The Future of Retail Performance Marketing

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Why you, why your business?

Determining what sets your business apart from your competition is key. Ask yourself what makes your business different and keeps customers coming back. Your business has a purpose, and you have a passion. Include both in your brand messaging. You should be clear on who you’re talking to, your value proposition and what makes your business different.

When I started my company, which is a backronym for Making Dreams Reality, I didn’t want to create another T-shirt or sweatshirt brand; so I tied it to a message that other dreamers like me could relate to. I started with T-shirts because that’s all I could afford; but I was intentional about building a brand with a message that would eventually allow me to live in my purpose. I also made experiences a core part of my brand. Those two ingredients helped build a lifestyle brand that inspires people around the world to go after their dreams and the life they want to live.

Social media isn’t your enemy.

Social media has grown significantly since I started my business 10 years ago. It has allowed my business to grow organically and achieve double in sales during the first four years, without opening a brick-and-mortar location. In addition to Milano Di Rouge, social media has allowed me to grow multiple brands in the past 10 years. When you post often and consistently, social media platforms can reward you by putting your content in front of more potential customers globally. Social media can give you the opportunity to build community and interact directly with your customers, build your email list, increase traffic to your website. There are also paid social media strategies to explore like influencer marketing or ads. Take an integrative approach to social media and understand its power to grow your e-commerce business and reach your customers directly.

Don’t solely rely on social media.

As mentioned above, social media is a great tool, but it shouldn’t be your only tool. Depending only on social media can be dangerous because you don’t control the medium or own the data. This can put you at the mercy of the apps going down for a period of time or your page being disabled. You need to get your customers off the social channels and into your own database. One way that you can do that is by encouraging your audience to subscribe to your newsletter or SMS list. Be consistent with finding ways to obtain contact information from your social media followers and customers.

Remain in the know.

Technology and industry changes are inevitable, from TikTok to Chat GPT. Regardless of what industry you start your business in, stay on top of the changes that can impact your industry, business or e-commerce. Tools like Google Alerts are helpful because they’ll keep you updated on various topics and send the articles directly to your email. Also, don’t hesitate to attend seminars or networking events, a lot can be learned from others. Read books, watch success stories and never stop learning and being a student. “Still Learning” is the motto at one of my brands, and “Remain a Student” is the motto of another.

Leave room for growth and improvement.

The old saying “the customer is always right” isn’t wrong. There’s a lot that can be learned through customer behavior or input, and most of it can help make your business better. Remain malleable to customer feedback. Take notes of new products or messaging that are performing the best and reuse that formula. When something doesn’t perform well, take a close look at it and see if you need to review the marketing strategy or redirect your time and resources towards something else.

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