If the opportunity for affiliates to promote back-to-school fashions has to do with promoting the clothes that back-to-schoolers wear, then why shouldn't affiliates target many of their other back-to-school promotions directly at back-to-schoolers?

Well, that's what a lot of America's top retailers are doing this year, and that change in focus has to do with how a lot of those retailers are shifting their marketing online. So it only makes perfect sense that affiliates should also consider targeting teens directly.

As ClickZ reports, as retailers take more of their back-to-school marketing online, it makes more and more sense to target teens instead of their parents:

Indeed, the direct-to-teen approach is a bit of a departure for [major retailers], which in past years has targeted parents with its back-to-school promotions. Those efforts were waged largely on TV and radio and with circulars [...]

But the shift to a Web-based campaign is an outgrowth of its desire to influence teens directly.

With the better targeting abilities that the internet offers over television, it makes more sense to reach out to teens directly.

The opportunity for affiliates here is plain: build campaigns that target teens, and capture their parents' back-to-school dollars. So by promoting the items that teens will consume themselves, such as fashion, and offering an incentive to make that purchase online, affiliates can capture their parents' back-to-school dollars.

Online coupons are a great way to offer that incentive. By offering teens some saving through a coupon code on the items they consume directly, affiliates can help generate that online sale and earn a commission on it!