Piggyback Marketing
by Laurie Zuckerman
Whether you are a mature company trying to break into a new market or a new company just trying to break ground, co-marketing can help you capture market share on a shoestring. By piggybacking on the strength and positive associations of a partner's brand, startups can get their first, much-needed shot of validation. Companies that are more established can leverage the brand and market reach of a partner to help them very quickly pick up the credibility and awareness needed to play in new market segments.
Your co-marketing relationship may or may not be part of a strategic relationship. It can be as simple as flaunting the name of your investors on your Web site or as involved as embarking in a relationship where one company manufactures a product and the other markets it.
The possibilities for piggybacking on a partner's marketing and sales channels are endless. You can share space with a partner at a trade show. Sponsor an event together. Include fliers in each other's shipments. Cross-link your Web sites. Share the costs of direct mail or e-mail campaigns. Author articles together. Send out joint press releases. Gather together products and services that complement each other and promote them as a package (for example, a Dell with "intel inside").
Some industry giants such as Sun Microsystems and IBM offer extensive co-marketing programs designed to help their partners reach sales prospects. Sun Microsystems, for example, includes elements such as free listings in its product catalogs, advertisements on its Web sites, certifications, a go-to-market roadmap and more.
Whatever path you choose, don't pursue a relationship out of simple convenience - make sure you have specific goals in mind for your co-marketing partnership. As you negotiate, be upfront about the exact results you would like to see. What market segment are you trying to break into? What brand attributes do you want to associate yourself with? What brand attributes do you want to avoid associating yourself with?
At the same time, to negotiate favorable deals, you need to be prepared to explain why your business will appeal to your co-marketing partner. Be prepared to articulate the specific advantages that your product, your brand, your marketing vehicles or your sales channels could bring to your partner. And have a strategy in place to address the weaknesses in your company that may be of concern.
The simple fact is that co-marketing is not risk free. When you align your organization with the brand of another, you get all the good along with all the bad. Branding is a discipline that extends far beyond a pretty logo and sexy advertising. It is about creating an association in the minds of your audience and building an emotional connection to your organization.
On the positive side, strong brand equity - whether it is your own or the one you linking with - can bring customer loyalty and increased market share. But the flip side is that if one partner falters, the co-marketed partner may share in the punch. Linking with the wrong partners can easily damage brands.
The lesson learned? Be prudent and do your homework. It is critical to be confident in your partner's staying power. And be sure to ask yourself the right questions. Is your partner willing to devote the necessary resources to make the co-marketing program a reality? Do you trust the person assigned to the project? Is he/she ready to move as quickly as necessary?
As well, be diligent in checking for fit. Make sure that your brand promise doesn't substantially differ from your prospective partner's. Naturally, there can and will be variances, but the value system of your partner should not be a completely different paradigm. For example, if you want to position your business as nimble and on the very cutting edge of technology, you might want to avoid linking with the brand of a larger company know for slow, bureaucratic processes.
Whatever your co-marketing agreement, since your partner's brand reflects on you almost as much as it reflects on your partner, be sure you are vigilant in monitoring how your brand is used and in what context. Also, keep tabs on the competitive landscape and always continue to evaluate if the partnership still makes sense. Change is a constant. Successful brand managers know that when it comes to sharpening a competitive edge - amidst shifting markets, new and newly merged players and new technologies - you cannot afford to grow complacent.
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