What is Co-Marketing? – Steps to Develop, and More

What is Co-Marketing?

Co-marketing takes things a step further, integrating different work teams to promote a co-branding product or piece of content between them. In co-marketing, the two companies work together and share the results.

Co-marketing works very well for companies of all sizes, although alliances should sell between similar size companies.

They should also have similar audiences, as co-marketing primary goal is to broaden the audience (for example, a hydrating drink can go very well with a brand of sports shoes). Also, this strategy is excellent for generating leads and brand awareness.

The general rule of co-marketing is reciprocity, both in the work to be done and in the results. That is why any proposal you want to present to a potential partner must be worth their time and work.

Companies like Central portfolio control purchase debts from creditors who have given up on trying to collect a debt. This benefits both companies and allows for businesses to continue growing.

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What are the Advantages of Co-Marketing?

• It is profitable as resources such as budget, talent, and software bring together.
• Publics with similar interests, increasing the visibility of brands, are shared.
• A positive relationship builds between two brands that can continue to collaborate in the long term.
• It benefits all parties, including consumers. When you join up with another brand, you surprise your customers and create value for them.
• Joins with highly reputable brands translate into increased credibility.
• Complementary knowledge comes together, which ends up being useful for both companies.

What Co-Marketing Actions can you Carry Out?

Some of the tactics that you can tool within your content marketing strategy are:

1. Partners

• Special appearances on your partner’s blog or YouTube channel. An example is these videos created between the brand of kitchen products Imusa and chef Jorge Rausch.

2. Contests

• Invite your customers to vote or generate content around a topic. Contests can generate virality on social media and attract new customers.

3. Content

• You can make e-books, webinars, posts for social networks, infographics, and videos in which both brands participate with their knowledge.
• For example, the editable template that we make here in the content marketing blog with RD Station.

4. Events

• Hold fairs, conferences, and other face-to-face or virtual events.

5. E-mailing

• Create an email strategy that lets you reach new audiences and is beneficial to your partner.
• Each brand is different, and by joining them, you can find exciting commonalities, as in this example from Kit Kat and YouTube.

Steps to Develop a Co-Marketing Strategy

1. Define your Goals

• Will a co-marketing strategy help you achieve them? If so, how are you going to measure it?

2. Choose a Potential Partner

Remember that:

• It should be a company with an audience similar to yours.
• It should not be a competitor, but a company that offers a complimentary product or service to yours (if you choose a competitor, you run the risk of being told no, like Burger King). For example, unknown you are a caterer, you can join a wedding dress store.
• It should be a company of a similar size to yours. It’s easier to convince somebody to work with you when they see you as their equal.
• Have a sizeable audience. Reminisce that one of the most important goals of co-marketing is to expand your audience.
• It has an excellent reputation, since, from now on, you will associate with that brand.
• Let them be people you like to work with. The idea is that you form a collaborative relationship that strengthens over time and to achieve this, you need good human relationships.

3. Research your Potential Partner

• This way, you will know their interests to propose a proposal that catches their attention.

4. Design and Initial Proposal

• Although the idea of ​​co-marketing is to develop an argument between the two of you, it is ideal that you come up with an armed proposal.
• Remember that it must be attractive to your potential partner to see a benefit in what you will tell them.
• If you want to create a piece of content, think about what topic it will be and its formats.

5. Ask for a Meeting with your Potential Partner and Tell him your Idea

• Explain why this is an excellent opportunity for both of you.

6. Establish a Schedule with your New Partner

• Distribute responsibilities according to each person’s strengths.

7. Put the Plan into Action

• And follow their development to calculate the results.

How to Co-Marketing?

1. Choose a Good Partner

All the benefits that we stated above will only materialize if your company chooses the right partner.

There are some rudiments that you should look for in a company before inviting it:

• Have a relevant audience;
• Have high-quality content and knowledge;
• Be seen as a reference in the market;
• Offer a product or service that is complementary to yours, having the same audience but not being a direct competitor.
• We’re not always going to find someone with all of the above characteristics, but the more they have, the better.
• If your duo does not fit into any of these elements, the chances are excellent that Co-Marketing will not bring good results to your company.

2. Plan and Articulate Well in Advance

• If it is already tricky to reconcile agendas within the same company, imagine when this involves more distant and other priorities and demands.
• Generally, there are several steps necessary for the project to happen. It is needed to fit into the agenda of the two marketing teams: an initial alignment meeting, definition of the content, production of the content, design, recording (in the case of webinars), creation of Landing Pages, planning and execution of the promotion in social media, email marketing, etc.
• Naturally, each company works with its priorities and, often, the deadlines can not specify.
• If your company does not plan and works with a margin of rest, there is a good chance that a delay will hinder the fulfillment of the month’s goals.

3. Make Work Easier for the Other Party

• If you are the one inviting another company to co-market, make sure the invitation is easily acceptable.
• It is very likely that the other company is not thinking about it, has another thousand projects underway, and does not know that doing the action can have a cost.
• So consider going further and doing a majority of the work, making it easier for the other side to get in on the action.
• It is possible to take responsibility, for example, for a more significant part in the production of content and design, the editing of the video, among others.
• Also, think about the articles that will help the other side give it more momentum: texts ready to publish on the blog.
• An Email Marketing template to launch or a checklist of ways to promote the material already help a lot and guarantee that the partner benefits from the results.

4. Always Looking for a Win-Win Relationship

• Whatever the situation, a Co-Marketing will only be effective and sustainable if it has a clear win for both sides.
• Suppose the partner does not help disseminate the material or do not have a basis or something of value to offer. In that case, the possibilities of frustration for one of the parties are enormous.
• It tends to wear down the relationship between the companies, hurts the possibilities for future actions, and wastes considerable time without a justifiable return.
• We were confident that with these instructions, you could start looking for allies for new Co-Marketing.

Conclusion

Co-marketing is about sharing and being reciprocal. So if you are going to be encouraged, put it into practice, put selfishness aside, and put all willing to work as a team. Only then will you receive the best results!