Get a Head Start on the 2023 Holiday Gift Guide Season (Spoiler: Competition will be FIERCE!)

Let this affiliate marketing-focused Zoom Recording + Deck + Pitch Examples be your secret weapon for more editorial placements than ever before!

Happy Monday, subscribers!

A large percentage of you pitch me products year-round for inclusion in e-commerce articles and I Tried It style pieces, but our e-commerce “Super Bowl” is just around the corner: Holiday Gift Guide season!

And while that might feel absurd to start talking about in July (it’s 118 degrees in Phoenix as I write this, no joke … we just broke a 25-year record!), those of you who have been around the block a few times know that writers usually begin receiving these holiday gift guide assignments in September. Sometimes, even in August!

So now’s actually the perfect time to get a jump start on everything you’ll need to do to get ready, including:

1. Making 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. 

I’d say roughly 90% of publications are only featuring products that are on affiliate programs — there are always exceptions, but by and large, having that squared away is really going to help you land more coverage.

Not sure where to begin with your clients? Publicist Sarah Karger created a course called Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists and it’ll answer ALL of your questions!

2. Finalizing your Hero Products*  

To win the gift-giving season, zeroing 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 

• Focus on highly reviewed products 

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

• Keep product prices in the range of $25 - $200

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

3. Getting 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 and you’ll miss out.

Here are some helpful posts I’ve written on these topics if you’d like to dive a bit deeper:

• Why you weren’t included in a gift guide

• 9 golden rules of press packages

• Best practices for sending images/photos

• The ONE trick to improving your pitch follow-up strategy

• A real-life example of a pitch that writers will ignore

• Here’s how to nail your subject line

• How to prove to a journalist that your client’s product is trending

• How to give new life to an old pitch

• How to make your product stand out from all the other pitches in a writer’s inbox

Grab Your Copy of the Christmas In July Affiliate Marketing Workshop Today

I’ve heard from enough of you to know that navigating the world of affiliate marketing can be tricky … there are tons and tons of questions that pop up.

That’s why, last week, Nicole Pajer and I hosted the Christmas in July Affiliate Marketing workshop, with guest expert and affiliate guru Sarah Karger.

It was only supposed to last an hour … but between Sarah Karger’s brilliant affiliate presentation + our decision to share some real-life examples of affiliate pitches that caught our attention + the clever questions you all submitted in advance, we decided to stay on the call for 1.5 hours, so we could answer EVERYTHING!

What have attendees said about it? Here are just a few testimonials:

We all know the media landscape is shifting, and understanding how affiliate platforms operate is essential to helping our brands land continuous coverage. TTC's 'Christmas in July' workshop is a must-attend for PR professionals wanting to up their affiliate marketing game and get ahead of the ever-so-competitive gift guide season. Jill and Nicole took the time to explain how gift guide assignment works, which offered great insight to help with pitch development, and answered everyone's questions thoughtfully and thoroughly. Sarah's deep dive into affiliate marketing was exceptional, easy to understand, and offered a new perspective I am eager to incorporate into my business strategy and share with my clients." 
— Dana Lewis, CEO/Founder Dana Lewis Public Relations

Thanks so much for the awesome workshop yesterday, it was super educational! — Kathleen Tompsett, Media Relations, Be Influential PR

I was on the zoom call yesterday and it was super informative! I really appreciated everyone's insights. — Janey Lorenzo, Account Coordinator, PKPR

Yep, we left no stone unturned, answering ALL these questions and more:

• What commission % is most effective? Does it affect your likelihood of being included?

• Do we need to lead with “affiliate ready” in the subject line or intro?

• There are so many commerce writers, how do you identify who to pitch?

• How do you find the most popular gift guides and contact names to build your outreach media lists?

• Is it necessary to be on Skimlinks AND Amazon?

• Do certain subject lines perform best?

• Will publications only consider products with 500+ reviews?

• Are most affiliate writers assigned gift guides or do they pitch to editors?

• How do you maximize ShareASale?

• Do you have any standards on measuring success on an affiliate platform like ShareASale?

• What are the essential points to include in our gift guide pitches from an affiliate perspective?

• Will Threads be the new way to easily pitch products for the holidays?

• Do affiliate commission rates change around the holiday season? What are best practices for rates during the holidays?

• What are the best tools for pitching expert clients?

• Are subscription boxes still popular for gift guide inclusion?

• What specific trends should we be aware of for the holiday season?

• How should we pitch high ticket items this Christmas?

• Is it critical to leverage your clients’ best SKU? How many SKUs should you include?

• Does every holiday have as long a lead time as Christmas?

• How important are coupon offerings for incentivizing potential affiliate partners?

• How do you make food/beverages appealing as a gift?

• What would make you want to try a product if it’s not something you’d typically be drawn to?

• What components make for a more compelling subject line?

• What are writers seeing trending for gift guides this year? Any particular areas of interest?

• Do we need to send samples of every product to have it included in a gift guide?

• How should we follow up on a sample that we sent to writers to try?

• Can events or attractions make it into gift guides? What about food items or cooking classes?

• What are the hot affiliate platforms editors are interested in right now? And are there any you don’t recommend?

• And so much more!

Whew, that was a LOT!

Would you like to hear the answers to all these questions and more?

Do you want to get your hands on a copy of Sarah’s deck (she even included an affiliate pitch checklist!)?

How about the examples of real-life affiliate pitches that worked?

Send an email to info@toptierconsulting.NET and we’ll get you a copy of the recording, deck and pitches … plus some other helpful links, too!

Cost: $49 Paid TTC Substack Subscribers; $99 Free TTC Substack Subscribers
(but you can always upgrade for the discount AND it’ll give you access to our weekly paid posts and monthly Top Tier Talks, too)

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Have a great week, everyone … I’m finishing up July assignments, then off to Indiana on Friday for my fiancé’s family reunion, and REALLY looking forward to non-triple-digit temps and a little midwest greenery!

Stay cool,

Jill

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PR Job Opportunity

PKPR is looking for an Account Coordinator (PR) to join their NYC team for a hybrid role (3 days in office, 2 remote). Applicants should be highly organized, creative, and have one year of PR experience! For more information on the position and to submit a resume, please contact helena@pkpr.com.

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