Small business owners often have limited resources when it comes to marketing and advertising. Being effective and efficient is crucial when planning marketing efforts and teaming up with other small businesses is a great way to create impactful campaigns. But how do you go about choosing partners that are a good fit for your business? Marketing 360 Payments has put together some tips for you to begin your cross-promotion efforts.

First ask yourself what you want to get out of a campaign. Are you looking for a one-time partner related to a special event or partnerships that are ongoing and create loyalty with your audience?

Do your homework. Take the time to learn about potential partners and how they interact with customers. Follow them on social media, sign up for their email list and walk into their place of business at different times of the day. Finding a partner who has the same values and treats customers as you do is probably the most important ingredient in finding a partner that is a good fit for you.

Customer demographics – an obvious link to other businesses is that they serve similar clientele, but are not necessarily your competitor. These are great businesses to cross-promote with by either creating a campaign around a specific event or time of year, or by offering special rates or bonuses at the complimentary business. Utilizing a POS system like those offered by Marketing 360 Payments will help you collect data on your customer demographics and make more informed cross-promotion partnership decisions based on that information.

Location – sometimes the criteria for partners can be as simple as location. A good example of this is to create a loyalty card for businesses that are all in the same shopping district. Make the card available at every participating business and each business can choose the benefits that cardholders receive. Businesses can split the cost of database management, card printing and promotion.

Make sure your employees are trained to speak about the offerings of the other business. One way to do this is to host an informal after-hours gathering for employees of both businesses to meet and experience the offerings of the other business. When employees are included in the process they will feel respected and take more ownership in participating in the campaign.

Once you’ve found a partner you’d like to work with, the relationship will need to be nurtured in order to be successful. In our next blog post we talk about the important elements to success and how to measure your results.

Marketing 360 Payments offers integrated products that can help you manage your cross-promotion campaigns and gather customer data. Contact us today to learn more about how we are making business richer!