How merchants can stand out from the crowd

Black Friday is the start of the shopping period leading up to the festive season and it’s a key revenue driving period for both Publishers and Merchants. But how can merchants really stand out from the crowd, ensure publishers are writing about them and potentially drive an increase in their revenue?

We recently spoke to Vicky Bruce, e-Commerce Director at Immediate Media to find out her Top Tips for Merchants on how to maximise Black Friday with Commerce Content Publishers.

Provide Deals in Advance of Black Friday

Publishers start writing their Black Friday content weeks or even months in advance of the actual event. To ensure that you are included, send through your deals or offers as early as possible. The chances of a merchant being included in an article if they send through their deals the day before or on Black Friday are much lower than if they send them through in advance.

Offer increased commission rates

Black Friday is a competitive time and there is choice available for which merchant Publishers will send their traffic to. Where there are comparable products available across a number of merchants, the chances are publishers will send their traffic to the merchant with the highest EPC (Earnings per Click). To increase the chance of publishers sending traffic your way, increase your commission rates.

Stand out from the Crowd

Publishers want to write about genuinely strong deals that are going to resonate with their audience. Focus your attention on the Publishers who are consistently performing for your brands and provide them with a compelling reason to write about you. Give them insights about their audience and why they are going to buy your product. And if you can, give them an exclusive offer or promotion, that’s what publishers want to write about, something that is truly unique and special.

Know what your competitors are doing

Use all your competitive intelligence when putting together your Black Friday deals and offers. Your “Best Deal of the Year” could actually be your competitors standard offering and Publishers know this. If your Best Black Friday Deal is a 10% discount because you normally offer a 5% discount, but your competitors regularly offer a 10% discount throughout the year and for Black Friday, they increase it to a 20% discount, who do you think the publisher is going to write about? Know your market and ensure your deals and offers are competitive.

A little housekeeping from Skimlinks

Submitting your offers

For merchants working with Awin,CJ, Rakuten Marketing, and ShareASale we pick up all the offers you submit in the network platform and pull them directly through to the Publisher Hub. For all other merchants, you can submit your offers through our offer form.

If you are concerned about submitting your offers early, your Skimlinks Account Manager can provide you with further information on the following options:

1. The leading commerce content publishers that we work with are used to working under embargo, they do this everyday
2. Most are more than happy to sign an NDA

Easily see which Publishers are driving your performance

Merchants working with Awin, Commission Junction, Partnerize and Commission Factory, you can access performance data from Publishers who work with Skimlinks directly in the networks’ platform.

All other merchants should be receiving scheduled performance reports from Skimlinks either on a weekly or monthly basis. If you are not currently receiving these reports, speak to your Skimlinks Account Manager or to our Account Specialist team.

Increase your exposure

The Skimlinks Preferred Partner Program provides merchants with the opportunity to increase their exposure with the 60,000 publishers who work with Skimlinks.

If you are a merchant with a Skimlinks Account Manager, you can speak to them for more information. For all other merchants, you can find out more about the program and join here.