Teamwork

Do you remember being a child and hearing adults tout the benefits of teamwork? I believe the same holds true in business ownership, especially concerning marketing. When you work with other like-targeted businesses, your overall costs decrease and the benefits increase. Here are a couple of ways that co-marketing haw worked well for me:

1. Mailings: When you pool your contact lists together (with permission of course!) you avoid the costs of buying a (frequently faulty) list and split up the printing and postage costs. One way to use mailers is to have a joint offer with another company. For example if you team up with a day spa for a Mother’s Day Promotion you could have an offer like a complimentary upgrade for a spa day for a regular package price + a small framed gift print with a regular session as special gifts to Mom. Another way to use mailers is to just divide the space up and have 2-4 featured companies that target the same market on the postcard or brochure.

2. Events: I love event marketing, especially when I host an event that includes other companies who love my demographic. In a few weeks I am hosting my third Girls’ Night Out event and we have 11 vendors participating, including my company, that all target women in a certain age and income range. We have split the costs of the venue, food & drinks, music and promotional materials (posters and postcards) so it is a very reasonable cost for each business participating. It creates a lot of buzz for all of our businesses and we also do things to raise money for charitable causes so we all feel great participating.

Other ways I can think of using co-marketing:

- Swap gift certificates for an entry-level amount . . . each time you get a great client, you give them a certificate from this other business and they do the same for you.

- Displays in each others’ businesses

- Each holding a giveaway of the others’ product for a great contest (like referring the most friends)

Think about other businesses who target the same market in your area . . . how can you guys get together and make some marketing magic? Have a great day everyone!

MWC on facebook | twitter.