Cross-promotional marketing is nothing new. Companies that offer one product or service have long been targeting customers of other companies that sell a related – but not competing – product or service. And this strategy works just as well in the online marketing landscape.
The idea of cross-promotion is especially well-suited for social media. If you can team up with a local business that caters to your audience and have that business share your content, you expand your reach and visibility by several magnitudes.
The only problem is that building relationships with other businesses isn’t always easy. You need to be precise with your approach, which is why we put together the following three step guide to digital cross-promotion for apartment social media marketers.
Step 1: Identify an Appropriate Partner
Cross-promotional marketing only works when you share a core audience with the other business. So if your community caters to single young professionals, you’ll want to avoid partnering with preschools. Restaurants and bars are a much safer bet.
Another option for identifying partners is to look at the interests of your fans and followers. If a certain business or organization appears over and over again, that business or organization is definitely an appropriate target.
Step 2: Be a Die-Hard Fan Before Making Contact
You should never ask a favor of someone unless you expect to give something back in return. And if you really want to start out on the right foot, it’s good to give something in good faith prior to even asking. One way to do this is to consistently like and share/retweet the posts/tweets of your potential partner before you contact them. When it’s the right time to reach out, the business can look back at your page or profile and see that you have a history of supporting them.
Step 3: Reach Out With a Personal Message
After you’ve actively liked and shared/retweeted the content of a potential cross-promotional partner for a month or two, reach out with a personal message to see if they’d be interested in making a deal. Think of a few incentives that your community could offer the business for referrals, as well as a few incentives that the business could offer you for referrals. It’s more than likely that you’ll come to some kind of agreement as long as both parties keep everything fair.
Final Notes
No matter how you go about trying to find a cross-promotional partner, you’ll inevitably find a few businesses that simply aren’t interested. Remember not to take this too personally and remain polite no matter the response. In the future they may change their mind and there’s no reason to burn any bridges.