The following is a guest post by Meredith Keller
Imagine you have a company newsletter with 300 subscribers. Your website gets 3000 visitors each month and you've managed to amass 100 fans on Facebook. You're using these channels to promote special sales and discount codes and seeing a trickle of a response from customers. Now imagine you could let two or three times as many people know about your current promotions without spending a dime. How is such a thing possible? With cross-promotion!
Cross-promotion is marketing activity that is mutually beneficial for two or more businesses. You may already engage in some of this now by having a friend in business insert your promotional flyers into orders she ships to customers. Big businesses do this type of marketing too. You've probably seen the Geico commercials featuring Mrs. Butterworth syrup, for example. There are lots of ways to engage in cross-promotional activities but before we explore some examples, first you need to know how to pick the right partner.
Picking a Cross-Promotion Partner
There are two elements to consider when selecting a cross-promotion partner and they're both very important:
1. Demographics
You'll want to choose a partner who sells a non-competing product or service to a similar demographic. If you sell handbags you probably don't want to work with another handbag company, however a jewelry company might be a better pick. You both sell to a style-conscious female audience so you're pursuing a similar customer-base but presenting different products. Make sure your brand's image is compatible with your partner. You don't want to work with a company selling lacy, shabby chic home decor if you specialize in punky studded cuffs and collars.
2. Reach
You want to make sure that your cross-promotional relationship is going to be equitable. If you have 10,000 Facebook fans and you are planning to do a cross-promotional campaign on there, you want to make sure you aren't working with companies that only have 200 fans of their own. You can mix and max marketing channels to make your relationship equitable, a company with thousands of Facebook fans might be interested in working with a company just starting out on Facebook that has tons of website traffic but only a few hundred Facebook fans. Make sure whatever campaign you come up with, your partner or partners can offer your brand the same amount of exposure that you can offer them. You want a fair trade.
Examples of Cross Promotion
There's a limitless number of ways two or more businesses can help each other grow. Here are just a few examples to consider:
1. Email marketing
Mention your partner's 50% off sale on your newsletter in exchange for having them announce your new product launch on their newsletter.
2. Sweepstakes
Organize a giveaway with a partner in order to promote your brand. You have all kinds of options with this one. You can announce to your customers (via Twitter, newsletter, website, etc.) that you're co-sposoring a giveaway with another company. Maybe you're a soap maker and you're sponsoring a giveaway with a candle company. Both companies tell their customers there's a prize to be won and then ask customers to become Facebook fans or join your newsletters in order to be eligible to win. Both you and your cross-promotion partner should see a lovely boost in your customer contacts and you can use this sweepstakes to get some buzz about your brands. Ask bloggers to tell their readers about the sweepstakes. Post your sweepstakes to contest websites like Prizey.com. Create a website dedicated to the sweepstakes (linking to your and your partner's website of course) and buy ad space on high traffic websites promoting the sweepstakes (splitting the cost of the ad of course). You can do as little or as much promotion as you want, but the beauty is that there are two companies doing the promotional work and spending promotional dollars.
3. Print Advertising
Print ads can cost big bucks, why not share the cost with another business. Instead of scrimping for a tiny marketplace ad in the back of a magazine, pool your cash with two or three other businesses and take up a full page ad in the middle of a magazine your customers read.
4. Promos
This type of cross-promotion is already popular in the handmade scene. Simply send some promotional flyers to another business and have them send some to you. Put their flyers in with your orders when they ship and have them do the same for you. You can even include a coupon code on your flyer to track the success of the effort.
5. Social Media and Blogging
Retweet your partner's promotions and have them do the same for you. Post their deals to your Facebook fans or on your blog and have them do the same in return.
6. Website
Trade banner ads with another company and put each other's banner ads on your websites. Offer a coupon code on your order confirmation page for your partner's business and have them do the same for you. Create a holiday gift guide on your website and include your partner's products in addition to your own. Have them do the same on their website.
7. Collaboration
Develop or design a new product with another business. Maybe you're an illustrator but know nothing about screen printing, work with a screen printer to have your illustrations printed on shirts or canvas bags. Then when the products sell, both businesses profit. Both business can also take part in spreading the word about the collaborative work.
Orchestrating Your Campaigns
Cross-promotion efforts should take the form of campaigns. You and your partner should pre-determine several factors before you embark on your partnership including:
1. The length of campaign
Don't commit to a cross-promotional relationship with no end-date in mind. Business needs change. Sometimes cross-promotions don't work out. Build an end date into your efforts. You can always launch a second campaign if all parties are pleased with the result of their first one. Agree before you start that your effort is to include a 30 day contest. One mention in each partner's newsletter. Three print ads during the summer of 2010 in Lucky Magazine. After the initial campaign is complete, everyone can decide if they want to continue working together.
2. Campaign activities
It's important that all parties involved know exactly what is expected of them and agree to follow through on those activities. If you're doing a print ad decide who is designing the print ad, when the design will be completed, who will make the payment for it. If you're doing a sweepstakes decide how each of you will promote it. Will you both be contacting bloggers to try to get press for it and if so which ones? Will you both be announcing it on Twitter or your website's homepage? The more specific you can get with the steps you'll undertaking during your campaign the more smoothly things will go. Don't assume your partner is taking care of a task, spell out exactly who is doing what and when it has to be done by.
3. Measures of Success
You'll need some way to determine whether your campaign was successful. You can do this by directing cross-promotion related customers to a special landing page on your website. You can assign a special promotion code to be given out during your campaign so you know which purchases came from the effort. You can look to see how many new Facebook fans or newsletter subscribers you added during the life of the campaign. Decide what you're trying to achieve with your campaign (newsletter subscribers, website traffic, sales, buzz, publicity, etc.) and how you're going to measure your success. It's important to determine ahead of time what you consider successful so you can decide if you want to pursue campaigns like this in the future.
Next Steps
Finding a partner can be tricky. If you already have a company in mind that you think you'd like to work with, send them a friendly email asking them if they're interested in working together and let them know what you have in mind for a campaign.
If you're not sure who you'd like to work with check out my "matchmaking services" page on Indie Parade. I am in the process of pairing up companies interested in doing cross-promtion. You can send me details on the promotional avenues you have available to you and what kind of company you'd like to work with. If I find a good match for you I'll introduce you and you can get started.
