It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost November already! You know what that means: Thanksgiving is coming, and with that, Black Friday is right around the corner.

Maybe you’re not as jazzed this year for the typical 3am shopping, crazy crowds, and the turkey hangover. (My credit card is already quaking at the thought of it!) However, if you have your awesome affiliate program up and running, you have a brand new reason to get excited for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now, those crowds can flock to you.

Black Friday is a great time for you to maximize sales by using your affiliate marketing program. Today, I’ll take you through my strategy as we look at some tips and tricks to make this your best Black Friday ever.

Get started EARLY

The key to a good Black Friday sale is lots of prep work. Trust me, the end of September creeps up on you fast, so don’t wait to get a game plan in place for the big day!

People are hunting for a good deal on Black Friday (and conversely, Cyber Monday), so you’ll want to find or create some good offers ahead of time to get their attention. Whether that’s a new product launch or a screamin’ deal on an existing product is up to you! If you need ideas, check out the digital products that are always bestsellers.

Don’t let it get lost in your usual listings, either; you want to set up a specific offer page to highlight what you have to offer or what’s on sale this Black Friday. Even the most skeptical of customers will check out a product with “Black Friday Sale” in the title, just to see how good the deal is! This also makes it easier for affiliates to share links to products specific to their audience.

You can also create a one-of-a-kind offer WITH your affiliates. Check with them to see if they have offers you could bundle with — two is always better than one!

Build the hype for affiliates

Before the big day hits, be sure to offer some awesome incentives for affiliates who are already on your team — and incentives than encourage new ones to join your program. (Commission bonuses are always, well, a bonus!)

Once you have a good team in place, now is the time to create a sneak peek or countdown to really get your affiliates excited. You can also let them know the date of the sale, the exact discount or promotion, and drop any copy and graphics that help them plan in advance.

If you have any pre-sell items or new products you’re launching for Black Friday, let affiliates have a sneak peek — and let them know it’s top-secret! They’ll respect that and be thrilled that you’re letting them in behind-the-scenes.

If you think it’s too early to promote it, trust me: it isn’t! Now is the time to share details with your affiliates. They’ll be glad they can work their content plan around your offer to drive revenue for themselves. If you’re worried they’ll jump the gun, you can also lock assets until a specific date and just give them sneak peeks.

Make the most of the traffic

The beauty of affiliates? You’ll have multiple streams of traffic heading to your website on the big day. You can follow up on promising leads or even retarget your visitors with ads to help get your Black Friday deal in front of those new audiences even more. Plus, you can ask your affiliates to provide feedback on questions they’re getting and keep them updated on their commission trackers.

Share a “leaderboard” and offer bonuses to the affiliates who are driving the most sales or traffic. This is actually a really fun way to engage your top-performing affiliates. Plus, you can let your affiliates know that their affiliate link is “cookied,” so even if someone doesn’t buy during the sale, they’ll get the commission down the road. (Just make sure you know how long your cookies are tracked!)

Use the data from Black Friday

Black Friday is over, but round two is hot on its heels. Cyber Monday can be a big hit for your digital products in particular. Using the data you collected on Black Friday, you can tweak your offer on Cyber Monday (or offer an extended Black Friday deal). Just make sure affiliates are aware of the changes and that you incentivize them to keep sharing!

Honestly, at the end of the 4-day weekend, affiliate excitement starts to wane. This is a good time to re-engage affiliates with your leaderboard, new bonuses, and specific offers JUST for their audience.

Don’t have an affiliate program yet? 

Of course, to pull all of this off, you need an affiliate army!

If you want to learn more about starting an affiliate program for your digital product, then be sure to check out my step-by-step guide to launching an affiliate program. It will help make this your best Black Friday sale yet!