Get a Jump Start on Your 2023 Holiday Gift Guide Season With Our Affiliate Marketing Workshop (only $49 for paid subscribers!!)

RSVP now to attend this don't-miss Christmas in July session with affiliate guru and master gift-guide pitcher Sarah Karger

Hello, TTC subscribers!

It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly time to start talking about the 2023 holiday gift guide season, yet here we are. We always tell publicists that you can never start pitching too early, but you can always pitch too late … so let’s get ahead of the impending deadlines that will be here before you know it (you know how fast summer flies by!) and start talking gift guides a little bit earlier this year, shall we?

In reality, you won’t want to start pitching until the end of August/Labor Day, but there’s still a lot for you to do between now and then, like:

1. Make Sure Your Brand Is On an Affiliate Network

To ensure you maximize your earned media coverage, your brand must be active on an affiliate network that is Skimlinks compatible such as ShareASale, Rakuten, Impact, Commission Junction, AWIN, Pepperjam, etc. You can find a complete list here. We’d say roughly 85% of publications are only featuring products that are on affiliate programs (there are always exceptions, but in general, having that squared away is really going to help you to get the buzz on your products that you need and make them gift guide worthy).

2. Finalize your Hero Products*  

To win the gift-giving season, narrowing in on a handful of products presents the best opportunity to own maximum brand awareness. After all, if you're chasing every single media opportunity and every single gift guide you'll be quite exhausted. 

*Tips for Selecting the Best Hero Assortment 

• Highly reviewed products 

• Products that are available on an affiliate network + Skimlinks as well as Amazon

• Priced $25 - $200

• High-margin products to allow for strategically increased commissions for Q3 and Q4 to incentivize inclusions 

3. Get Assets & Samples

Be sure you have images and samples for testing available … writers/editors need these. If you don’t have them ready to go, media may just move on to the next pitch.

We know that navigating the world of affiliate marketing can be tricky and there are tons and tons of questions that pop up.

To get you dialed in on everything you need to know about affiliate marketing, we’ve enlisted the expertise of publicist Sarah Karger to join this Q&A session! She is a master-level gift guide pitcher (we should know … we’ve featured plenty of her clients’ products over the years because her pitches are always on point!) and a whiz at all things affiliate marketing. Between the 3 of us, we’ll be able to tackle any questions you have on this topic.

Speaking of questions, one of the main topics we get asked about at Top Tier Consulting is affiliate marketing. We often hear things like:

• Is it a deal breaker if my client isn’t signed up with an affiliate program?

• What are the best affiliate platforms?

• How do I contact e-commerce writers/editors to get my clients into these gift guides?

• How do I communicate that my clients are on affiliates?

• When it comes to commission percentages, what gets an editor/writer’s attention?

So, we’ll address all that and more in this hourlong session. Plus, it will also give you a chance to learn from colleagues and hear answers to questions they bring up that you may not have thought of. You’ll walk away with ALL of your affiliate questions answered plus hear best practices on getting your clients on affiliate programs, pitching clients on affiliates, finding the right platforms, and more.

Here are the details you’ve been waiting for:

Date: Tuesday, July 11th at 10 am PT/1 pm ET (session will last one hour)

Can’t make it live? We’ll be sending the link out afterwards for people who pay to register to watch on their own time.

Rate: $49 Paid TTC Substack Subscribers; $99 Free TTC Subscribers

Ready to sign up? Send an email to info@toptierconsulting.NET and we’ll collect payment and send you the Google doc to share your question(s) for the session!

Questions about the session? Shoot us an email and we’ll answer them!

info@toptierconsulting.net

Have a great day,

Jill & Nicole