What Is a Co-Op Direct Mailing?
Cooperative direct mailing allows a business to partner with other businesses when it sends mail to potential customers, reducing its postage costs. Several businesses include their advertisements in the message, and each business pays for part of the postage. For example, each business includes a coupon in a coupon book, so the mail recipient receives offers for a discount on a product from multiple companies.
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Specialist Firms
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Some companies specialize in assembling co-op direct mailing arrangements. The specialist firm prints a coupon for several companies, places it in its own envelope, and mails the envelope to customers. The specialist company charges a fee for this service, but it saves the seller the costs of looking for cooperative mailing partners and negotiating an agreement with them.
Partnership Benefits
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A co-op direct mailing arrangement has benefits for companies that are in related industries. The companies can work together to find potential customers, including sharing mailing lists, and can share other information such as usage information for the coupons. For example, a dog owner might be interested in receiving a coupon for dog food and a coupon for a food bowl. Companies may not want to join a co-op direct marketing arrangement with a direct competitor, so some specialist firms guarantee a company exclusivity for its own product area in a mailing.
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Design Costs
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Co-op direct mailing can also reduce the company's other advertising expenses. Partner companies may have graphics designers and other staff who can design the fliers, coupons and other information inside the envelope. If the companies decide to hire an outside consultant, they can each pay part of the consultant's fee. A specialist co-op direct marketing company may offer assistance with advertisement design along with its other services.
Partnership Risks
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Co-op direct mailing does require a business to select responsible partners. If one business is aggressive and sends envelopes to recipients who are not interested, it reflects badly on the other partners. If one partner refuses to honor a coupon, the recipient may decide not to use a coupon from another business from the same mailing. Businesses should partner with companies known for responsible business practices. A co-op direct marketing company can screen out businesses that have bad reputations.
Referrals
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A business can get referral income by sending other businesses in the area to a co-op direct marketing company. The business will also get the goodwill of both companies with a successful direct marketing campaign.
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