The biggest shopping days of the year are fast approaching. Do you have a rock-solid Black Friday marketing strategy in place?

And more importantly, are your affiliates supporting these marketing efforts?

They should be.

Here’s why your local partners should play a major role in your holiday campaigns:

The number of Black Friday shoppers increased by 2.9% from 2021 to 2022. And Cyber Monday is projected to see a 5.1% year-over-year increase from 2022. In other words, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are only expected to rise, so make sure you’re ready to capitalize on this opportunity.

Consumers aren’t going straight to your brand’s headquarters to do their holiday shopping — they’re taking their business to your local affiliates. That’s why it’s crucial that your Black Friday and Cyber Monday advertising plan seamlessly includes your local partners.

Leverage these 10 Black Friday marketing ideas to activate your affiliates and maximize impact this holiday season.

Got great deals? One of the best ways to promote them is through email marketing. Incentivize your affiliates to launch Black Friday and Cyber Monday email campaigns to get the word out to customers before the big day.

Here are some email marketing tips for your local partners to leverage this year:

• Build hype early: It’s a good rule of thumb to send your Black Friday advertising emails at least a week in advance to put the idea in shoppers’ heads early.
• Create urgency: Black Friday and Cyber Monday only come once a year. Use messaging that creates urgency with phrases like “limited time,” “one day only,” “don’t miss out,” and “hurry before it ends” to get customers in the door.
• Don’t overdo it: While email campaigns are a great way to drive local sales, it’s important to note that consumers’ inboxes are already overflowing — especially during the holiday season. Keep your sequences to a minimum to stay top-of-mind without spamming your audience’s inbox.
• Send abandoned cart emails: When shoppers add items to their virtual shopping carts, they show undeniable purchase intent. Give them that extra push by setting up abandoned cart emails to remind shoppers of their deserted treasures and encourage them to buy.

More and more consumers are taking to social media to learn about brands and their products. That’s why your affiliates should spread the word to your local markets through social media.

Organic social is an effective Black Friday marketing channel that’s virtually free and allows you to easily get the word out to local communities. Here are some tactics we recommend your partners use in their organic social strategies:

• Contests and giveaways: Gain visibility for your brand by doing product giveaways or drive engagement by asking users to leave a comment, tag a friend, and like your page for a chance to win a prize.
• Influencers: It’s safe to say your local partners probably can’t afford to get Kylie Jenner to promote your products on social. But what they can do is leverage micro-influencers to drive sales at the local level.
• TikToks and Reels: These short and engaging videos make for the perfect product promotion tactic. Show local consumers what deals are on the horizon and highlight popular items to drive leads.

In addition to organic social marketing, your affiliates can also run paid social media ads to convert customers. Paid ads are a great way to zero in on your target audience by serving them relevant, eye-catching content that makes your products and deals look irresistible. They also enable you to expand your audience by attracting new customers.

If you want your ads at the top of the search engine results where customers who are most likely to convert will see them, it’s time to add paid search to your marketing mix.

With pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, your affiliates can drive traffic to their sites (and your products) using high-volume, low-competition keywords related to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Just because digital marketing is everywhere doesn’t mean print marketing is dead. In fact, this is all the more reason to use it.

Physical marketing assets help get customers through the door and to the checkout line. Here are some of the most effective print marketing tactics to use this season:

• Direct mail: Cut through the digital noise and make a lasting impression on local consumers with direct mail. Send your audience creative postcards, catalogs, or mailers containing your hottest deals. You can even throw in a coupon or promo code!
• In-store signage: Just because a customer walks into your store doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to buy. Make your products stand out by setting your affiliates up with stunning point-of-sale displays.
• Print ads: Promote your brand in newspapers, magazines, and brochures to get the word out to local customers looking for Black Friday deals.

You want your brand to project the right image on any given day, but especially during a sales rush.

Make Black Friday and Cyber Monday advertising easy for your affiliates while ensuring your brand image remains accurate and consistent by providing brand-compliant marketing materials. Instead of leaving your partners to their own devices to create assets that may or may not adhere to brand and legal standards, you can offer customizable templates and pre-approved assets they can leverage in minutes.

If you or your local affiliates have an online presence, it’s essential that your website is equipped to handle the Black Friday/Cyber Monday rush. Customers will bounce from pages with poor user experiences, which is why it’s more important than ever that your website is optimized for peak functionality.

Here are the main areas you should pay attention to when testing your site’s performance:

• Site speed: If there’s anything that decreases the chances of conversions, it’s a slow website. Test your site’s loading speed and ensure pages load in three seconds or fewer.
• Mobile friendliness: More and more consumers are shopping on mobile, with retail m-commerce sales projected to hit over $710 billion by 2025. That’s why your website must be optimized for mobile.
• Navigation: If your customers can’t figure out how to navigate your site, they won’t buy your products. Make it easy for web users to find what they’re looking for.

Once your website is running smoothly, consider sprucing it up with Black Friday and Cyber Monday promotions. Try placing your biggest sales front and center on your homepage where consumers are most likely to see them. You can also utilize pop-up windows to advertise upcoming deals or even offer visitors a discount code if they sign up for your email list.

Maintaining local business listings is always a must, but especially during holidays like Black Friday when stores get the most foot traffic. If your affiliates have already claimed their Google My Business listings, they’ve completed step one. Now, they need to ensure these listings are accurate and up-to-date so customers can find your locations.

For example, if your local affiliates adjust their hours for Black Friday, their Google My Business listings should reflect this change. Otherwise, customers will assume their stores are operating under regular hours and won’t show up beyond that timeframe.

That’s a major missed revenue opportunity.

Leveraging local press is a great way for affiliates to get the attention of their communities. While getting your name into the media isn’t a guarantee, it’s worth a try if you have a truly great sale lined up for Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Here’s how to go about getting the local press to pick up your story:

• Contact the right parties: Make sure to reach out to journalists and publications that are relevant to your brand. For example, reach out to a business publication or a journalist who covers your specific industry.
• Be upfront: Reporters want facts, not fluff. So, make sure your press release or inquiry is concise, upfront, and to the point.
• Craft a compelling story: When making your proposal, don’t just showcase your business — pitch a compelling story that will make you stand out.

Want to convince consumers they need your products before the big day arrives? Encourage your local partners to create Black Friday and Cyber Monday content to get them excited about your products.

Creating relevant assets like holiday buying guides, blogs, and infographics is a great way to showcase all the great items you have in store for Black Friday. Plus, they show customers the value of these products, making them even more seductive.

If your products are available online, streamlining your fulfillment process is a must. Consumer expectations for fast shipping are high, especially during the holidays when gift-giving has a hard deadline.

Instead of relying on multiple vendors to get orders to their destinations, you need a shipping partner that offers end-to-end support. When one company handles everything from warehousing to inventory management to shipping, you can expect streamlined processing, fast shipping, and greater accuracy.

Now that you know how local marketing supplements your Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns, it’s time to get started. But first — you need to activate your affiliates to ensure they drive results.

At Ansira, we help brands amplify their local markets across their partner ecosystems while ensuring brand and regulatory compliance. Get in touch with one of our experts to learn how we can help you win big in your local marketing.