As the seasons change, customer buying trends change with them. Spikes in spending on gym memberships after the holidays, swimwear and beauty products in the summer, and even gardening and lawn care supplies at the dawn of spring are just a few examples of how shifting seasons influence consumer habits.
The peak in willingness to buy around special seasons and holidays affords businesses a unique chance to market products more effectively. If you capitalize on this opportunity, you can enjoy significant revenue bumps at consistent intervals throughout the year — and even expose customers to new products, opening future lines of business.
Seasonality is a crucial component of any affiliate marketing strategy, and those who ignore seasonal spending will miss out on powerful ways to advance their brand. To keep that from happening to your company, empower your affiliates with relevant seasonal marketing campaigns that give customers what they need when they need it most. That way, they can spread the word about your product at the most convenient times of the year.
There are several ways to use the seasons in affiliate marketing — here are a few of the most successful:
1. Stay Relevant
Seasonality is about more than a changing calendar — it’s about offering your product at the most opportune time. There will be certain seasons where some products are less relevant than others, and you’ll need to market accordingly. For example, a tax software company will likely be at its peak before the looming deadline hits — not in the middle of fall.
If you want to optimize your affiliate marketing program, revolve your campaigns around the occasions that are most relevant to your product, and avoid crafting specials for seasons that have no impact on your brand.
2. Create Compelling Promotions
Once you’ve chosen the dates that could impact your product sales the most, you can begin crafting offers that will attract your customers’ attention. A few of the most popular promotional tactics include:
- Rotating discounts. Small, weekly deals provide exposure to a variety of perhaps lesser-known products and may lead up to a larger sales event. Offering discounts to a broader number of products enables affiliates to pick from the promotion that most closely matches their audience, creating the most draw possible.
- Giveaways. Everyone likes a freebie, but giving away products does more than boost customer morale. By throwing in an ancillary product (like an e-book or white paper in the case of SaaS companies), vendors can create bundles that are much more appealing than stand-alone goods and can expose buyers to other items they may desire later.
- Seasonal products. Part of the allure for some products is that they’re available only for a limited time. This creates a sense of excitement with the consumer and heightens their willingness to buy. Some seasonal products are so eagerly anticipated that their release becomes synonymous with the annual event itself — one need look no further than the $100 million worth of sales of Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte each fall for evidence of that.
- Sales. Customers are more festive when holidays and new seasons roll around, and they become more willing to buy. Of course, they’ll want a good deal along the way, so greet the holidays with an attractive sale to help them get the value they’re already seeking.
These are just a few popular promotional strategies used in some affiliate marketing campaigns, and there are many others. Whatever you choose, attach it to a time of year when your product will be most desired, and equip your affiliates with enticing offers that they can pass on to eager shoppers.
3. Give Ample Notice
Chances are, your affiliate marketing program relies on multiple affiliates, most of whom probably promote other products too. Because of that — and because the nature of seasonal promotions requires that they have a short life span — your affiliates will need to know about your offers well in advance.
It takes time to produce quality content that displays a vendor’s value, so give them enough notice about the promotions you plan to run so they can create content that’s worthy of your offer.
4. Provide Creatives
The time-sensitive nature of seasonal offers means that rapid content creation is a must for your affiliate, so anything you can do to help the process along will ensure that your promotion is maximally effective. Providing creatives like banners, slogans, and graphics can go a long way in helping your affiliate create timely promotional content.
On top of that, giving affiliates ready-made creatives standardizes your offers and allows you to control how your product is promoted, ensuring the job is done right.
5. Offer Incentives
Affiliates work hard to convey a vendor’s promotions to a larger customer base, and seasonal occasions are a good time to say thank you. To do that, offer incentives that will motivate them to promote your products even harder, and both parties will benefit. A few common incentives include:
- Higher commission rates
- Cash bonuses
- Product giveaways
- Competitions with a reward
Not only do such rewards boost affiliates’ morale and show that you appreciate them, but they can also drive more promotion and greater increase to the bottom line.
LeadDyno: Your Affiliate Marketing Provider
You may be wondering how much of an impact seasonality could have on e-commerce or SaaS companies. A business selling a fitness app is just as likely to experience an increase in sales as an apparel store or gym, and an instructive gardening app will receive more attention at the onset of spring than in the dead of winter, just as a gardening center would.
So whether it’s taxes or fitness or summertime fun, the changing seasons provide a means of engagement for businesses across the board — and an opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked.
LeadDyno’s affiliate management software works for businesses of all sizes at any time. We’re compatible with more than 25 different platforms ranging from CRM to payment processors to email platforms, and we have the capabilities you need to optimize your affiliate marketing program.
Track the performance of your affiliates, manage payouts, and gain actionable insights into which campaigns work and which ones don’t. Try our affiliate software, and start an affiliate marketing program that will build your brand in every season.
