#HowTo – How To Stay Financially Responsible on Black Friday/Cyber Monday

There are not many occupational hazards working in the performance marketing industry.  You might install a nasty toolbar or come across an objectionable website—that is about it.  While affiliate marketing isn’t going to make the list of 10 Most Dangerous Jobs any time soon, there are a few things you should be aware of.  Especially this time of year when internet retailers are slashing prices for holiday shoppers. If you’re not careful, it can be a very expensive time to work in performance marketing so it’s important knowing how to be financially responsible on Black Friday & Cyber Monday.

1. Acknowledge your work environment.
2. Create your list of who’s been naught and nice.
3. Set your holiday shopping budget.
4. Maximize your purchase power.
5. Know your credit history.  Monitor your credit score.
6. Stay organized and make the right choices.
7. Finish your work and take some time to unplug.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the busiest shopping days and perhaps the Super Bowl of internet retail.  One might compare working in performance marketing this time of year to looking at Sunday Circular ads 40+ hours a week.  Marketers are using what they’ve learned from months of testing and conversion optimization, leading up to Cyber Holiday weekend, to win your business and frankly: they’re good. 

Understanding that you work in a unique industry where you’ll see killer deals from your favorite internet retailers is something to be cognizant of and will help you avoid those impulse purchases online.

Judgment aside, creating a list that details everyone you need to buy a holiday gift for is a helpful little trick.  Having a list will help you stay organized and understand where you need to go to buy what for whom.  Once you’ve created your list, use it.  Limiting holiday purchases to items on your list will help you stay on track and avoid buying items just because they are on-sale.

Having a budget is an essential element in being financially responsible during the holiday shopping season and figuring out your budget doesn’t need to be complicated. 

Michael Cohen who is the Content, Community, and Social Media Manager at myFICO suggests “taking a look at your monthly income – break down what you have to spend on bills, what you have to spend on necessities (food, transportation). Take a look at what you have left over, and try to save some. After that, consider how many people you want to spend gifts on, set a maximum per person, and do some research on where you can get deals for that friend or family member”.

What’s important is that you stick to your budget not only during weekend retail outings but also during the work week as it’s easier to “forget” your budget when you’re at the office.

Checking to see which items on your list are eligible for coupon discounts or other special promotions is an easy way to save a few extra bucks and help an affiliate in the process.  Most daily deal sites, even the local ones, may have a couple big internet retailers lined up with special offers so it may be worthwhile to comb through a few of your favorites.

While it’s typically frowned upon to join an affiliate program purely for your own shopping agenda, our friends in the loyalty space to help you get more mileage out of your budget without any ethical implications.  Signing up for a few of the larger loyalty websites is a great way earn some extra cash-back on your holiday purchases. 

Shopping through different loyalty sites also gives you an opportunity to learn first-hand about the consumer experience of those publishers.  This may inspire ideas around how you can better work with them as an affiliate partner or even provide feedback they may not otherwise receive from another member.

While most of us aren’t thinking about our credit score during the holidays, understanding and monitoring your credit score is a good thing to do for many reasons—especially around the holidays.  Increased volume of transactions during the holidays means increased exposure of our financial information, putting you at risk for identity theft.

Monitoring your credit score with services like Score Watch will help you keep an eye on suspicious activities that might indicate your personal information has been compromised.  If you’d like to help others learn about the benefits of monitoring your credit score over the holidays, you can join the myFICO affiliate program!

To ensure your holiday shopping doesn’t get the best of you, stay organized when it comes to payment methods.  If you’re using a credit cards for any of your shopping, remember which card you’re using in the event it’s not one you use on a regular basis. 

Michael Cohen from myFICO emphasizes “make sure to pay your bills on time. Fortunately you may have already budgeted, so you should be able to pay these off. As we get older, we may get more bills, and having some form of reminder system is a key to paying them off on a timely fashion. A calendar, alerts, notes on your phone or fridge, requesting them all to be on the same day – whatever your favorite method to remember things can also apply to your bills. The last thing you want to do is hurt yourself financially because you opted for a sale over paying a bill.”

Once you’re done with your Black Friday & Cyber Monday preparations at the office, take a moment to unplug.  While you will want to keep tabs on how your holiday promotions are performing and answer any incoming affiliate inquiries, ensure you’re checking for work-related items only.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss if you can limit your exposure to Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.