Queen and David Bowie collaborated on “Under Pressure” in 1981, and the rock song continues to live on in pop culture. What if you took that approach to your marketing campaigns to achieve lasting influence? Just as two musicians might unite to excite a wider audience, you can enlist the help of others to make an impact. This is the foundation of collaborative marketing and a strategy you can apply across multiple industries.
What is collaborative marketing?
Collaborative marketing is when two or more brands come together to produce content and achieve a common goal. It aims to expand audience reach by leveraging both brands’ existing audiences to produce an ultra-effective marketing campaign. In the best-case scenario, a collaboration between two companies drives powerful results, such as expanded reach, brand recognition, and ultimately, more sales. Brands that join forces may do so because they have a similar target audience, similar values, or aligned goals.
When collaborating with another company, your brand can choose several avenues. Collaboration might entail creating exclusive products or jointly producing videos for social media marketing. It can be as simple as a single post or as extensive as a weeks-long campaign.
5 benefits of collaborative marketing
- Solve problems faster
- Reach a new audience
- Increase brand awareness
- Create buzz
- Learn from other experts
In an environment where creativity is the driving force, partnership marketing can lead to faster problem-solving and greater efficiency in producing creative content. By embracing this marketing strategy, your business can:
1. Solve problems faster
Two heads are better than one. When your business faces marketing roadblocks, collaborating with external marketing teams may allow you to take on those challenges from a new angle. The other team can provide new strategies and perspectives on how they address similar issues, helping your team implement new tactics.
2. Reach a new audience
Is there a company or influencer on your radar that’s reached a target audience you’d like to tap into? Collaborative marketing can help introduce your brand to that audience. In this sense, collaborative marketing functions as a way to increase brand exposure, which is crucial to creating new leads. If you execute it correctly, a brand collaboration will help you reach those target audiences and bring in additional customers or clients.
3. Increase brand awareness
Brand recognition refers to how familiar consumers are with your brand and its products. You want your brand to be the first thing potential customers think of when they need a product like yours. Leveraging another company’s audience can help boost consumer awareness of your brand and boost sales. For example, two brands might collaborate on social media content and then post it for their respective audiences to view, generating new interest for both brands.
4. Create buzz
A great campaign or product gets people excited and talking. To spur your company’s growth to new heights, a marketing collaboration could spark interest in your company and products. Consider partnering with a brand that shares similar goals and values.
5. Learn from other experts
While everyone is an expert at something, no one can be an expert at everything. Collaborative marketing partnerships are an opportunity for your team to learn from the expertise of others. An outside perspective can illuminate weak spots in your strategies and offer new solutions to consider.
Collaborative marketing strategies
A partnership can be a powerful way to drive your bottom line. For example, GoPro and Red Bull made a splash in 2016 when the two corporations teamed up for a multiyear collaboration that included content production, cross-promotion, and product innovation. To form your own marketing alliance, try the following strategies:
Host an event together
Events between two brands can be small, like a webinar, or elaborate, like a conference or festival. Both avenues let attendees network and learn more about the two hosting brands.
Offer bundled products
Customers love to feel like they’re getting great value for their money. Offering two different brands’ products as a bundle makes it possible for new customers to purchase a product they’re familiar with while also introducing them to a product they may have never tried.
Start a joint campaign
Launching a joint campaign can be a great option if you’re looking to participate in an ongoing partnership. Unlike an event that lasts for only a few hours, a marketing campaign goes on much longer and has the potential to reach more people. Your campaign can utilize email, social posts, and other forms of digital marketing.
Tips for collaborative marketing
- Determine your goals
- Choose a like-minded collaborator
- Be open to new ways of thinking
- Set expectations early
- Maintain open communication
Consider these tips for successfully leveraging collaborative marketing:
Determine your goals
Before looking for potential partners, sit down with your team and decide what you want from a successful collaboration. Does your company want brand visibility, or are you looking to boost your credibility? What type of response does your company want to see from a new marketing collaboration? Solidifying your goals can help you determine the kind of brand you want as a partner.
Choose a like-minded collaborator
To collaborate effectively, select a company with similar values, a related target audience, and other overlapping characteristics that can benefit your business. Choose a company that will give you the greatest boost in brand exposure and the best odds for your collaboration’s success. This means avoiding brands that go against your company’s vision or are direct competitors.
Be open to new ways of thinking
Working with a new group of people won’t always be seamless. There might be growing pains as both teams learn how the other prefers to handle tasks such as meetings, brainstorming, and scheduling. While their strategies might differ from yours, partnering with a brand is an opportunity to try something new that could work in your favor.
Set expectations early
Set objectives, goals, and key performance indicators at the beginning of the collaboration process to ensure everyone is on the same page. Discuss the workload and division of responsibilities, and share your brand guidelines to maintain consistent messaging.
Maintain open communication
Communication skills and the ability to establish expectations are crucial to working well with an external team. This is particularly important if you’ll be doing most of your communication through email and online calls. Start each meeting with clear objectives, respond to emails promptly, and thoroughly cover any questions that might come up along the way.
Collaborative marketing FAQ
Is collaboration a branding strategy?
Collaboration can be a branding strategy when you work with a like-minded company that reinforces your own brand identity. For example, if your company prioritizes sustainability, working with a brand that only uses recycled materials or that allows free product refills will bolster your brand identity as an eco-conscious company.
What are the benefits of collaborative marketing?
Collaborative marketing can help you solve problems faster, introduce you to new ways of thinking, expand your audience reach, and increase brand awareness.
What is an example of a successful collaborative marketing strategy?
Does the name Doritos Locos Tacos ring a bell? Taco Bell and Frito-Lay’s collaborative product led to significant increases in revenue. Today, the co-branded menu item is still a fixture on Taco Bell’s menu due to its widespread popularity among customers.
