Examples of cross marketing with auto centers. Cross marketing - what is it? The best examples of joint marketing. The result will not be long in coming

Santa Malinovskaya

Cross marketing is a new and interesting marketing technology, the essence of which is the intersection of related services or goods in one PR campaign jointly carried out by two (or more) companies.

Business is always looking for new ways and technologies, advertising, among other things, is becoming more non-standard, the market is looking for new means of attracting customers.

Cross-marketing is a technology that allows you to attract customers in two or more directions at once, and, in addition, to establish serious, long-term relationships with other companies that are not competitors in the same market niche. Cross-marketing is divided into cross-PR campaigns and cross-selling. A good example of cross marketing There was a New Year's promotion held in one car dealership: when purchasing a car of a certain brand, all buyers were given a certificate for free receipt of a chic Danish beauty Christmas tree. The promotion was carried out jointly with a company selling Danish spruce trees. As a result, all three parties were satisfied: the car service, which provides its customers with a free bonus; customers who received a luxurious gift for the New Year; a company selling fir trees, which received the opportunity to advertise its services both through a car dealership and through the dealership’s website.

Types of cross-PR campaigns

Tactical - short-term promotions, sometimes one-time, more aimed at the sale of certain services or goods.
Strategic - long-term, comprehensive cooperation with other companies in the field of promotion and sale of services or goods.

A cross-promotion can consist of completely paid services (products), or one service is paid, the other is free, in the form of a bonus.

Cross-promotions can include two or more overlapping services (products) from different companies, but you especially shouldn’t get carried away with the quantity so as not to get lost among them. It’s best to have no more than three overlapping services (products).

It is important to observe the price level when cross-selling— the services or goods offered should not vary greatly in price, i.e. if elite goods are offered, then the accompanying goods must also belong to the elite price group. This principle does not apply to bonuses when another related product is provided to buyers of the main product for free.

Before conducting cross-promotions, you should think carefully about what target group the promotion will be aimed at, what the needs of consumers are, etc.

It is best to advertise the upcoming cross-promotion well in advance, notifying all those consumers in whom the company is interested. At the same time, advertising must equally reflect the interests of both companies participating in the promotion.

Corporate website

What are the characteristic features of a corporate website that distinguish it from printed corporate publications?

First of all, these are relationships within the triangle: client - designer (creator) - developer (programmer). The fact is that any corporate website is an integral element of corporate identity along with a trademark, logo, corporate font and color, documentation, image elements, etc. Therefore, problems always arise here:

1) between the client’s desires and the elements of corporate identity that are mandatory from the designer’s point of view (opposition “beautiful - comfortable”);

2) between the elements of corporate identity that are mandatory from the designer’s point of view and the capabilities of the software (opposition “a professional artist, but not a programmer - a professional programmer, but not an artist”);

3) between the client’s desires and the capabilities of the software (opposition “relationship to the programmer’s website - relationship to the visitor’s website”).

At the same time, the client-visitor is the first to appreciate the beauty of the site, the convenience of obtaining information, and, finally, the financial side of the corporate web project. The more lively the site is, the more information it provides, the richer and more successful the company is. Therefore, on a corporate website it is necessary to focus on news, press releases, current links, new products, constant change of price lists, assortment, etc. In principle, there is a golden rule for a corporate website: a corporate website is not a final, aesthetically frozen product, but a continuously updated process (or movement).

English RussianRules

Today, almost all markets are overflowing with goods. This excess supply makes the consumer very picky and increasingly difficult to persuade to make any purchase. In response to growing competition and the increasing complexity of customer involvement in communication, cross-marketing is emerging. How to quickly and cheaply attract customers? This question plagues marketers all over the world. There is no single correct answer to this. But cross-marketing can solve a number of problems in attracting consumers, but there are a number of nuances in its application.

Cross marketing concept

When answering the question of what cross-marketing is, you need to remember that marketing is the activity of a company to promote goods or services in order to satisfy consumer needs and make a profit.

However, marketing efforts are becoming more and more expensive, and their effectiveness is decreasing due to the high information saturation of the consumer environment. Promotion specialists are trying to come up with new ways to achieve this, and thus the technology of cross-marketing, co-marketing or cross-marketing arises. Its essence lies in the accumulation of efforts to promote several companies within the framework of one communication program. Two or more producers of goods or services in one advertising campaign reach a common target audience.

The history of cross-marketing

Cross-marketing, as a special promotion technology, emerged in the 90s of the 20th century, when traditional ones brought less and less results or required more and more investments. Then large companies in the United States decided to join forces to promote goods and received a great synergistic effect. Thus was born the concept of cross-promotion or cross-marketing, which took root very slowly in the commercial sphere, but at the beginning of the 21st century it became a common technology for advertising certain goods and services. Today this technique has been poorly studied from a theoretical point of view, but practical experience allows us to say that it has its undoubted advantages.

Benefits of Cross Marketing

When thinking about who and how to conduct cross-marketing, it is worth determining the main advantages of this method of promotion. The most obvious advantage of joint promotional activities is saving the advertising budget. The consumer receives double benefits, so he responds to offers with great pleasure.

All this not only reduces costs, but also increases the efficiency of communication. Another advantage of cross-marketing is the ability to widely reach the target audience and reach new segments. Since each partner company engages in advertising activities with its own target audiences, the recipients are expanded at the expense of the partner’s audience.

When you find a worthy partner, cross-marketing can significantly improve your image, increase customer loyalty, and increase the number of consumers aware of the brand. Cross-marketing campaigns inspire more confidence in the client, he transfers part of the image of a well-known company to its partner, thereby improving the image of this company. The consumer forms associative connections between partner companies, this greatly simplifies the memorization of information and gives a greater psychological effect.

Types of cross marketing

Tactical. Those that are limited in time and solve short-term problems. These usually include one-time partnership promotions.
Strategic. Long-term, diverse cooperation between partner companies. Allows you to solve various problems, including in the field of image making and branding.

Cross-cultural marketing is also distinguished as a type of promotion in international markets. In this case, the resources of two or more countries are combined to advertise products. In its pure form, such promotion cannot be called cross-marketing, since cooperation is carried out within the framework of one brand. When collaborating between different countries, it is necessary to take into account cultural and linguistic differences so that the product receives the correct semantics in the new region. Often, to promote in other countries, it is not enough to simply translate advertising texts. It is often necessary to develop new packaging and sometimes even change the name in order for the product image to be positive.

You can divide cross-marketing activities according to the distribution of roles between partners. They can be equal and then their common efforts can achieve higher goals. For example, a company promoting an expensive brand of kitchen furniture can take on a well-known brand of built-in appliances as partners. The second option is an unequal relationship, when one brand is much more famous than the partner brand. In such cases, the contract is concluded in such a way as to balance the position and distribute benefits in accordance with it.

Conditions for using cross-marketing

Joint marketing activities require special conditions to be met for the promotional activity to be successful. The program of a co-branded advertising campaign is influenced by the goals being pursued. Based on them, a promotion concept should be developed.

Thus, strategy and tactics determine cross-marketing. Examples of conditions that are taken into account can be divided into two groups: from the initiator’s side and from the partner’s side. The initiator must have a good understanding of the partner’s image and its target audience. The partner, in turn, must see the benefits and advantages of cooperation.

When planning a cross-marketing campaign, you should make sure that the partners' target audiences overlap, but do not completely coincide. The products offered should also have common ground, ideally satisfying some common need. The consumer must be provided with some benefit from participating in the promotion, for example, he receives a discount or a gift. Partner products must be in the same price segment. There is no need to conduct a cross-marketing campaign, for example, for a Mercedes and some water from the village of Penkovo. The quality and level of goods must correspond to each other.

Basic forms of cross-marketing

Cross marketing can come in three main forms:

Joint advertising campaign for partner products. In such events, partners act as equal customers of advertising. For example, the Coca-Cola brand conducted a co-branding campaign together with McDonald's under the slogan “Tastes better together.”
Joint bonus or discount programs. In such campaigns, a client, using the services of one company or purchasing one product, receives discounts or bonus points on products from another brand. For example, Aeroflot issued a joint card with Sberbank, which accumulated points for transactions.
Joint BTL events. a holiday or promotion can be carried out by two or more campaigns.

Cross marketing technology

Like any marketing activities, co-branding companies require a certain sequence of actions. Cross marketing usually includes the following steps:

defining goals: as in any marketing event in co-branding, you need to understand what should be the result;
selection of partners: a very important and responsible stage that requires separate consideration;
preparation for the event: at this stage it is necessary to determine resources and carry out motivational procedures for staff;
development of a plan for a cross-marketing event and its coordination with partners: it is necessary to determine such campaign parameters as the volume of databases to be exchanged, frequency of actions, campaign timing, fines and bonuses, development of a campaign script, identification of those responsible for the implementation of the plan;
implementation of cross-marketing campaign;
summing up results and activities.

Search and evaluation of partners

Cross-marketing, in which partners play a key role, is based on the following principles:

partners should not be competitors;
products should also not compete with each other or replace each other, preferably they should be complementary;
partners must overlap in target audiences;
products must be in the same price segment.

Among advertisers, advertising with the terrible name cross-promotion is becoming increasingly widespread: when one campaign is paid for, but two brands are advertised. The new trend is not met with great enthusiasm among advertising agencies, but allows advertisers to significantly save their budgets.

One head it's good, but two better

The market dictates that companies need to increase their marketing budgets in order to maintain the required level of influence on consumers. Unfortunately, only large “monsters” of the food and industrial markets can afford this. But what should companies do that do not have a large advertising budget?

Look for ways to save money. One option is to divide advertising costs “for two,” or even “for three.” In this situation, joint promotion, or cross-promotion, is one of the most obvious and effective ways to achieve the desired effect with limited marketing budgets. This occurs by combining the attributes of two or more brands to achieve greater effectiveness of the promotional campaign.

It's about overall marketing efforts with the right partner. The following practice is becoming increasingly widespread: two brands are actually promoted within one promotional campaign. We wash in a washing machine of a well-known brand and use powder also of a very advanced brand - it is recommended to be used by the manufacturer of that very washing machine.

Not only is the very idea of combining the financial capabilities of several companies tempting, especially since it also happens that only one party pays for the joint actions. Such cooperation, with the correct formulation of the problem and choice of tools, will lead to mutual support of brands in the market. In a joint struggle for consumers, you can prove your technical excellence, high social status, commitment to fashion and ideological appeal.

A good illustration of maintaining the image of two prestigious brands is the original project developed by Nokia and Lexus. Its essence is that the intelligent Lexus Integrated Phone System (LIPS) on Lexus cars only works with the Nokia 6310i mobile phone model. Unlike traditional hands-free solutions, the owner of a luxury car in this case gets the opportunity to conveniently and safely control the car's audio system and powerful navigation tools. Communication is completely wireless; the driver only needs to place his Nokia 6310i phone in a special holder hidden on the center console and start the car. After this, the system will be activated. In particular, the numbers from the phone's memory are displayed on the color display of the dashboard, which is much more convenient than looking at them on the small screen of the phone. This is not only convenient, but also really safe, because... does not interfere with complex maneuvers on a busy road.

Co-op Rules
Experts identify two possible options for participating in this kind of advertising or promotional tandem:

1. Division into brand “locomotive” and brand “cars” occurs on the basis of the functions that trademarks perform during cross-promotion campaigns:
- by source of financing;
- according to the priority of the goals of a particular brand.

The “locomotive” brand, as a rule, acts as a source of financing; accordingly, the priority of the assigned marketing tasks within the framework of the CP is on its side. In other words, the stated goal of “increasing consumer loyalty” refers specifically to this brand (including through the tangible/intangible attributes of the “car” brand).

If the leading brand has a high level of fame, then for a “small” participant in this situation it will be useful to increase its awareness at the expense of the leader with a minimum of financial costs. In fact, all that is required is the product itself. This technique is most often used in mechanics aimed at promoting FMCG, for example, the standard “gift with purchase”. But what benefits does the “wagon” brand receive?

At first glance, if one of the partner brands is clearly larger than the other, then the smaller participant benefits more. After all, the very fact of cooperation with a more well-known company attracts the attention of potential consumers. Thus, she acts as a kind of locomotive for the “fry” and the still weak beginner. True, truly unequal partnerships are simply impossible - by and large, not a single major brand will agree to “pull up” and attract such a “dependent” into the people, resting on the strong shoulders of an already promoted brand. Even if this “dependent”, claiming a share of fame, is ready to pay for it.

But, on the other hand, a smaller company or an unpromoted brand, as one of the participants in the promotional alliance, will not always remain on the sidelines. In joint marketing, both parties play equally important, albeit slightly different, roles. After all, everyone pursues their own goals. Finally, a popular or simply bright brand, for example, of a not the largest local company, may turn out to be just a desirable partner for large global brands that want to declare themselves in a certain niche and localize themselves in a specific crowd. And in this case, it is still unknown who is “pulling” whom along!

2. The situation when brands act as equal partners. Most often, the technique of conducting cross-promotion campaigns is used in the mechanics of promoting expensive and high-tech products. For example, when purchasing a jet ski and scuba diving equipment at the same time, the buyer receives a discount on both products. This is the principle of a “wholesale discount” with the only difference that wholesale in this case is not a specific number of units of a product of one brand, but the total number of units sold of 2 brands. Here, equal conditions for financial investments in the project are possible; accordingly, material and intangible benefits are equally distributed.

In addition to these rules, there are other important conditions that influence the choice of a partner for a joint promotion. First, brands must be non-competing with each other. And secondly, the promoted products must complement each other. For example, for food products, taste compatibility is important. It is unlikely that any consumer will have a desire to taste both meat and dairy products or to receive as a gift when purchasing 4 packs of pasta a coupon for visiting a fitness center, which, as if by chance, but offensively for the buyer, reminds him of flaws in the figure. But chips and beer are quite compatible.

When it's taboo

Cross-promotion also has its limitations, which depend mainly on the goals set and the current situation with the brand. There are several situations where this method is not recommended.

Situation 1. Your brand is doing well, the brand has a clear differentiation from competitors, there is high consumer loyalty/brand recognition, as well as stable growth dynamics, and finally, your brand occupies a leading position in the market. In such a situation, organizing tandems can negatively affect consumer perception of the brand, because “negative attributes” (and they usually always exist) of a partner can “tarnish” the brand’s image. Experts do not recommend abusing this type of communication. The fact is that the success of a promotion does not always depend on the brand itself; the environment of the partner brand is also taken into account. Consequently, the share of risk increases.

Situation 2. Pharmaceuticals. In this situation, it is generally dangerous to use any consumer-promotion methods (and cross-promotion is one of them), because people make purchasing decisions under the influence of BTL tools less often. The main opinion-makers are doctors, pharmacists, and sales consultants. Therefore, for pharmaceuticals, if we talk about BTL methods, trade-promotion is more effective.

Situation 3. When the criteria for evaluating a partner are not fully met, it is better not to carry out joint actions in order to avoid risk. What these criteria are will be discussed in the next section.

The perfect combination

The algorithm for preparing and conducting cross-promotion campaigns depends on many factors, the main of which are goals. Accordingly, the first task is to determine what the company wants to achieve using joint promotional tools. After all, sometimes it happens that in order to achieve some goals it is not at all necessary to take a partner. For example, if the task is to introduce a new brand to the market, opening an as yet unknown product category (as Nescafe once opened the “instant coffee” category), then communication with the consumer should be built exclusively on the advantages of the product itself. Otherwise, the USP of the product will be “dull”, i.e. the consumer simply will not notice the “uniqueness” of the product, because the environment of the partner brand (no matter what category) will draw a certain share of the consumer’s attention.

But the most important task before starting a CP is to choose the right partner who meets certain criteria.

1. Partner's target audience. The very concept of CP implies the impact of 2 or several brands on one consumer. Those. During communication, the consumer may encounter at least two brand-messages. But there is only one consumer. Accordingly, his purchasing behavior is a consequence of a subjective idea of material and (or) intangible values. For example, if a person drives a latest model BMW, then he prefers to drink expensive cognac. It would be stupid to offer him a set of cheap glass glasses as a gift for buying elite cognac. Therefore, partner brands must match each other at least in terms of the socio-demographic characteristics of their target audience.

2. Positioning. This is where the concept of brand equity comes into play, which is expressed in intangible resources and is determined by the level of loyalty to the brand. Experts argue that if the brand equity of the promoted brand is higher than that of the partner brand, then it is unlikely to increase as a result of the company’s participation in a cross-promotion campaign. And in some cases, on the contrary, it decreases, for example, if suddenly, while promoting two equivalent brands, a rumor spreads that one of them has frankly low quality. Such “PR” can have a negative impact on the level of loyalty to the partner, and there is always a risk.

3. Purchase situation. When developing joint promotions at points of sale, you need to know exactly WHAT the buyer came to the store for. If he clearly understands what product and what brand he wants to buy, he is unlikely to pay attention to advertising communications. As a rule, this situation is typical for goods of “non-impulsive” demand, or pre-selection (such as cars, household appliances, etc.). It’s a different matter with “impulsive” purchases from the FMCG market, when the choice of product is most often determined at the point of sale in a largely spontaneous manner. Accordingly, communication through the use of the cross-promotion method will be more likely to be successful.

If a customer came to the store to buy dumplings, then it would be quite logical to offer him his favorite sauce as a gift for packaging. Examples of successful combinations of partner brands include the following: meat products + seasonings; pasta + ketchup; low alcohol products + snacks; beer + chips (crackers); cars+auto accessories+motor oil; tourist vouchers + accessories for recreation.

So, when choosing a partner, do not forget about the rule - “measure twice, cut once.”

This trend of organizing advertising and promotional tandems does not at all delight advertising agencies and the media. And this is understandable. Therefore, they strive, by hook or by crook, to somehow limit such initiatives of thrifty businessmen. Rumor has it that television people are already seriously discussing the possibility of introducing an additional fee for placing “double” advertising...

One of the most striking examples of cross-promotion is the promotion of several brands in the film industry.

Companies that place a product in a feature film build a full-fledged advertising campaign based on its plot, using the main characters and video images. All promotion channels are being activated - television, radio, outdoor advertising, displays, stands, posters at points of sale, PR.

Cinematography shares with product manufacturers a ready-made story, creativity, and well-promoted brand bearers. Who is comparable in popularity to... (fill in the blank with the name of the star that comes to mind for you!). However, the cinema is not offended either - after all, by advertising their products, producers are promoting the film itself. Support from advertisers helps the film industry reduce marketing costs, which average between $20 million and $50 million per film in America.

In the penultimate Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, several world-famous manufacturers featured their products: BMW, Ericsson, Martini, Smirnoff, Brioni, Omega, Visa, Heineken, Avis rental cars, L’Oreal. In the latest episode of “The World Is Not Enough,” Catterpillar and Fujitsu joined this glorious cohort. The cost of cross-promotions carried out by promotional partners for the film “Tomorrow Never Dies” was, according to various estimates, from 100 to 120 million dollars.

One of the areas of cross-promotion is advertising campaigns and PR events directly in cinemas where the film is shown. All Bond's promotional partners actively used this technology, and what is most gratifying is that it reached Russia already in 1997 during the release of Tomorrow Never Dies.

Perhaps the largest-scale campaign was carried out by BMW at the Moscow Kodak-Kinomir cinema. The centerpiece was the drawing of a Z3 car among the spectators. In addition to being present on all media offered by the cinema (rental of advertising videos before the show, placement on printing: flyers, booklets, tickets, invitation cards, placement of banners in the foyer and banners on the street), BMW also took advantage of other forms of advertising. In particular, the Maximum radio station was involved in the cross-campaign. Every day, free tickets to the “Tomorrow Never Dies” session were drawn, and every day the password was announced on air. The program was designed for 18 days - the number of James Bond films. Every day a winner was determined. As a result, a car was raffled off among them. In addition, before the premiere in Moscow, BMW organized a private VIP party at the cinema with the invitation of leading media. Ericsson held a drawing of mobile phones among cinema visitors.

Both parties pay for shared advertising, which is part of its appeal for mid-sized companies. However, often such a tandem is paid for by one party, because each of the participants in the cross-promotional program has their own interests. Let’s say one seeks to gain access to a partner’s audience, and the other seeks to achieve fame and recognition of their brand.

Photo www.freepik.com

Example of companies with similar audiences that are not competitors:

Beauty salon - cosmetics stores - fitness center - women's clothing stores - agency for organizing festive events - photographers - children's centers (after all, women live there too).

Affiliate Marketing Examples

1. Carrying out joint actions.

The simplest thing you can think of is discounts. For example, you give a discount to a buyer who presents a loyalty card from a partner company, and vice versa. For example, a fitness club and a sports nutrition store could do this. Or a clothing store and hairdresser.

You can easily determine how many new people came to you from this partnership. For efficiency, it is better to set a limitation on the validity period.

2. Using products from partners that are suitable for your buyer.

If you see that your products do not satisfy all the buyer’s needs, think about what else you can offer.

Olga Zhukova

Commercial Director of a business solutions agency"KIT MEDIA" :

We worked to increase sales in the Teskoma premium kitchenware store. To achieve this, we introduced a partnership program with an eco-friendly household goods store: the buyer received dishwashing detergent as a gift along with expensive dishes.

The promotion hit the target audience, because both the partners advocate a healthy lifestyle, and the Teskoma store makes tableware from environmentally friendly materials.

Result: Sales of expensive pots and pans increased by 7%.

Joint promotion of a dishware store and a dishwashing detergent brand

4. Sales through an aggregator.

Emilia Manvelyan

Founder of the clothing brand “Art Flash”:

We have entered into agreements with several companies: partners send an offer about our service to their clients, we pay them a percentage of sales as agents for attracting clients.

5. Organization of mutual PR.

Guest post on Nina Zaitseva's blog

How to find a business partner and do cross-marketing

1. Make a list of possible partners.

You can find a partner for your company in almost any field. You just need to look at everything from a different angle - not as an owner, but as a buyer: what else might you need if you purchase a product like yours.

You can conduct a survey among your customers on social networks: where they go, what stores they visit, what they buy.

Look for partners among those whose pricing policy is equivalent to yours.

2. Think about the format in which it would be interesting to interact with each of the possible partners.

In a short presentation you can write:

plan, conditions of the promotion, timing;

benefits for each party: specific results you plan to achieve;

resources to be spent;

what kind of promotion will there be;

How will you track the results?

3. Meet or call the decision maker.

That is, you need to negotiate a partnership with the store director, and not with the seller, with the club owner, and not with the administrator, and so on.

4. Sign an agreement if we are talking about large investments.

5. Prepare all resources and materials.

6. Launch a marketing campaign and track the results.