Three things to do heading into this month
With Black Friday four weeks away, here is what marketing leaders should prioritize now rather than waiting until mid-November.
1. Lock creator partnerships this week
The math on creator availability is straightforward. Our survey showed that 41% of creators prefer 1-2 months lead time for partnerships, and 60% of creators secure 1–5 brand partnerships during the holidays. This means you’re already at the threshold of their preferred timeline. As mentioned previously, 30% cite “late outreach” as their number one challenge in working with brands during the holidays, signaling that procrastination creates real friction in partnership quality.
High-performing creators are getting booked for Black Friday at premium rates right now, and brands that wait another week will find themselves competing for second-tier talent or paying significantly more for the creators they actually want. The window for securing your ideal creator roster is closing rapidly.
When you finalize these partnerships, prioritize creators who’ve driven actual conversions for you in the past rather than focusing solely on reach or engagement metrics. With 1 in 3 creators from our survey saying they have little to no influence in shaping campaigns, brands need to give influencers more creative latitude on format and storytelling—authenticity helps drive the conversion rates.
Be transparent about your full campaign duration when briefing creators. If you’re running 5-day Black Friday deals, creators need to know the complete window so they can plan multiple content moments rather than just a single post. Again, more content opportunities mean more money earned for both brands and creators.
2. Consider hybrid performance-based compensation models
The 142% increase in creator commission, paired with 33% growth in clicks, creates a compelling case for rethinking how you structure creator compensation for Black Friday. Performance-based affiliate models align incentives in ways that flat fees simply can’t match during high-intent shopping periods.
October proved that affiliate economics work exceptionally well during retail sales events, through structures that reward creators generously when they drive real business outcomes. That said, affiliate structures often work alongside traditional influencer marketing to create a hybrid model: creators make sponsored posts and also drop their affiliate link in their bio to keep cashing in post-campaign.
Consider moving your top-performing creators to a commission-based or hybrid model specifically for Black Friday. You can even go further and set performance tiers with base rates plus commission bonuses for hitting specific GMV thresholds—$10k, $25k, $50k, depending on your category and price points.
Performance-based compensation naturally rewards this quality over volume while giving your finance team the efficiency metrics they need to approve Q4 spending.
3. Plan post-sale content for extended performance
Most brands treat Black Friday and Cyber Monday as separate events that end when the clock strikes midnight on December 1st.
The performance tail is real, and brands that give creators content hooks beyond the official sale dates will sustain elevated GMV measurably longer than those who stop at the finish line.
Schedule post-Cyber Monday content that extends the conversation with “extended sale” offers, “last chance” urgency, and “what I actually bought” authentic testimonials. Plan three distinct content phases from the very beginning of your creator partnerships: pre-sale anticipation and deal previews, conversion-focused content during the sales period, and post-sale extended offers and follow-up content the week after.
Give creators flexibility to create genuine follow-up content rather than prescribing every detail—authenticity matters even more in post-sale content when audiences are evaluating whether they missed out or made smart purchases. Brief creators now on all three phases so they can plan content arcs that build momentum and sustain it, rather than treating Black Friday as a one-day sprint that ends abruptly.
