Cross promotion marketing is on the rise, thanks to its immediate benefits in reaching new audiences and accessing new markets. It can also be highly cost-effective, and present your product or service in a new, perhaps unexpected light. But what exactly is it, and how can you tap into this goldmine of potential gains?

What is cross promotion?

Cross promotion is a way of marketing your product alongside another product from a different, non-competing brand. The two products should share similar audiences, but not be the same – or even similar – in what they do. Sounds complicated? It’s not. Think of it as a strategic partnership with another brand: you’re not competitors, but you can ‘borrow’ each other’s audiences and broaden the reach of your product. What’s more, you can share the costs of the campaign, making it an affordable strategy too. And, because these campaigns tend to be temporary, it’s also a great way to add a little playfulness to your marketing strategy, catching the attention of a whole new set of customers.

Make sure you choose the right partner

Clearly, the benefits of cross promotion are great. But before you launch headlong into a partnership, make sure you pick the right brand to work with. To establish a successful collaboration, the other company should be compatible and reliable, ideally sharing a similar ethos to your own. Remember, by affiliating your brand with another, you are ‘borrowing’ the undertones of that company, too. If you run a company associated with health – let’s say, a chain of gyms – it’s probably not wise to team up with a doughnut brand. Consider everything you know about your customers and decide how you think they would feel about the brand you are considering teaming up with. If you’re not sure, you could carry out a series of surveys or even run a small focus group to gain more insights.

Practical examples of cross promotion

Let’s think about an example whereby a coffee brand teams up with a chocolate brand. These products share similar audiences, but they’re not competing against each other; customers do not choose a coffee or some chocolate, but often the two can go well together. By engaging in cross promotion, the two brands can access each other’s audiences and even share the costs of the marketing campaign. Coffee lovers are introduced to a new brand of chocolate, and vice versa!

Ideas for cross promotion campaigns

So, you might be persuaded of the sound benefits created by cross promotion, but where should you start? Let’s take a look at some concrete ideas that could further your business in a brand partnership.

• Imagine you are brand of tea, and you team up with a meditation expert – perhaps one with a strong social media presence. Neither of you have any competing interests, allowing you to collaborate fully. A fun campaign idea could be to invest investing in some branded mugs printed with both companies’ logos – perhaps linked together with a ‘zen’ slogan, to marry up the two key ideas of the promotion. Then, invite customers to post a selfie on social media drinking tea from their branded mug, using an agreed hashtag, boosting your online presence.

• Custom merchandise (such as personalised pens or bags) lends itself perfectly to cross promotion, because it is cost-effective to print a relatively small run of promotional items which can feature both brands’ logos and any shared slogan you might develop. They can be used as giveaways for both companies, so if one brand attends a trade fair or exhibition, the other brand also gains the exposure at the show, without actually having to attend! Essentially, one brand is ‘piggybacking’ the other, and borrowing their audience.

• Running a shared social media campaign can also prove effective in cross promotion. Research suggests close to 46% of purchases are influenced by social media, and since two non-competing brands are likely to have a different set of followers – whether it’s on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram – using social media in cross promotion has the potential to be extremely effective.

Cross promotion marketing is now firmly established as a canny tool to expand your brand awareness, allowing companies to reach new groups of people quickly. The benefits are huge, and the costs can easily be kept small, with a few savvy ideas. So, what is it stopping you?