Don’t let Q4 sneak up on you!

Q4 is almost here (!!) bringing with it the most competitive weeks of the year for DTC brands.

It’s already September, and many brands are still pretending (or hoping) that they have plenty of time to figure out their BFCM strategy. But you can't win the biggest shopping season of the year with last-minute scrambling! That's why we're delivering our battle-tested playbook now (keep on reading!)

Plus: Your creator profiles just got the multi-channel upgrade you've been waiting for!

Get the details below 👇

The Superfiliate team is hard at work on some MASSIVE future releases 👀 but in the meantime, we released some small tweaks with big impacts!

Multi-channel creator profiles

Creator profiles are now unified across channels in Superfiliate, with creator overviews, insights, wallet, social performance, and history—all in one place. Multi-channel influencer marketing just became easier than ever!

Gifting upgrades: Non-affiliate links

Your gifting campaigns in Superfiliates now reach beyond your current affiliate roster. No more assigning codes to everyone—just smart, targeted outreach with unique links!

Strategy tip: Gifting creators before giving them a link and/or code is a great way to have potential partners test your product before committing to a partnership with you. This gives you the flexibility to assess who would make a great affiliate partner vs paid partner and vice versa!

🚀 On the rise:

BFCM Prep

In our last edition, we talked about the importance of getting ahead in your Black Friday / Cyber Monday planning. The question is: How?

So today, I’m giving you my top tips for planning and executing!

• Lock in influencers….like, now.

  Prices will climb, big brands are already booked, and you’re competing for a finite number of posts.

  Remember: You’re not just paying for content, you’re paying them not to post your competitors. You need to get in there first!
  

• Over-communicate with your affiliates

  Before BFCM, make sure your influencers and affiliates know key dates, commissions, payout terms, how their discount codes/links will work (especially if stacking isn’t allowed).

  Let them ask questions and be prepared with coms to send out multiple times (inboxes as busy, and important info could get missed). And please: Don’t leave them high and dry with a worse discount than what your website is offering! If they’re competing with your intro deal.
  

• Reward your top affiliates

  Who doesn’t love a good holiday bonus?! It shows appreciation and more importantly, it motivates your top partners to create content that helps you stand out in the noise.

  Never done a flat fee + commission based structure? BFCM is a great place to start with those partners of yours who are already performing!
  

• Timing is everything

  BFCM is the hardest time of year to launch a brand-new affiliate program. Competition is fierce, boosted ads are eating up organic reach, and performance will be harder to win without paid support.

  If you’re looking to start an affiliate program in Q4, being prepared with additional budget can get you a lot further, but set reasonable expectations.
  

• Secret sales

  Want to support your creators even more? Give them higher commissions and a follower-only discount for a week in September-October, when there’s less saturation on feeds. Your team won’t have to do any promotion at all—plus, you let them get ahead of the curve and have their own time to shine!

• Double down on what works

  You know I love and believe in testing, but BFCM is not the time for risky moves.

  It’s expensive, competitive, and you really, should be going after returning customers anyway. Keep 90-95% of your partnerships with proven creators, and leave a small percentage for testing.

  Your goal: convert people who already know you, not cold audiences.

How many of these items have you got in your prep plan? If you have others that you swear by, hit reply and let us know!

👎 Phasing out:

Putting All Your Budget Into 1–3 Macro Creators

If your influencer program is still in its early stages, resist the urge to blow the budget on a few big names. Spreading your spend across a mix of audiences and follower counts gives you more posts, more niches, and more data to analyze, meaning faster learning and smarter scaling.

Bonus: Highly engaged mid-tier and nano creators often outperform the macros when it comes to conversions!

🎥 What’s new at Superfiliate? (and how to catch up)

Are you currently a Superfiliate customer? Join our monthly product Q+A webinar to dive into the platform with our co-founder and CPO, Anders Bill, plus other friendly Superfiliate faces!

Slack or email your Merchant Success Manager to learn how to sign up for September’s Q+A!

Email us to set a time to hang if you’re attending any of the above!

Sarah Crow

Head of Creator Strategy