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Co-op marketing dollars are like finding money under a rock. How would you feel if someone told you billions of marketing dollars are going unused? Pretty shocked, right? Many marketing and research firms, including Borrell Associates, have estimated that billions of co-op dollars are left untapped by marketers, retailers, national brands, and local companies every year.

As new-age marketers, we constantly look for ways to get better ROI on brands’ marketing spends. Imagine the extent of reach and growth with co-op marketing dollars – a strategy no one talks about.

What’s the catch? Why are companies not actively using these subsidized co-op marketing dollars to build their brand identity with a larger audience?

Well, choosing the right marketing partner that resonates with your business can be challenging, especially when one brand is bigger than the other in terms of recall value. The key is successful collaboration that highlights both your business and the brand affiliated with the marketing dollars that you promote.

There is so much potential that if the co-op marketing dollar is spent strategically, it can do wonders. For instance, in 2014, Uber and Spotify collaborated to enable riders to listen to their own Spotify playlists during car journeys. Taco Bell created tacos with Doritos shells that changed the game for the brand across the country.

What is Co-Op Marketing?

Brands don’t get new customers every day. It takes time to build your brand empire. It requires consistent marketing campaigns that require an investment. As a start-up, you need to be creative and find those hidden promotional dollars. Co-op marketing can be the growth-driver.

Cooperative marketing, commonly known as co-op marketing, is a strategy that mutually benefits the two businesses involved. Two or more companies can work together to promote an idea or an offer to broaden their brand awareness, value, and audience.

Generally, more prominent brands align their marketing resources to support any independent channel partner – can be a small business, franchisee, dealer, retailer, or any other type of business owner.

The most common form of co-op marketing is either providing dollars to the independent channel partner to fund promotion around the brand that provides the marketing dollars. The marketing budget gets decided on the basis of the requirements of the campaign.

It’s easier to promote the campaign when the two companies have similar brand values and audiences.

How Does Co-Op Marketing Work?

First, co-op marketing and co-op branding are often used interchangeably but don’t get confused. Both these strategies may have a similar objective, but the strategic routes are different. Every company should be aware of the difference and the marketing budget allocation.

Most likely, the brand has a marketing team that sets standards and regulations for using the co-op dollars. Models like projects-based funds, product discount funds or matching advertising funding, efficiency programs funds, etc., are commonly used to spend co-op marketing dollars.

For example, in project-based funds, a co-op sponsor will fully or partially fund a specific marketing campaign. It could be a series of videos, email campaigns, or advertising on social media, search, display, and more.

Different Channels to Use Co-op Marketing Dollars

Co-op marketing is not a new phenomenon. Earlier, it was limited to more offline channels like billboards, newspaper ads, radio ads, etc. However, it has transitioned to be used on different media to reach a larger audience with time. Hopping on the digital era, it is now reaching its audience through email marketing, content marketing, video marketing, paid search ads, landing pages, websites and much more.

Are You Ready to Get Started?

There are tons of ways to benefit from co-op marketing. Brands who proactively look for opportunities to grow their audience are likely to find great partners to work with.

Do you know the questions you will ask when you find the right co-op partner? Does it resonate with your brand value? We advise hiring a marketing professional to help your marketing team find co-op dollars and optimize the spend. We’re ready to help take you there!

To know more about co-op marketing, connect with us at info@innovatesocialmedia.com or 281-913 -5899.

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