Stretch Your Marketing Dollar: 5 Ways to Cross-Promote With Other Local Businesses

Transcript

Hi, I’m Carmen Sognonvi.

If you’re a local business owner who wants to stretch your marketing dollar, consider cross-promoting with another business.

In this video I’m going to share with you 5 different cross-promotion examples that you can put to use right away.

By the way, for more useful tips on running a local business, be sure to check out my blog at CarmenSognonvi.com.

The key to a successful cross promotion is to partner with a business that targets the same customer as you do, but that offers a product or service that doesn’t compete with yours.

For example, if you own a ballet school, you could partner with a children’s hair salon.

You’re both targeting kids, but your service offerings are totally different.

Or if you own a day spa that offers prenatal massages, you could partner with a maternity clothing store.

You’re both targeting pregnant women, but you don’t compete with each other.

In this video I’m going to use the example of the spa and the maternity store and show you some different ways they could cross-promote to each other’s customers.

1. Flyers

Hands-down, the easiest way to start a cross-promotion is for the two businesses to display each other’s flyers, either in the waiting area or near the cash register.

This costs almost nothing, and it’s a great way to start testing the waters.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to use flyers to market your business, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

2. Gift Certificates

Another good way to cross-promote is to offer gift certificates to each other’s customers.

For example, when a client is paying and checking out at the day spa, they could receive a gift certificate for $20 off any $75 purchase.

And whenever a customer buys something at the maternity store, they could get a gift certificate for 25% off any prenatal massage.

Yes, I know these are essentially coupons, but sometimes calling it a gift certificate gives it a higher-end feel.

3. Business Card Drawing

Business card drawings are another simple way to cross-promote.

The day spa could have a bowl by the receptionist that encourages clients to drop their business card for the chance to win a gift certificate to the maternity store.

And the maternity store could have one so that their customers have the chance to win a free massage from the spa.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to make the most of a business card drawing, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

4. Events

Hosting a joint event would also be a great way for these businesses to cross-promote to each other’s customers.

For example, the maternity store could host a fun shopping event and invite both customer groups to attend.

The day spa could set up a couple stations inside the store where the ladies could get free foot massages.

Of course, the massage therapists can talk up the day spa and offer them some type of gift certificate for the women to come and try it out.

Inviting an outside speaker whose expertise is relevant to both customer groups is another way to go.

For example, the day spa could host a free workshop on “7 Ways a Savvy Mama Prepare for Childbirth,” presented by a well-known childbirth expert.

And of course, serving non-alcoholic cocktails at the event is a must!

5. Email or Direct Mail

If both businesses have developed good mailing lists, it can be very effective for them to send a promotion about the other business to their customers.

For example, the day spa could send an email promoting the maternity store to their customers.

Or the maternity store could send a postcard promoting the day spa to their list of mailing addresses.

For a more in-depth discussion of how to make the most of your direct mail, check out the video I did on the topic.

You can click there or on the link below.

And there you have it – 5 examples of how local businesses can cross-promote with each other.

If you found this video useful, sign up to get email updates from me!

You’ll get more great tips on how to run a successful local business, along with occasional special offers from me.

If you’re already on my blog, just fill out the form below.

Or if you’re watching this video elsewhere, go to www.carmensognonvi.com/newsletter and sign up there.

Thanks for watching.

Have you ever tried cross-promoting with another business?

If so, what type of cross-promotion did you do and what were the results?

I’d love to hear about your experiences, so leave a comment below!

Get free local marketing tips from Carmen

If you found this video useful, enter your email address below and click “Yes, Send Me Tips!” to get free tips from me on how to run a successful local, bricks-and-mortar business:

Music Credit: