Two is better than one: When you cross-promote with another brand, it’s easy to make the most of your marketing efforts. In addition to helping your business increase sales, cross-promoting can double your audience. If you’re wondering where to even begin, we offer helpful tips, including several promotional giveaway ideas to aid in your efforts.
Do your research
Effective cross-promotions start with the right research. Before you reach out to other businesses, look them up. Do they have good reviews? What are their values? Are they a brand you’d be proud to partner with?
Check out their social media too. What types of comments are people leaving? Do customers have complaints or praises? And if there is negative feedback, are these complaints being addressed (and in a genuine way)? Make sure you’re comfortable being associated with partner prospects. Mail or email some friendly get-to-know-you questions to businesses you’re interested in partnering with. Consider sending them soft-touch stylus pens as well. Goodwill gifts for their staff, like Smart Stand Mouse Mats, Desktop Clocks/Organizers and Memo Tape Dispensers, can also go a long way toward making a good impression.
Form a strategic plan
When you reach out to another business, present them with a S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely) goal. Highlight the benefits they’ll get from cross-promoting with you. Here’s how to form your S.M.A.R.T. plan and goal:
- Specific: Exactly how will you measure success? By how many new leads you get? How many sales? The amount of brand exposure?
- Measurable: Set clear, measurable goals. For example, how many leads or sales does each business need for success?
- Achievable: Both partners should agree that the goal is realistic.
- Relevant: Ensure your plan and goal are relevant to their brand as well as yours.
- Timely: Set a timeframe by which you’ll achieve your goals.
Sweeten the deal by providing a gift when presenting your plan to a potential new partner. Nuts and chocolates or Individually Wrapped Sugar Cookies leave a great impression. So do practical promotional gifts, like camp mugs with cork bottoms or zippered tote bags.
Educate and inform with cross-promotional gifts
Now it’s time to actually cross-promote. Think about how, together, you can offer value to your different audiences. Maybe you’re a bakery cross-promoting with a grocery store. Leave Tri-Fold Brochures in your stores. Or mail tri-fold postcards with magnets. These marketing materials can list a couple of your “secret recipes” and provide an ingredients list from the grocery store.
Provide value to each of your audiences while maximizing brand exposure when you co-host a webinar or lecture. For example, a sporting goods store cross-promoting with a health and wellness center could host a webinar about the benefits of staying active. Promotional giveaway ideas could include a pedometer and a hydration bottle.
Host contests with branded prizes
Cross-promoting doesn’t have be a months-long commitment. Keep it simple. You and a couple other businesses can host a social media contest where winners get promotional gifts in exchange for completing an action.
Contest ideas include:
- Caption this: Share a fun photo of a team member using your business’s products or services and choose the best caption.
- Hashtag challenge: Ask people to do something difficult yet fun (like flipping a water bottle) and tag your brands with a certain hashtag.
- Share and follow: Pick a random winner from a pool of people who shared your post and followed both of your brands.
There are countless prize options depending on your business models. For instance, a Slingpack Laundry Bag or Soft Feel Hairbrush are appropriate choices for industries ranging from laundromats to hotels, while auto air fresheners and multi-tools are perfect for car dealerships, mechanics and more.
Gain leads, sales and exposure
The right cross-promotional partnerships can make a big difference. Your brand is easily exposed to many more potential customers, especially when you use these promotional giveaway ideas. And you can build lasting relationships with other businesses that can help drive even more revenue for years to come.