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Business Co-promotion

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A nifty technique to broaden your email marketing reach

I always view a client/supplier relationship as one which promotes mutual success. Simply put, when our clients do well as as a result of the working together with us, then we usually do well too.

Such a relationship typically results in us being given first shout at new projects and also referrals to the client’s colleagues and friends. So it is worth making every effort to ensure a successful and profitable relationship.

This is also true when it comes to sharing ideas about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to marketing a dental practice. Whilst it’s fair to say that most of the information exchange flows from us to our clients (after all, it’s our job), occasionally some great ideas filter back to us from the client side. Where it’s appropriate, and without betraying any obvious secrets, we can then leverage on those good ideas to benefit other clients too.

Here is one such idea that came to us from a client which she uses to excellent effect in her MailChimp email campaigns – namely business co-promotion. (Note – some would actually call this cross-marketing but I’m not going to get hung up on definitions here as the objective is pretty clear).

How does co-promotion work?

Firstly, this need not just be for dentists, it works with any businesses which share common customer targets.

It’s actually very simple but incredibly effective if done right. Here’s how it works.

  • the dentist and third-party business owner discuss the idea of co-promoting their respective businesses via their own marketing channels. For this illustration, via the e-newsletter system. Of course there has to be a mutual benefit, trust and understanding. In our example, the business owners are actually patients of the practice but conceivably the technique could be broadened.
  • the dentist then compiles a short but suitably glowing review of the particular business for inclusion in the regular e-newsletter. This works better if a nice image of the proprietor is also included. Like anything of a promotional nature, there has to be a suitable call-to-action, so don’t miss out the telephone number and web link.
  • Reciprocation is expected – i.e. the dentist is then mentioned in the business guys own newsletter. From the dentist’s side, be sure to check what will be broadcast about you in the reciprocal promotion and if it is in appropriate context.

You can scale this technique by finding other business owners who are willing to participate. It’s also possible to set up tracking analytics to see just how popular your co-promotion has been.

Summary

By allowing business owners, probably your own patients, to feature in your marketing e-newsletter, you give them the opportunity to appear in front of a wide audience. By returning the favour and featuring you in their newsletters, you should receive some great coverage and hopefully new patients too.

Need some help setting up and some guidance? Please call us on 01332 672548 or contact us.