Best Practices in Co-branding

By John Abbott

One of the most effective ways for an agency to build its book of business is through a co-branded marketing campaign with one of its carriers, a vendor that provides a unique service, or even another agency with complementary products and services.

Co-branding combines the strength of two (or more) brands; it can enhance your credibility, exploit new marketing opportunities, and increase the premium that customers are willing to pay. However, pasting your partner’s logo next to yours on a piece of marketing collateral isn’t a guarantee of success.

What defines an effective co-branding campaign?
Success can vary depending on the message as well as the medium, not to mention the chemistry between your agency and the companies you choose to co-brand with. But there are a few key elements that can help to ensure you’ll hit the mark with your target audience more often than not – and save time, money and resources along the way.

Concept development
Are you promoting a new product or service? Moving into a new market? Announcing a community relations initiative? Whatever the focus of your co-branding campaign, make sure that you and your co-branding ally agree on the concept before you begin putting words on paper.

Define the concept
By choosing the right concept – whether it’s simply producing a glossy brochure or launching a multi-channel campaign across a wide range of media – you can break through the “noise” in the marketplace and showcase your brands more effectively. Here are the first steps in the process: 

• Identify the key messages you want to communicate. Can you summarize them quickly and concisely? Do they answer the reader’s obvious question: “What’s in it for me?”
• Identify your target audience. Be as specific as possible in terms of their demographics, habits and buying activity.
• Identify the best channel(s) to use to reach your audience. A brochure might be fine for some clients, but others will appreciate an email checklist delivered to their desktop or a coupon for a complimentary service call they can download from a co-branded landing page.
• Identify the differentiators that set you apart from the competition. As with your key messages, can you summarize them quickly and concisely? Are they real differentiators, or could other companies make the same claims?

• Determine whether both companies will play an active role in developing the collateral or if one company will take the lead.
• Assign one individual in your agency to act as your point person so that when questions or issues come up, they can be managed through a single point of contact. Your point person will also act as the manager of your internal approval process when it’s time to review copy, layout, etc.

Develop a marketing plan

• If you’re creating an integrated marketing campaign across several channels – for instance, a brochure, a series of email blasts, an ad in a trade journal – develop a plan that summarizes the objectives, the activities, the timing of each piece, the budget, and each company’s role and responsibility in the process.

Agree on the review process

• Your brand is your most visible public asset, so insist on reviewing the copy and the final layout before any marketing collateral is produced – particularly if your partner is in charge of developing the marketing materials. That ensures the key messages are consistent with your company identity and your logo and any other graphics are being used appropriately.

Content
Whether you’re developing the content for the marketing collateral or just reviewing what your partner produces, there are several things to consider that will make it a more effective sales tool.

Find your voice

• Use a clear, concise, engaging voice that is free of jargon, buzzwords and clichés.
• Your key messages should be presented immediately; don’t waste your reader’s time with a wordy, overstated introduction.
• Emphasize the benefits – rather than the features – of a product or service to your target audience.

Differentiate yourselves

• Describe the differentiators that set you apart from your competitors. Keep the list short and specific; differentiators can help you sell intangibles particularly if there’s a significant price differential between you and your business rivals.
• Charts and graphs that favorably compare your products and services to your competitors’ can be very effective in appealing to potential customers.

Engage your audience

• Avoid “scare tactics” in your marketing materials; it’s more effective to show how your products and services better serve the needs of your customers than to try to frighten them into a decision.
• Make sure the call to action – “visit our web site to get your free report” – is clear to the reader.

Design
Some companies have stringent guidelines about how their logos and trademarks are to be used in collateral; others have no guidelines at all. When you reach the design stage of your project, the best practice is to work closely with the designer to make sure your brand is professionally and attractively presented.

Logo placement

• Determine up front where and how each company’s logo will appear on the collateral. Discuss whether each will receive equal size or whether one will be primary and the other will be secondary.
• In cases where space permits, a co-branded piece may include your logo, contact information, and even a brief statement tailored for each partner.

• Provide your logo to the designer as a Vector file. (Vector files break down your logo into a series of geometric shapes that allow designers unlimited freedom to edit it to fit the needs of the collateral.)
• Don’t send a copy of your logo that you cut and paste from the Internet – its resolution will be too low.
• If you have both a vertical and horizontal version of your logo, send both to the designer in case adjustments need to be made in the space allowed.

• Determine which company will be responsible for working with the printer (if you’re producing hard copy of any kind). Generally, the designer will be in the best position to coordinate all printing activities, including reviewing proofs and making sure the collateral is produced and distributed on time.
• The safest solution is to print from a high-resolution PDF; again, the designer and the printer are in the best positions to work out these technical details.

Co-branding Opportunities
If you think that co-branding is a strategy you’ll use often, consider developing your own guidelines to help you assess any opportunities that come up. For example, one of my clients has established three criteria for any co-branding project:

• They’ll only partner with companies that share the same core values.
• They’ll only partner with companies perceived as “best in class.”
• They’ll only enter co-branding agreements in which they have full review and approval rights on the campaign.

While co-branding should only be used when the “fit” is right, it can generate a new level of excitement for your products and services – and ultimately build your business and your brand for a fraction of the cost it would have taken to go it alone.

About the Author
John Abbott is a marketing consultant who specializes in using agent research to help industry professionals create more effective sales and marketing tools. If you have questions or comments, visit him online at www.JohnAbbottCommunications.com.