Black Friday & Seasonal holidays – key trends and expert advices from iMonetizeIt

2024 is already at the finish line, and this means that the hottest season for affiliate marketing campaigns has started! There are hundreds of opinions that events no longer influence on the audience, users are bored with sales and it’s better to forget about campaign during this period. But we are ready to prove the opposite and inspire you to profitable campaigns!

iMonetizeIt team offers to dive into the trends of the winter holidays and Black Friday, make a checklist of preparation to them and of course, break all the myths with recommendations from key experts in Dating, Sweepstakes and Nutra verticals.

As experts, your favorites:

The main heroes for discussion will be: Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve!

And if you would like to go straight to our expert recommendations, click here!

Statistics

So let’s start with a little statistics to understand what the market is really going on and how the global crisis has affected online shopping.

Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday and all Christmas events are the main topic for brands and shoppers around the world. This is a time of crazy discounts, which every year opens up new opportunities to increase sales and attract new customers.

The holiday shopping season, encompassing Black Friday and Christmas, continues to be a major driver of retail sales, with significant year-over-year growth in both 2023 and 2024. In 2023, total holiday season sales in the U.S. reached $955.6 billion, marking a 3.87% increase from the previous year, with online sales accounting for $273.3 billion of this total. Predictions for 2024 indicate an even higher growth trajectory, with forecasts suggesting that holiday sales may climb another 2.5-3.5%, bringing the season’s total revenue close to $985 billion.

Black Friday remains a crucial event in the holiday shopping calendar, attracting record-breaking participation. During Thanksgiving weekend 2023, around 200.4 million shoppers took part, setting a new benchmark in consumer activity. Black Friday sales alone are expected to increase by 9.9% in 2024, reaching approximately $10.8 billion, while Cyber Monday is projected to surpass even that, with anticipated sales of $13.2 billion. The strongest growth areas are electronics, clothing, and furniture, categories that have dominated online sales.

Many shoppers are balancing cost-saving strategies against the desire for high-quality gifts and memorable experiences. Gen Z and millennials continue to lead in holiday spending, with an emphasis on electronics and unique experience gifts, while Gen X and baby boomers focus on convenience and practicality. The 2024 holiday season is set to blend tradition with digital innovations, making it an impactful period for both retailers and consumers alike.

What affiliate marketing trends should you focus on in 2024? + Black Friday tips

This holiday season, it’s really important for affiliates to focus on new trends in e-commerce, digital platforms, and personalization across all elements of their advertising campaign. Here are some key trends that can be particularly effective:

Preparing for events in advance

Usually, all Black Friday promotions have started earlier and lasted for weeks or even months. So this year, we can also expect even more brands to launch their offers in advance, creating an extended sales period. Therefore, it is better to prepare and plan the entire advertising campaign 2–3 weeks earlier to attract users’ attention.

Personalization with AI

Personalization is a key point to stand out during the peak of Black Friday. With the help of AI, you can improve targeting through the user’s behavior, their previous purchases and interests. This allows you to create a higher level of engagement and conversion, because individual preferences significantly affect the increase in sales.

Short video

The popularity of short video content is only growing, especially on social networks such as TikTok and Instagram. This is the perfect format for products and offers demonstration in an informal style that resonates more with your audience.

Selling Gift Certificates

The popularity of subscriptions or gift certificates always increases rapidly during the holiday season due to product shortages or lack of time. Therefore, promoting such offers in the Sweepstakes niche can not only increase conversions, but even break the bank on some products.

Experimenting with Niche Platforms

In addition to the main social networks, you can consider niche platforms, such as Reddit or Pinterest, where competition is less, but the audience is very active. This will provide an opportunity to capture new traffic sources.

How to prepare your ad campaigns for Black Friday & Christmas? Checklist from iMonetizeIt experts

Firstly, it is worth looking at last year’s campaigns and analyzing their effectiveness. Follow the latest advertising trends and make sure you know what mistakes to avoid this year!

Secondly, don’t forget about creativity and uniqueness! There are several proven ways that can really improve advertising campaigns! Let’s look at the recommendations for this season from key experts in Dating, Sweepstakes and Nutra verticals:

✅Ivan – BDM of Nutra

1. Don’t limit yourself to just one approach; test everything in sequence. An agency account isn’t a cure-all—try other types, such as auto-registered, farmed, high-limit accounts, etc.
2. Make sure to warm up accounts, even if they’re agency accounts. Take your time with it!
3. Bypass rejections:
   Try using catalogs.
   Optimize product text and creatives.
   Make your creatives stand out.
   Create longer videos.
4. It’s a good idea to test new traffic sources like native ads (you can try MGID or AdsKeeper for Nutra) or create your own websites for SEO.
5. As for Geos, consider targeting Tier 3 countries, such as those in Africa or Eastern Europe. This way, CPM tends to be more stable compared to Tier 1-2 in Europe. You could also try running traffic to CIS countries like Kazakhstan.
6. This year, the potency niche has become increasingly challenging to promote in Nutra. I recommend exploring “whiter” niches that can operate effectively without the need for cloaking, such as the rejuvenation niche.

✅Roman – Head of Performance team

Recommendations for creatives and pre-landings during Black Friday and seasonal holidays:

1. Color scheme: use traditional holiday colors:

Black Friday – black-white

Christmas – red-green.

2. Stickers and animations: add thematic stickers that reflect the atmosphere of the holiday (hearts for Valentine’s Day, pumpkins for Halloween, etc.).
3. Adapt the logo and texts: add small festive details (for example, a “ghostly” logo or icons of pumpkins and bats for Halloween).
4. Gamification: turn on the snowball, sound.
5. Calls to action: use festive phrases:

Valentine’s Day – “Find your soulmate!”

Christmas – “Meet Christmas with your soulmate!”

6. Background: use thematic videos and photos, for example, with girls in costumes appropriate for the holiday.
7. Timers and countdowns: create urgency for promotions, relevant for Black Friday and Christmas.
8. Social activity, comments: stories of successful dating related to specific holidays.
9. Seasonal and holiday offers: offer bonuses for registration, for example, “Fast registration for Christmas”.

✅Yehor – BDM of Sweepstakes

1. Emphasize seasonality and events: Give special attention to holidays and events such as Christmas, Halloween, Black Friday, Easter, etc.
2. Analyze trends and user behavior: Collect data on user demographics (age, gender) to optimize your advertising campaigns more effectively.
3. Product testing: Always test new products with 1-3 variations in stock. Experiment with different GEOs, as not every product performs the same across regions. Also, allow your offers/products to rest; it’s better to retest them in 2-3 months for better results.
4. Stay updated on market trends: Keep an eye on trends from major players like Amazon, Shein, Walmart, etc. These can provide inspiration and help you identify new, trending products for your campaigns.
5. Follow media trends: Track what products or brands are gaining attention. Use tools like Google Trends to stay informed. For instance, TEMU is a recent example of a trending brand.
6. Design realistic and native pre-landers: Design the FP as realistically and natively as possible.
7. Emphasize testing and non-standard GEOs: Don’t just focus on common regions. Explore unique, underused locations and engage with your manager to identify all the opportunities.

Conclusion

The end of 2024 marks the start of an intensive period in affiliate marketing, where winter holidays and sales, such as Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday, are powerful drivers for increasing sales and attracting customers. Despite the thoughts about audience fatigue from traditional promotions, we see an opportunity to earn money by following key trends and recommendations.

Key recommendations for successful campaigns include:

• Early preparation – launching promotions long before Black Friday.
• Personalization through AI – optimizing advertising to increase engagement and conversion.
• The popularity of short videos – a format that resonates with a youth audience.
• Seasonal accents – using thematic elements (colors, stickers) to create a festive atmosphere.
• Targeting niche platforms — engaging audiences on platforms with less competition.

Our experts also highlight the importance of creative approach, native design, and careful analysis of previous campaigns. Using this approach, you will be able to effectively adapt your campaigns, allowing them to remain competitive in the dynamic affiliate market during the holiday season.