Page 135 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

101 WAYS TO MARKET YOUR BUSINESS

51 Work with other businesses and promote each
other

Cooperative advertising has many shapes and forms. Work-
ing with other businesses to jointly promote both businesses
can be very effective. It provides a way to save money and
to make your marketing budget go further.

For example, two retail shops that I frequent have
reached an agreement. One is a shoe store and one is a
menswear shop. Each business hands out the other’s pro-
motional flyers to any customer that makes a purchase. The
businesses concerned are not conflicting and they both
serve about the same number of customers. The cooperative
promotion goes one step further where customers are
offered a 10 per cent discount for shopping at the coopera-
tive company’s store.

This type of promotion can be effective. There is no
reason why you could not have multiple cooperative mar-
keting partners, as long as each business benefits.

Another example of this is at the local shopping centre
where everyone who makes a purchase at the chemist
receives a voucher for a free cappuccino coffee at a partic-
ular restaurant. The restaurant gets the extra business as a
result of people coming in to redeem their vouchers and
staying for a meal. The chemist gets extra business because
everyone wants a free cup of coffee. This is the classic
win–win situation where both stores are happy and the
customer feels important and special because someone has
taken the time to offer them something for free.

Theme parks and tourist attractions offer special passes
where one ticket can cover admission to three or more
attractions. There is a cost advantage in buying the special
pass which gives the consumer incentive to buy the all-
inclusive pass, and the companies involved get to spread their
marketing budget more widely to attract more customers.

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