What Is Co-Op Marketing?
Also known as “co-op advertising,” co-op marketing is the practice of sharing the cost of or exchanging ad space with other products or services. The other products or services may be complementary to yours, completely unrelated or in direct competition, depending on the type of co-op marketing that suits your ad budget. Small businesses in particular benefit from the low-cost, targeted demographics, brand association and networking advantages that co-op marketing can offer.
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Cut Costs
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Co-op marketing can offer products and services the kind of exposure they might not otherwise be able to afford. For example, a brand of apples probably couldn't afford to send out fliers with a wide distribution by itself, so it benefits from a grocery store flier. Or, a small business on its own might find a billboard ad too pricey -- but could afford to donate to a charity event that buys its own billboard which prominently displays its sponsors’ logos. In some cases, these types of co-op marketing opportunities can even accommodate small businesses that don’t want the logos of any businesses they’re in direct competition with to appear on the same ad.
Targeted Demographics
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Co-op marketing offers small businesses the opportunity to “piggyback” onto another organization’s demographics. For example, an investment firm might sponsor a theater where its brand will appear on the playbill and subsequently be exposed to a wealthy demographic of theatergoers. Google AdWords is a popular online co-op marketing venture which allows businesses to target Google users who are searching for specific keywords. For example, a cosmetic company that participates in a co-op campaign can have its ad appear at the top of the search engine alongside ads of other participants when someone types related keywords such as “makeup” into the search engine.
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Association
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Small or start-up businesses can especially benefit from co-op marketing’s associative powers if their brand appears alongside established brands that are already trusted and have a good reputation. Co-op marketing also provides an opportunity to associate a brand with an important cause. For example, an organic food company might want to sponsor a charity event which raises funds for cancer research so that their food product is then associated with fighting cancer.
Networking
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Online ad banner exchanges are a great way for organizations to not only get to know the competition and industry partners, but also to cut their banner costs to zero. By participating in exchanges one-on-one or through an online program, one website runs a banner on its site for another website, which then returns the favor. Organizations who participate in banner exchanges not only reach a new market for free, they’re also able to have a constant eye on the competition and give the impression that their website is a one-stop shop portal for all information and resources related to the industry.
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References
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