How would you like to heat up earnings by promoting products in the “winter niche”?
People may be bundled up, but they’re still spending!
We all know it’s about to get chilly yet we ride it out until that last minute. Then, once it hits, suddenly we’re scrambling for the coats, tire chains, and snow shovels.
Look at this quick need to buy, as a marketer, and you can see the opportunity.
This isn’t the time to go cheap on winter wear or other necessities. Consumers are spending a good deal of money for their comfort and they’re willing to pay the premium (especially if they weren’t prepared).
The following will share some of the top selling products in winter, the channels (and their strategies) to get the campaign rolling, and how to double down in the winter niche so it keeps earning beyond these cold snap periods.
The Top Selling Products in Winter (We’d Promote)
Your choice of affiliate program/platform is your own but if you asked me I’d say Amazon Associates.
Amazon is hot during the holiday season since so many people are on there doing their holiday shopping.
Once you get them to the site you have 24 hours to earn a commission.
However, it usually goes well because people trust Amazon and they’re likely to purchase other items since they want to earn free shipping (or just finish out their shopping list).
Winter Clothing
Brr. That’s what everyone is saying. They’re going to bundle up and there’s no better way than with proper winter clothing. Things like jackets, coats, leggings, boots, and the like. They’re likely to purchase a full outfit while they’re at it, too. Plus, you’ve got the fashionable people that are willing to spend the premium for higher end brands.
Snow/Ice Removal Supplies
People need to get to work and that means they’re either shoveling snow out of the driveway, off the car, or waiting for things to defrost. There is a lot to choose from when promoting this category. These are generally smaller priced items but they match well when making a list of winter essentials.
Sporting Goods
You’re not keeping some people in the house during these cold snaps. Sporting enthusiasts want to get out there on that fresh snow and have a blast. These are the type of people willing to drop big bucks for brand names and quality goods.
Winter-related Food & Beverages
A nice thermos, crock pot for chili, and tea go well during the colder times.
People are hunkering down in their homes and on the way to (and at) work. Again, these are smaller ticket items but if you’re promoting through certain channels they will help with raising your commission rate due to volume.
Heating Pads and Extra Blankets
Running the heat during the cold snaps will take a toll on the heating costs. It’s easier to heat the person – not the home. Because of this, you should consider offering a range of heating pads, blankets, and other electrical items to keep them warm and fuzzy.
The Winter Niche Channels and Strategies
Once you’ve got that site up and running it’s a matter of gaining search and social traffic. If you know the basics of traffic generation than you’ll be fine. But here are a few specific strategies to use when pushing this cold niche. Also, read our guide on content marketing to get an idea of the type of content (and strategies) you can put in motion.
- Pinterest – This is a great platform to share the products you’d recommend during these cold periods. You could divide them into the separate categories. You could also share news stories and make recommendations on how people could stay warm by linking to your pins.
- Facebook – Get in touch with friends, family, and extended contacts that are roughing out the cold. Make suggestions to them (including your affiliate link). Hop onto the hashtags. Join groups and fan pages talking about the weather and share your content.
- Twitter – Setup alerts for people talking about snow, cold weather, travel, and the like, during this time. Send them helpful content for bearing the cold. Automate the process by creating a handful of “swipe” tweets to quickly get them over without having to manually type each time.
- Blogging – Theme the blog around handling the cold, day-to-day developments, events, and other important elements in play. Cover the news, write tutorials, make lists, do round-up, hold interviews, and more. Get that content up and out there. Make it enticing to share on social media.
- Paid – Setup a small Adwords campaign and point people back to a valuable landing page. Here you could give away a free winter survival guide which includes tons of product recommendations and helpful tips for keeping warm (and safe). Collect those emails and keep at it during the winter months.
Additional Winter, Seasonal Business Opportunities
Let’s not end when we’re finished building the site, its campaigns, and when it gets warmer.
Here are some ideas to cash in on your efforts:
- Sell it, fast – Try to offload the website and campaigns to someone that’s going after the holiday and winter niche. You can use a marketplace like Flippa to run the auction or just send out a few query letters to marketers with the pitch.
- Evergreen the efforts – Get all of your content out of the way this year and then go back, make revisions, and compile chunks of the work to create evergreen content. Create silo pages for specific categories, compile series posts into a downloadable freebie, condense your round-ups into mega posts, and change the media formats to include slideshows, videos, and audio.
- Change the Geolocation – Once our cold months are over the other part of the world will begin to receive theirs. Change up how the content is worded (maybe even the language), switch out the product suggestions, and do some local targeting to the region. You could keep this site running all year by constantly flipping the geolocation.
So, How About That Winter Niche?
People are willing to put up the money during the unexpected.
The weather isn’t exactly predictable which means those that skipped preparation are now ready and willing to buy the necessary (and sometimes unnecessary) items to keep warm during these chilly periods.
Leverage those needs, mixed with a unique angle, and this small, side project of yours could turn into a sizeable earner this year (and possibly beyond).
