What is co-marketing?

Co-marketing is about two companies coming together to undertake joint promotional efforts as a team. Partnering in this way results in high-quality content or products that promote both businesses. The results can range from special packaging to completely new products. 

For example, there may be a business that sells glasses and another that promotes recycling. The two could team up to sell a special range of glasses made from recycled material.

Why Co-Marketing Works 

Making a successful online brand is about finding your niche and connecting with an audience. Creating a partnership through co-marketing can help you with this as it allows you to explore a new angle. This type of marketing is based on connecting two companies that sell online, with each company promoting the other’s product or services. The result is that both end up benefiting and making a profit from one another. 

It could be that the two firms create and sell a product together. Or it could be that each firm sells a partner product that the other could benefit from. Either way, the firms then work together to market the new products to a bigger online audience.

Are Co-Marketing and Co-Branding the Same? 

Co-branding is very similar to co-marketing, but often focuses on more established, big-name brands. This is more about bringing together the elements that make up a brand, such as the logos or colour schemes. It focuses on creating a partnership to increase brand exposure, rather than ‘marketing’ a new product or running a new joint campaign. 

The reason brands tend to team up in co-branding is that their audience will already have some sort of overlap. Even if it is small. 

Of course, when starting a business, companies don’t intend to partner up. But after realizing similarities, co-marketing or co-branding can bring huge success. 

What Are the Benefits of Co-Marketing? 

The aim of co-marketing is to provide mutual benefits. In general, co-marketing can improve company reputation and save money. Other benefits include:

1. Reaching a bigger audience. 

One of the major benefits of co-marketing is that firms can double up on audiences. This is done by sharing the finished product or campaign with fans of both companies. But not only that, it even creates customer loyalty and can give each brand a stronger voice. 

For example, say you are a media communications company. But you want to expand more into cloud computing to be more involved with tech. So, you look to work with a cloud company to create a fresh product. You may end up with something similar to Talkdesk but with more of a media-based focus. And it will be that perfect fit between communications and cloud.

Another related advantage to co-marketing is that firms can use separate campaigns to reach a bigger audience in general. Taking the previous example, a campaign can go to the media firm’s base and another campaign to the cloud company’s audience. On top of this, a third campaign can also be created that is shared with a new audience completely.

2. Being able to analyze campaigns.

After taking part in a co-marketing campaign, both firms can analyze and compare which audience gave the best response, and then can build or work on that. Fortunately, there are lots of free business tools that can help you see which campaigns work for each firm. You can then compare and contrast to get a fresh perspective and outside advice.

It could just be that your partner recommends using a grammar checker. Or it might be that you notice they have a lot of engagement through using influencers. Whatever you discover, co-marketing is a great way to learn more about your company. 

How to Know Who to Partner With

A major point of co-marketing is that it benefits both sides. And the firms also need to bounce off one another and work well together. So, you will want to pick a firm that aligns with your values and goals. 

There is no point in a vegan cheese company partnering with an organic dairy farm because the values don’t align. And, if anything, there is a risk of losing fans, rather than gaining them. So, to plan and be a success for the future, the choice of partnership needs to be smart. 

Therefore, you need to pick someone you will be proud to partner with, and who you are happy to tell your audience you work alongside. Then, you need to check that your partner’s audience is a good fit for your audience. Remember that co-marketing isn’t just about building numbers. It’s about building a loyal following, putting trust in a partnership and telling your audience you care about their interests. 

Keep in mind that the partnership doesn’t have to be huge. It could just be that you have written a quick “Bitrix24 review” as a guest post for a cloud firm’s blog. Or maybe you will decide to bring two unique specialist flavors together to create a cupcake that represents both you and your partner brand. 

Conclusion

Co-marketing is an excellent way to bring an audience something new and to boost both you and your partner’s reputation in ecommerce or another niche. Whoever you partner with, choosing a firm is about bringing together the best of both your worlds to create something unique and enjoyable. Just make sure that you are both comfortable with any decisions made.