What is Cross Promotion & How To Use It In Your Online Business

In today's highly competitive business world, it's crucial for entrepreneurs (like you and me) to find creative ways to stand out from the crowd and reach new potential customers. One effective strategy that has really gained significant momentum in recent years is cross-promotion.

This win-win marketing technique involves two or more businesses collaborating to promote each other's products or services. Cross-promotion is a cost-effective and efficient way for businesses to utilize each other's audience and reach, expand their customer base, and ultimately drive growth for their businesses.

You know I love virtual summits because they are basically the ultimate collaboration, but I also love less time-consuming, less stressful collaborations that still pack a mean punch for big benefits while taking less logistical planning to set up and complete- so cross-promotion opportunities are at the top of my list! 

This blog post will dive deeper into cross-promotion, explain how virtual entrepreneurs can benefit from it, and provide 25 different ways online entrepreneurs can utilize this strategy to enhance their businesses and tap into new markets.

What is Cross Promotion? 

Cross-promotion is a marketing strategy where two or more businesses collaborate to promote each other's products or services to their respective audiences. The goal is to leverage each other's audience and reach, and increase exposure, brand awareness, and sales for both parties.

Collaboration is an important aspect of business success, particularly in today's digital age where businesses need to be agile and adapt to changing market conditions quickly. Cross-promotion is one way that businesses can collaborate effectively, and it's a low-cost and effective way to build relationships with other businesses and tap into new markets.

Virtual entrepreneurs, in particular, can greatly benefit from this strategy as it can help them expand their reach and tap into new markets. 

How To Use Cross Promotion In Your Online Business

Cross-promotion typically involves businesses collaborating to create joint marketing materials, such as social media posts, email campaigns, webinars, or blog posts, that promote each other's products or services.

By working together, businesses can leverage each other's audience and reach, expand their customer base, and drive growth for their businesses.

For virtual entrepreneurs, cross-promotion can be an effective way to expand their reach and tap into new markets. So let's look at how virtual entrepreneurs can get started using cross-promotion in their businesses. 

7 Steps To Using Cross-Promotion Collaborations In Your Business

1. Identify Potential Partners: Look for businesses that target a similar audience as yours but offer complementary products or services. For example, if you're a virtual assistant who offers administrative services, you could partner with a copywriter who offers content creation services.

2. Reach Out & Propose A Collaboration: Reach out to the potential partner and propose a cross-promotion partnership. It's important to approach potential partners with a clear value proposition and explain how the collaboration can benefit both parties.

3. Define The Terms: Discuss and define the terms of the collaboration. This includes discussing the type of promotion, the duration of the promotion, and the promotional materials to be used. 

4. Agree on Promotional Activities: Determine the specific promotional activities that will be used, such as social media shoutouts, email marketing, or webinars.

5. Create Promotional Materials: Create promotional materials such as graphics, email templates, or social media posts to share with your audience. It's important to ensure that the promotional materials are aligned with your brand and that they effectively communicate the value of the collaboration.

6. Promote As Agreed: Promote each other's products or services to your respective audiences using the agreed-upon promotional activities and materials.

7. Track Results & Evaluate: Track the results of the cross-promotion and evaluate the success of the partnership. If the collaboration was successful, consider continuing the partnership or exploring other ways to collaborate in the future.

By working together, virtual entrepreneurs can benefit from increased exposure, new leads, and potentially increased sales. And now that we know the 7 steps to implement cross-promotion in your business, how about we take a look at 25 different cross-promotion collaboration ideas to help get your gears turning in the right direction? 

25 Cross-Promotion Collaboration Ideas

1. Guest Post Exchange: Write a guest post for your collaborator's blog or website, and have them do the same for you.

2. Joint Webinars: Host a webinar together where you both share your expertise with your audiences.

3. Podcast Collaboration: Collaborate on a podcast episode together, or appear as a guest on each other's podcasts.

4. Social Media Shout-outs: Promote each other on social media by sharing posts, and stories, or going live together.

5. Email List Swaps: Offer to promote your collaborator's product or service to your email list, and have them do the same for you.

6. Affiliate Marketing: Partner with each other as affiliates and promote each other's products or services to your audiences.

7. Product Bundle: Bundle your products or services together and offer them as a package deal.

8. Co-Created Content: Collaborate on creating content together, such as an ebook, course, or video series.

9. Group Coaching Program: Host a group coaching program together, where you both contribute your expertise.

10. Facebook Group Promotion: Promote each other's Facebook groups to your respective audiences.

11. Brand Ambassadorship: Partner with each other as brand ambassadors and promote each other's brands to your audiences.

12. Product Reviews: Review each other's products or services and share your reviews with your audiences.

13. Co-host A Challenge: Host a challenge together where you both offer guidance and support to your participants.

14. Joint Venture: Partner with each other to create a new product or service together.

15. Speaking Opportunities: Recommend each other as speakers at conferences, summits, or other events.

16. Testimonials: Share each other's testimonials on your website or social media.

17. Collaborative Giveaways: Host a joint giveaway where you both contribute prizes.

18. Joint Social Media Campaign: Create a joint social media campaign together, such as a hashtag campaign or Instagram challenge.

19. Co-host A Virtual Summit: Host a virtual summit together where you both invite experts to share their knowledge. (Read More About Co-hosting Virtual Summits here and also over here)

20. Guest On YouTube Channel: Collaborate on a YouTube video or invite each other to appear on your respective channels.

21. Paid Advertising: Consider paid advertising where you split the cost of advertising to promote both of your businesses.

22. Jointly Create A Freebie: Create a free resource together, such as a checklist or template.

23. Expert Roundup: Host an expert roundup blog post or video together, where you both share advice from other experts.

24. Guest In Membership/Coaching Program: DO an exclusive live guest training in each other's membership or group training program. 

25. Co-host A Networking Event: Host a networking event together where you both encourage your audience to join in and come meet new friends to grow their own networks!

What is Cross Promotion & How To Use It In Your Online Business

In conclusion, cross-promotion is a really powerful marketing tool that can help virtual entrepreneurs stand out from the competition, expand their reach, and drive growth for their businesses.

By collaborating with other businesses to promote each other's products or services, entrepreneurs can leverage each other's audiences, build brand awareness, and ultimately increase sales. With so many different ways to implement cross-promotion, entrepreneurs have plenty of opportunities to find creative and effective ways to collaborate with other businesses and tap into new markets.

Whether you're just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, cross-promotion is a strategy that every virtual entrepreneur should consider.