If you’re like me then you have probably noticed a few more unfamiliar faces in the gym over the last couple of months. While it may be slightly annoying competing for the same equipment / machines, it’s great to see people ready to change their routines and commit to a healthier lifestyle, and for companies that specialize in helping people do this, it’s Go Time! With most internet retailers having their best performance in Q4 during the peak holiday shopping times, this leaves Health & Fitness merchants in a interesting albeit fortunate position to capitalize on their biggest time of the year..aka Q1.
After the hustle and rush of Q4 is a perfect time to really lean into your top partners to negotiate and secure additional exposure. This is because that (for the most part) the majority of their paid placements do not cost nearly as much as they did in Q4. There are exceptions, but for the most part a lot of placements are now more readily available then they were in Q4.
Depending on what optimization tools you have available (Flat Fee, Commission Increase, Exclusive Coupons / Vanity Codes, etc), now is a great time to secure inexpensive placements with your top partners. The best way to do this is to find out when your company will be running their biggest promotions, and reach out to your top partners (well in advance) to begin securing additional exposure, to make the most out of these peak promotional periods.
Typically when I reach out to a partner I let them know the time frames a promotion will be running (if available), and see what additional exposure is available during that time frame. When optimizing in Q1 it’s important to cast a wide net, and reach out to several partners that have 1. Either performed well in the past or 2. Have potential to perform well, based off of their demographics, traffic, placement opportunities, etc. Unlike Q4, you’re able to negotiate some great additional exposure if you do not have a flat fee budget, or if you’d like to spread this out further.
For example, if i’m negotiating with a few of my top affiliates for placements a good technique is to utilize several different tools that are available to you. Let’s say I have a $5k spend budget for the month, and want to secure as much exposure with different partners as possible with it. If a partner does require a flat fee / hybrid model in return for placements I’ll try to leverage several different optimization tools that I have available, in order to decrease the flat fee amount. In the past we’ve been able to get several thousands of dollars off of a flat fee budget in exchange for Exclusive Coupons, Vanity Codes, short term Rev Share increases, and Co-branded landing pages (CBLP’s).
When looking to optimize in Q1 we’ll want to take a step back and analyze the type of shopper that is typical to make a purchase in the Health & Fitness Vertical. What are they shopping for? What does your company specialize in selling? What price point / promotions do I need to make this a success? These are all great questions, and chances are your largest amount of new customers during this time frame will be looking to buy weight loss or muscle building products, to help supplement their New Years Resolution Goals. This information will help you when looking to secure additional exposure because you’ll want to “be” where your potential customers are looking. Category placements and targeted newsletters revolving around the “Health and Fitness” category are prime locations, especially during Q1, and getting into as many of these placements as possible during this time will help to increase your brand awareness and revenue.
Below are a couple examples of tier 1 Health & Fitness Categories from some of the most well known companies in affiliate marketing. These are just a handful of potential tier 1 Coupon / Loyalty companies to look into, but you get the idea..
https://www.retailmenot.com/coupons/health
https://www.coupons.com/coupon-codes/categories/health-beauty/
https://www.ebates.com/category/health-beauty.htm?navigation_id=22801
https://www.dealsplus.com/Health-and-Beauty-Supplies_deals
Optimizing Health & Fitness clients in Q1 requires a lot of negotiating with partners for placements, but is much more flexible than trying to get these same placements in Q4 when every IR 500 company is competing to get in front of potential customers with their top offers (and often with Huge Flat Fee budgets and spending power to buy placements). Finding out what placements your top partners have available, and making sure to cast a wide net to get in front of as many new potential customers as possible will be the best way to optimize your performance in Q1! It also doesn’t hurt to have some GREAT discounts or best of web pricing to back up additional exposure, but this can potentially be an undeliverable request to your marketing team.
