There’s never been a song written about how great it is to be alone. There’s also no one on this planet who can claim they reached success completely on their own.
There was always someone helping them achieve their goals. Every business needs help to succeed: employees to do the work and customers to buy the goods and services.
The more people helping, the more likely the business will do well.
This is why cross-marketing is such a great idea. For those who need further convincing, here are five reasons why partnering with another brand will help both companies gain new business.
1. It’s an Easy Way to Market to Consumers
Not only is cross-marketing one of the easiest ways to market to consumers, but it’s usually one of the most successful.
Companies are going to have to use advertising and marketing to find and retain customers. It really doesn’t take any extra effort to place another company’s name within the advertising message.
It’s easy to place a third-party button on their Facebook page. Another option is to write a guest blog for that other company. A company can also use their keywords within your content to increase SEO.
The simple act of placing another company’s information on a customers receipt can also have dramatic effects for both companies. Even offering a discount for customers willing to do business with both companies won’t take up any extra time.
These are all efforts each company is already taking to find and retain their own customers.
The only real time it takes is to find a like-minded company that is not in direct competition. After that, it’s just a matter of doing the same things but as a joint rather than individual effort.
2. Cross-Marketing is a Win-Win Situation
The best part about cross-marketing is that no matter how many companies are involved, everyone wins.
Perhaps one company has more money while another company has more exposure.
By pooling together their resources and their strengths, both parties can gain new business.
This is done often through sponsorships. A not-for-profit is trying to raise awareness for their cause to cure cancer but doesn’t have enough money to fund the race they are putting together.
They approach a bank because they know the bank has plenty of money. The bank sees how many people are joining to run in the race. The bank agrees to sponsor the race.
Now both sides have what they want. The not-for-profit can now afford to put on the race. The bank gets plenty of exposure that informs people they are a bank that cares about the lives and health of their customers.
It’s a win-win situation.
3. Builds Up Trust
People buy from people. They don’t buy from businesses.
If people don’t trust a person or a business, they simply won’t buy from them. When companies work together using cross-marketing, they help to build up one another’s trust levels with a whole new group of potential consumers.
If a consumer is already working with a financial planning company, it means they trust that company. It would be easy for the financial planning company to write a newsletter and include recommendations for other services they think their clients may benefit from.
In many cases, it could be smaller local businesses such as a handyman business, a hair salon, and a rug cleaning company.
When that newsletter is sent to the customer base of the financial planning company, the handyman company, the hair salon, and the rug cleaning company, they each have built-in trust with each of their consumers.
By association, those three other companies that the customer is not yet aware of are now within the circle of trust. It’s similar to when a person meets someone new through a mutual friend.
It’s easier to trust the new person because of the mutual friendship both share.
4. Saves Money
Advertising using one budget can be difficult. Especially for smaller companies.
That’s why cross-marketing is such an effective tool. Suddenly, there are two companies joining their advertising budgets together.
Think of the local tailor and the local dry cleaner. Individually, they might have a tiny budget with which to work with.
When they join forces, they now have access to one another’s customer base. All it takes is creating a coupon which mentions both companies and suddenly both of them have increased their visibility.
Even if the budget is higher than the price of a coupon, it’s still easier to pay for advertising when both companies are mentioned than when only one is.
5. Builds Up Branding
McDonald’s is a great example of using cross-marketing to build up their individual branding. When a customer walks into a McDonald’s, they know if they want to buy a soda, it will only be a Coca-Cola product.
These two giant companies have worked together to increase each other’s visibility. They also are a natural fit. Obviously, some sort of beverage needs to be sold at McDonald’s.
They bring different resources to the table. McDonald’s brings food and Coca-Cola brings the beverage. But together, they compliment one another very well.
They are both well-established brands. They have built up large customer bases. They also have value and a long history of trust with their consumers.
It was very natural that these two companies partner up to increase their profits. Cross promotion works exceedingly well when two or more companies can enhance their business by working together.
Don’t Forget to Measure the Stats
When a cross-marketing is taking place, it’s a good idea to learn how to measure the stats to see how effective the marketing efforts are.
Don’t forget that using mobile marketing can dramatically increase the success of any type of partnered promotion.
No matter what type of promotion a business chooses to use to find and retain customers, keep learning new strategies. Marketing and advertising changes as new technology become available.
Keep reading our blog to learn how to build a website, measure the stats, and even monetize your site for greater profit.