Make local marketing more efficient and effective with cooperative marketing

The digital and online-centered advertising world in which we are currently operating often overwhelms small local providers. In addition, they are unable to keep up with major international competitors. Your local advertising and marketing in general is lost compared to online shops and international competitors. In this situation, it helps to conduct cooperative marketing and approach customers together with partners and allies.

Collaborative marketing in a local context

Cooperative marketing, also known as marketing cooperation, is the joint cooperation between two companies or organizations in marketing and external communication. In doing so, the participants try to bundle their competencies and achieve the best marketing result with spared resources, i.e. with less costs and time. Cooperative marketing is particularly useful when the two partners pursue similar goals, creating a win-win situation for everyone involved. In addition, in most cases, there is also an advantage on the part of customers, who, for example, get products cheaper through a discount or a specific campaign. In order to carry out cooperative marketing and make it possible, different partners can join forces. At the local level, these are usually retailers, who in turn can join forces with other retailers, the manufacturer or the brand or even with individual customers (ambassadors).

Why collaborative marketing makes sense

Cooperative marketing is becoming increasingly important in general (regardless of the type of partnership). As a result of increasing supra-regional and international competition, local retailers must gain advantages that retain customers in the long term. In addition, cooperation offers local retailers growth potential that they cannot achieve alone without a partnership. Through joint marketing, retailers can team up with manufacturers or other retailers without directly forcing a merger of companies or organizations. Here, only marketing skills are bundled and shared. These competencies are used to strengthen and build up the image of one's own brand as well as to reach new customers and markets and to make customers more loyal to their own brand. In addition to these long-term goals, reducing the costs of joint local marketing is a decisive factor in why local retailers opt for marketing collaborations.

Types of marketing collaborations

In order to carry out cooperative marketing and advertise together, companies and retailers can join forces in various ways. On the one hand, they can work together on product development (co-branding), communication (co-advertising) or marketing measures (co-promotion). In addition, the parties involved can form sales partnerships in which retailers exclusively represent products from a manufacturer, for example. Sponsorship contracts, licensing or product placements can also be made possible. Depending on the target group, objectives and partnership, individual cooperation can be made possible and developed.

Collaborative marketing and software systems

To implement this individual partnership, the parties involved need clear agreements and stringent communication between the partners. This can be a challenge, especially for larger companies and manufacturers, as soon as various local partners come into play. It helps to organize cooperative marketing together using a software system and to use it to manage as many marketing processes as possible. Through a marketing portal, brands can provide their partners with advertising materials for individualization and local adaptation and make them accessible regardless of location and time. In this way, they provide local retailers with easy local brand communication, which improves and strengthens the brand image to the outside world by adapting the advertising materials but not changing their corporate design. In addition, all agreements and coordination of cooperation can be regulated via the marketing portal and an overview of all partners' actions can be provided.

Are you also interested in expanding and managing new marketing collaborations? Get in touch with us, we would be happy to advise you!