Partnering with another professional expert can be a powerful way to not only demonstrate your expertise, but to vastly expand your reach – either to new geographic markets in which the partner has a presence, or to new types of prospects. It’s all well and good to ask your best referral source to partner on producing a valuable piece of content, but make sure the idea is backed by a sound strategy and the tactics to pay it off.
When is it Beneficial for You to Co-author Content?
Co-branded content ideally brings together two professionals with different audiences and similar goals. It brings your expertise to a new audience and brings a new expert voice to your existing audience. This adds value to both audiences as long as the collaboration creates content that relates to them all.
It’s important to have similar goals when co-branding content. Take a look at your mission statement and compare it with your potential brand partner. If you share related goals the co-branded content will have a powerful impact on clients or prospects and will be beneficial to you and your co-branding partner.
What are the Benefits of Co-authoring Content?
Reach new audiences. You have an audience that trusts you. But how can you quickly add to their numbers and gain the trust of a larger audience within your industry? Producing content with another trusted expert will offer you the trust of their audience and the opportunity to spread your message further in short order.
Reach influencers. Co-branding content with others in your industry should not be viewed as “working with the competition.” Instead, think of it as a way to build authority to what you are saying. Influencers within your industry will be more likely to distribute your content when it has the added credibility of another expert in the industry.
Cross promotions. The brilliance of working with another company on co-branded content and cross-promotions is that you get more results for less effort. In a cross-promotion, you are both trying to reach the same market, and you can combine your marketing budgets to reach them.
Market positioning. Co-branding strategies can be used to enhance your position in the industry. Mastercard is using co-branded content to position itself as a thought leader in the smart cities space. It has partnered with Skift X to produce a series of videos and microsites that explore the future of urban mobility. Skift X is a travel news publisher and marketing platform that runs the Skift Global Forum—a conference known as the “Ted of travel.” It can help Mastercard position itself as a thought leader while at the same time bolstering its own position in the creative business and travel market.
How to Drive Traffic to Each Other’s Platforms
Social media. Tag your co-branding partner in your Tweet or mention them in your LinkedIn or Facebook post to promote a webinar or shared landing page or some other piece of co-branded content.
Webinars. Live video presentations with both partners help to promote the partnership of the brands and give them an opportunity to tell customers about their shared goals and ideas.
Linked-In groups. The leading B2B marketing platform is LinkedIn. According to the Kissmetrics Blog, LinkedIn is responsible for over 80% of the social media leads for businesses. Microsoft is leading the way with using LinkedIn Groups to establish conversations relating to their products, such as Skype for Business and Microsoft Office.
Shared landing page. If you are co-branding content you don’t necessarily have to make the choice between hosting the content on your platform or your partner’s platform. Create a shared landing page for your co-branded content by featuring both company logos on the page and being sure to name the companies within the content itself. Then offer a download or signup of some kind to drive traffic to both partner platforms.
Be mindful that any type of partnership or sharing of your brand may expose you to risks. Vet your partners carefully and be mindful that their own brand reputation could impact your own.
With so many benefits to co-branded content, it’s time for you to find a partner and start implementing some of these traffic strategies for your business.
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