What is cross-marketing for online stores

Most likely, you have more than once encountered a situation where, when buying one product (for example, a computer), you were offered to order a related product (mouse, keyboard) at a promotional price. And the product belonged to a completely different company. This is cross-marketing, when a business unites to attract new customers, to consolidate its position in the market.

Even if the customer was not planning to take this product, the discount is so favorable that he ends up buying. If they liked the product - you have a new customer who can attract additional CA by talking about an interesting purchase.

What is cross-marketing 

Cross-marketing (cross-promo) - an effective method of promoting a product on the market. Its essence is that consumers of one brand become also customers of another. In this case, each business has its own interest. Some companies want to expand their customer base through partners, others want to make the brand recognizable. To avoid competition, the agreement is usually made with companies that operate in a related segment.

What are the benefits of cross-marketing for businesses:

• enables you to establish strong relationships with other companies that operate in a related segment;
• reduces advertising costs;
• offers customers a wider range of products, which subsequently encourages them to return to the store;
• has a positive impact on brand reputation when partnering with well-known companies;
• provides an additional low-cost promotional channel.

Among the disadvantages of cross-marketing is the need to constantly coordinate with the partner, as well as a possible conflict of interest if the other company produces a similar product. In addition, cooperation can hit the reputation of the brand if the partner gets into a reputational scandal.

How to choose a business partner

For cross-marketing to work, it is important to choose the right partner. To do this, we recommend following these steps:

1. Determine the goals of the collaboration - to improve brand awareness, increase sales, get leads (data of new potential customers). Consider what your business lacks, what you will get from the new collaboration.
2. Recognize your customers - determine who your customers are: age, job, hobbies. You can do this with the help of questionnaires, interviews, surveys, etc. The data obtained will help to determine what product they are really interested in, with whom to cooperate.
3. Make sure that the potential partner shares your ideas, and his customers need your product.

It is important not only to find a partner, but also to interest him in cooperation, so you need to carefully consider the business proposal. When concluding a contract, it is important to draw up a detailed contract, where all the nuances of the collaboration will be specified to avoid claims.

Varieties of cross-marketing 

Cross-promotion can be implemented in different forms, depending on the specific needs of the company and the characteristics of a particular niche. You also need to know how cross marketing works in a particular situation.

Affiliate Marketing

Businesses offer and advertise each other's products on certain terms: a percentage of the sale, payment for each click on the website, etc.

Event marketing

This type of marketing consists in holding joint events - exhibitions, online or offline seminars, workshops, master classes, conferences, festivals. Such cooperation allows you to attract not only customers, but also the press, bloggers, create excitement around brands, demand for their products.

Cross-actions

Companies enter into cooperation in order to conduct joint marketing activities. For example, a restaurant and a movie theater can unite and offer discounts on dinner and a movie night.

Partner loyalty programs

Companies can develop programs that allow customers to accumulate bonuses or discounts when buying from different partners. A prime example of such a partnership is an airline and a hotel.

Cobranding

Cobranding is a combination of companies to create a new product / service. Such collaboration is often resorted to by brands that make clothes, cosmetics, perfumes.

Content marketing

Content marketing implies situations when partners advertise each other on their websites, social networks, etc. For this purpose, they can publish articles provided by the partner, mention the brand's page in their social networks, and so on. Therefore, when creating an online store it is important to take this point into account, add the ability to insert advertising / product partners.

Cross Marketing Tools

To effectively implement cross-marketing strategies, different tools and methods are used, including:

• competitor analysis, CA, market segmentation - helps to determine what products / services are in demand, how to link them together, who may be interested in them;
• websites, development of online store (eCommerce) - it is easy to link partners' products, if while browsing one product you advertise the other;
• communication channels - email, social networks, smartphone applications, SMS mailings, etc. These channels can be used to inform the target audience about the partners' products. It is also convenient to use contextual advertising in Google for this purpose;
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management System) - a program that helps to effectively track transactions, generate leads, determine where the client came from, what goods are in demand, work with email and SMS mailings, etc.;
• analyze the results - it is necessary to constantly monitor the results of cross-marketing actions to understand the effectiveness of advertising, in time to make adjustments. This requires analyzing data on sales, customer activity, website conversion rate, etc.

Effective use of these tools allows companies to create relationships between different products and services. This increases sales, strengthens relationships with customers by providing them with relevant offers and satisfying their needs.

If you are looking for specialists who will help to effectively develop and implement cross-marketing tools, contact MEGASITE IT-company. Our web studio in Kiev develops websites from scratch, as well as SEO promotion of websites and promotion through contextual advertising. We connect CRM, maximally adapted for your business.

Contact MEGASITE and we will help you develop an effective cross-marketing strategy that will popularize your brand!