1 Know the Basics of Brand Collaboration
Brand collabs happen when two or more brands come together to create a product or campaign that targets both brands’ audiences and helps them grow. As a simple rule, the brands participating in the collab cannot be in direct competition. Instead, they should add value to each other and have similar marketing goals and target audiences. Usually, brand collaborations are more cost-effective than individual brand marketing campaigns because organizations can combine their budgets or their reach as cross-promotional currency to create a strong campaign.
Want to see how it works? Recently, Blue Moon (beer company) launched a campaign with Snake River Farms (meat company) across social media platforms. The weekend comes, and, as usual, you plan to invite your friends over to grill some steaks and drink beer. Just a few days ago, you saw on your phone the campaign that Blue Moon and Snake River Farms launched, making you think that their products looked like a good fit together and purchase their products for your barbecue. That’s the brilliance of brand collab: make similar target audiences associate brands together, boost revenue stream, grow social media community network, and generate buzz.
2 Start Collaborating
Even though the theory always sounds great, turning the plan into reality is what counts. Follow GROWL’s 5 steps and launch a collaboration today.
1 Identify Your Goals. Be precise on revenue goals and target audience numbers that you want to reach.
2 Find the Right Collab Partner. The company (or companies) you collab with should be complementary to your brand values, share similar marketing goals, and not compete with your business.
3 Reach Out to the Other Company. Be personal and show how you can add value to their brand. Also, be open to negotiating budgets and brainstorming fresh creative ideas.
4 Create Your Collaboration Campaign Together. Have all companies take a good look at the material and content ideas to make sure you are all happy and benefit from it.
5 Track Your Results and Keep Communicating. After you launch the campaign, keep in constant communication with your collab partner. Measure your results to see if you reached the right target audience, as well as sales numbers and any other goals you have established.
3 Go Local with Collaborations
Brand collaborations are not exclusive to big businesses. Local and smaller companies can also benefit from collabs. If you are a small business owner, think about businesses in your region that you have a good relationship with. Are they willing to expand and try something different in their marketing strategies? A future brand collab partner may not be super open to this new marketing strategy or maybe has never heard of a brand collab before. A good pitch focuses on the mutual benefits for both businesses. If you are in retail, for example, brainstorm retail stores in your region that your product partners well with. Give the owner a pitch of what you could do for them and why it would be mutually beneficial. Attend local events, put your product out there, and think about ways that your brand could add to your community.
3 ½ Social Media Drives Success
For our social lovers, we want to give an extra tip. On social media, brand collaborations have their own little nuances. First, brand and influencer collabs are not the same. A collab with an influencer is when a brand gets associated with an influential person, instead of another brand. On social media, you should focus on a couple of factors to increase reach and find more audiences:
- Use hashtags or challenges that are fun and engaging.
- Create content that clearly shows the product(s) and brands. Don’t overcomplicate it.
- Think about fun giveaways. This gets people to repost your content.
- Focus on messaging that fits both brands so that both businesses can benefit from it.
Whether you are a small or global business, there is always an opportunity for a brand collab. If you need to boost your marketing ideas, contact the GROWL Team today!