Stay with us in this article to learn about co-marketing and its benefits.
As marketers, we are always looking for new ways to make more money. Co-marketing allows you to do exactly that, the process involves two or three companies working together to achieve more revenue and benefits in their combined activities. In this article, we’ve covered co-marketing tips and tricks to help you create a successful co-marketing campaign from start to finish. We also recommend reading the digital marketing article to learn about digital marketing channels.
Table of Contents
What is co-marketing?
Co-marketing can be useful for any brand that wants to expand its audience, increase brand awareness, and offer a new content model to its audience. In co-marketing, interested companies join forces to jointly market their products. In this process, two or more businesses grow simultaneously by working together to share expertise and deliver value to their audiences.
Partner companies usually collaborate on their promotional activities for a co-branded offering. In a co-marketing partnership, both companies promote a piece of content or a product and share the results of this promotion. By leveraging the relationships and reach of each partner, co-marketing campaigns are designed to generate more leads and brand awareness with less work.
Co-marketing and co-branding
You have probably heard the names co-marketing and co-branding before, but what is the difference between the two? Are they the same? They are very similar. While co-branding refers to a collaboration where two companies combine their products or expertise to create a more valuable product or offering, co-marketing takes things a step further.
Collaborative marketing campaigns allow teams to work together to introduce and promote a common offering, such as a co-branded product or content. In a co-marketing partnership, both companies promote the offer and share the results of this promotion with each other.
How does co-marketing work?
The most common way of co-marketing is for two companies that have similar audiences to work together on the same content or campaign and promote it to both audience groups.
This content (e-book, webinar, etc.) is usually in the form of a lead generation mode to get contact information. Both partners aim to share downloads from the offer, resulting in double the number of leads they could get on their own.
This is not the only way to run a co-marketing campaign. In addition to the solution above, two partners may agree to co-host an event and split the costs, or on a smaller scale, partners may agree to do a series of guest blog posts on each other’s sites. give
The most important thing when deciding to create a co-marketing with a specific partner is to make sure that the goal of the project is the same for both parties. If one partner wants leads, but the other is looking to sell tickets to their annual event, finding a project that satisfies both parties can be very difficult. One of the most important aspects of any co-marketing campaign is having a common landing page.
Subscriber landing page in co-marketing
Both your content and landing page should be based on common branding. This includes using both partners’ logos in the header and mentioning both partners in the content. Since you will likely be sharing your proposal downloads with your partner, you will need to consult with your legal team about the appropriate disclaimer to include at the bottom of the form.
For example, HubSpot’s proposal with Google states that they are allowed to share Google information with certain partners after a user downloads an e-book. To keep things organized within your marketing automation tool, we also recommend creating a unique code to name these co-branded pages to differentiate them from the pages you already have. This also makes them easier to find with internal search.
In the next step, you may have a question about how to determine which businesses can be good partners for your business. Let’s answer this question together in the next section.
How to find the right co-marketing partner for you
In any co-marketing relationship, you need to make sure there is a mutual benefit to working together. You can also ask yourself the following questions about this:
Do they have a similar model of audience they want to grow? If not, the value I get from promoting our content to their audience may not be worth it.
How many leads can be obtained from this cooperation? Is it too much to be worth my time? Only you can determine if it’s worth it.
Do they have a specialty that I don’t have? Let’s say that our audience is very eager to know how to optimize local SEO, but my knowledge base is limited to general knowledge about SEO. It might be better to partner with a local SEO expert.
Does their brand and name have a good reputation? Do not associate with people who lower your credit.
Are the people you want to work with enjoyable to work with? Co-marketing is indeed a job, but it should still be fun. Look for colleagues who you are excited to work with.
How to plan a co-marketing agreement
Now that you’ve found a partner to work with, it’s time to move on to the next step.
1- Come up with an idea to talk about
After you’ve decided who you want to work with, it’s time to think of an idea to talk about. When you reach this stage, do your homework first. Learn everything you can about the company and its audience, refine your ideas in a way that appeals to them, and show them the value you want to offer.
Usually, if you’re the one talking about the idea, you’re the small fish and they’re the big fish. In other words, saying no is easy for them in this scenario. To counter this, try harder to show them that working with you is not a crazy job.
If you are on the other side of the negotiation, embrace the ideas. Even if the person negotiating with you is not a professional, don’t immediately kill the opportunity. If the proposal is a completely unrealistic collaboration, be honest with them, and if the idea sounds interesting but now is not a good time for you to take on the project, consider them as possible future partners. Will work consider.
2- Determine your goals
If you want a clue, make sure your partner knows it. Make sure they want the same. If your goals are not aligned, neither of you will get the value you intended and planned for in this relationship.
3- Agree on the content you share and promote
Next, you need to agree on the content model you will share and promote to your audience. This includes the subject matter and format of the content. Choose a topic that will benefit and appeal to both audience groups.
4- Specify your time frame
Set a timeframe for your co-marketing campaign. In this way, everyone works together and does their share of the work at the right time.
For larger projects, such as an e-book or webinar, double the amount of time your team needs to write their campaign. This allows time for approval and feedback among your team members and your partner’s team members.
5- Determine your strong skills
Between your business and your partner’s, you each likely have strengths to offer. Therefore, divide the tasks and work based on them.
If you organize the tasks related to your content or co-marketing campaign based on which party is stronger at which task, the process will go much more efficiently and quickly.
6- Write a co-marketing cooperation agreement form
As with most things in business, your co-marketing partnership must be in writing and formal. To do this, make sure it is in writing. With an agreement from the start, you have something to refer to and fix the problem whenever a mistake or misunderstanding arises.
The details of this agreement should include the following:
- Issue
- period
- Goals
- Ownership of content and other assets
- Where content is hosted and shared
- Agreement to share leads
- Advertising period
- Promotional program
- Reporting program
Types of co-marketing content
electronic book
The e-book is one of the most common content models of collaborative marketing because it is a simple division of labor, one person does the design, one person writes the content, and so on.
Blog post
Co-authoring a blog post is one of the most effortless ways to do a co-marketing project. Each of the two parties may also write a blog post as a guest on each other’s blog.
Webinar
Webinars are usually the model of choice among co-marketing content models. Why? It’s easy to find an expert who’s willing to talk for an hour about a topic they specialize in. It is also a popular format for educational materials, and it is also easy to co-host them.
the video
Making a video with your partner can be a great way to get your message heard by a large number of people while promoting both brands.
Twitter chat
A Twitter chat is a virtual event where people come together to talk about a specific topic. This allows you to show your expertise and invite and engage members of both teams with the target audience. Twitter also allows you to introduce and promote your chat to expand the reach of people.
Event (online and offline)
Co-marketing can also take place at larger events, both online and face-to-face. You and your partner might co-host an event and brand the entire event in a way that resembles both your branding and marketing aspects. In addition to the webinar, you can hold a live Q&A session, perhaps your business has an employee who can be an interviewer in this program. At the same time, your partner can enter one of their employees as an interviewee.
For example, HubSpot’s educational series, Adapt 2020, offers a variety of content, but its campaign includes live events that air weekly. Those who register will be invited to a live virtual event where industry experts, including HubSpot executives, HubSpot partners, and more, will discuss the topic of the week.
Once you’ve decided what your co-marketing content will be, it’s time for you and your partner to plan your joint campaign. Before we start planning the implementation of the co-marketing campaign, let’s take a look at a series of statistics and figures so that if you still have doubts about the implementation of this marketing model, we will be able to fix it.
Co-marketing statistics
After seeing co-marketing campaigns, 68% of consumers can make a purchase decision before even speaking to a sales representative.
All the companies reviewed in 2018 were already active in internet marketing cooperation and affiliate programs. A small number of companies that were not active in this field were considering joining another group in the next 12 months.
54% of companies claim that collaboration can bring more than 20% of the company’s total profitability.
34% of marketers say co-marketing or brand collaboration is one of the most effective ways to grow email newsletter subscribers.
74% of companies admit that co-marketing campaigns and collaborations are among the most important or important priorities of their businesses.
In 2018, only 5% of companies said they invested less in collaboration than the year before.
More than half of respondents to a 2018 collaboration survey said that customer engagement and collaboration led to more sales and more than the previous year.
Partnership and co-marketing tactics
Cooperation between brands that use digital channels results in 4 times more than cooperation without digital channels.
84% of sellers with co-branded brands offer those co-branded partners money for co-marketing expenses.
30% of sellers offer co-marketing reimbursement if their brand partner can increase their ROI.
Almost 11% of marketers say that collaborative posts are their most engaging social media content model.
Many brands prioritize large partnerships over thousands of smaller ones. Approximately 34% of leading brands have between 50 and 99 partners, while 67% of brands have fewer than 100 partners.
Only 2% of brands surveyed by Partnerize in 2018 partnered with more than 1,000 brands.
In 2018, 33 percent of CEOs said they planned to prioritize strategic partnerships, which could include co-marketing collaborations in 2019.
The top priorities of leading brands include finding more partners (27 percent) and strengthening relationships with existing partners. (23 percent)
Success stories of co-marketing and brand collaboration
The Yeezy shoe line, which is a partnership between Adidas and famous American rapper Kanye West, caused Adidas’ annual revenue to grow 19.5% to $1.9 billion in 2019.
When Estee Lauder and a major US retailer created a joint Google Ads that promoted the retailer and the brand’s products, the average ad clicks increased by 70%.
In 2018, Coors Light teamed up with National Geographic to launch a series of promotional videos in Iceland. The campaign reached 10.5 million people and increased brand popularity by 6.8%.
In one recent study, a game app company partnered with another brand on an advertising campaign designed by Aarki, a mobile marketing agency. The gaming app saw a 32% increase in downloads shortly after remarketing ads based on its brand partner’s social media contact list.
Benefits of co-marketing
As mentioned, co-marketing can have a long list of benefits, especially if you want to put your resources into larger-scale marketing campaigns. In addition to the statistical advantages that we mentioned above, there are a series of more qualitative advantages that include the following.
Audience exposure: Through co-marketing and two-way advertising, your brand content or information is shared with your audience and your partner’s audience. This will make your brand more accessible. For example, when a local or online store launches a Google Ad that indicates they carry Estee Lauder products, fans of the perfume brand may see and follow the store for the first time.
Increase popularity and trust: If a prospect trusts the brand you work with, they may trust you when their trusted brand mentions your name or displays your logo or content. For example, when Adidas teamed up with Kanye West to create the Yeezy line, people may have bought a pair of Yeezys because they trusted Adidas’ quality and Kanye West’s taste.
Low-cost content: When you team up with another brand, you may be able to create an agreement that splits production costs or time spent, or you can trade one brand’s strength for another brand’s strength. For example, if you’re a small brand partnering with a large brand, you may be able to leverage the larger brand’s budget and get more exposure on their channels. At the same time, the larger brand may be able to take advantage of your niche social media audience.
How to run a co-marketing campaign
1- Create an outline of your co-marketing campaign
Once you’ve chosen your topic and co-marketing model, start with a shared Google Doc, brainstorm, collaborate, and create your plan.
By using Google Docs from the beginning, your team and your partner’s team can simultaneously edit details or add new details to Google Docs. Regarding timing, give your team and your partner’s team a week or more to finalize all the ideas and plans in this dock.
2- Start creating content
Once the outline is agreed upon, the identified marketers can begin producing the content. It is usually better to divide the content production between two partners so that one side does the writing and the other side does the design so that the sound and designs are consistent.
Another option is for each partner to design and write half of the content and then combine the two. Keep in mind that this requires a lot of stability, so you have to constantly check that the two are well combined. After the first draft is complete, send it to your partner for feedback or approval. Include a suitable time between the day of writing and the promised day to give feedback.
3- Finalize the content of your campaign
As you finalize your content, ask your ad team to start producing what’s needed to promote your content, such as shared landing pages with emails, social media photos, infographics, blog posts, etc. Since working with a partner takes longer than usual in the content creation process, this will help you save time.
4- Introduce and promote your content
It is important to have an agreement on the launch date of the ads with your partner. On this date, both teams’ emails, social media campaigns, and blog ads will begin.
About 2-3 weeks before the launch date, have a brainstorming session with all members of both teams and see what advertising tactics you will use and what the advertising timeframe will be. Are you both promoting the same hashtag on Twitter? What audiences will the ads be for?
5- Evaluate the results of your co-marketing campaign
Your co-marketing campaign is up and running, good job! Now is the time to look back and see if your initial activities have been successful. First of all, did you achieve your main goal? If you are, that’s great. If not why? What happened? Did you fail to reach the goal or did your partner fail? Keep these things in mind when deciding whether to work with them again.
The next step is to see if the leads generated through your co-marketing campaign are of the same quality as the leads you would normally generate through your own content and individual campaigns. Things to consider here include your lead-to-customer conversion rate, your quality score within your CRM and automation tools, and whether you or your sales team feel that the number of leads is increasing.
Finally, step back and ask yourself these questions:
Was this collaboration successful in your opinion?
Does your partner think this relationship has helped the campaign?
Was it difficult or easy to work with this partner?
Did you get quality content that couldn’t have been produced without your partner?
What things worked well in cooperation with this partner and what things did not?
Your cooperation does not end when this campaign ends. You should follow up with your co-marketing partner at this point.
6- Follow your co-marketing partner
Communication with your partner is critical within a co-marketing campaign, but it’s best to tone it down a bit when the campaign ends. Although it usually doesn’t make sense to finish one project and then do another with the same partner, there might be an opportunity to work together again in the future.
Even if it doesn’t, it’s still important to maintain a positive image for your brand in the minds of your partners and remain professional, no matter what the outcome of the campaign.
For example, imagine you host a campaign landing page on your site. When the campaign ends, you send the leads generated from your form on this page to your partner, usually, the easiest way to do this is to download a CSV file of the leads into your database. If you’re looking for a less manual process, consider using a tool like Zapier to send custom leads from your marketing automation platform to your partner’s platform.