Using Joint Promotions to Build Your HIS Business

Building on the "Who's In Your Network" idea, identify people or businesses who you can work with to build your home inventory service business.

"Working Together, We Can Do Better." You often hear this saying in campaign season – implying that by sharing resources and information, everyone can profit. Working together is also the fundamental principle behind cross-promotions and joint promotions.

Both types of promotions are developed with related but non-competing businesses. Both participating businesses “win” through increased sales and lower distribution costs.

Joint promotions are things both businesses do together to reach prospects – sharing the cost of a direct mailer to prospective customers or each other’s mailing lists, a coupon booklet of savings featuring both businesses, or a joint newsletter.

Cross promotions are things you do to reach each other’s prospects – swapping mailing lists, developing a coupon for your services to give to your promotional partner’s customers, or a bag-stuffer insert for retail partners.

One way to identify perfect prospects is to develop a partnership with a related but non-competing business (an RNB). An RNB already has clients that may need your services. There are varying levels of partnership, from “piggybacking” your offer on a mailing from your RNB to swapping mailing lists for one time or multiple use.

Think about the mailing list that you have (hopefully already) compiled. You’ve done business with a specific, identifiable group of customers. Once these individuals have been identified, you can use them to help you reach other identifiable customer groups, by developing a partnership with other businesses. You make an agreement to reach their existing customers, and they make an agreement to reach your existing customers.

Some possible promotional partners for a home inventory service business include: insurance agents, cleaning services, home security companies, and lawn service businesses.

Once you’ve identified these possible promotional partners, determine if any of them appear on your current client or referral list. If you currently have a referral relationship with an insurance agent, for example, it will be easier to approach him or her to develop a joint promotion than it would be to approach a complete stranger as a possible promotional partner.

What do you say to a possible promotional partner to get them to participate in a joint promotion with you?

First of all, it helps to understand exactly what a joint promotion is: It’s any type of offer that allows two businesses to reach each other’s prospects. It can be a coupon, a direct mailing, a seminar hosted by both businesses, or swapping mailing lists for one-time use.

Next, remember that you are giving instant credibility to your potential promotional partner’s business, so make sure you are dealing with a reputable individual or company before you approach that other person. You don’t want your customers to think negatively of you when they receive bad service from someone with which you’ve developed a joint promotion.

After you’ve identified a possible promotional partner, ask to meet with him or her for just a few minutes. Show a real sample of the certificate or coupon you’d like to distribute. If you’d like to develop a newsletter (see below), create a sample.

Always frame the joint promotion in “you” benefits – your promotional partner will benefit by reaching your customers (possible prospects for his or her business), inexpensively and with the instant credibility of a referral.

A joint promotion:

• Is inexpensive. When you work together to reach each other’s customers, it’s a lot less expensive than renting mailing lists or doing direct mail or television or radio advertising. Plus, you have the added advantage of knowing that the prospects you are reaching actually need your service.
• Makes it easy to track results. How many times have you spent money on an advertisement and not been able to know if it was effective or not? You can determine the exact amount of revenue your joint promotion created. When customers redeem their savings certificates, write the dollar amount of the transaction on the back of the certificate. Then, at the end of the month, or whenever your joint promotion is completed, add up the amount of the transactions and you can calculate the response you received.
• Introduces you to new ways of promoting your business. Tired of relying on brochures and personal contacts? Let others help you reach potential customers – everyone benefits!
  

What kind of offers can you develop if you have more than one promotional partner? Consider a booklet of savings, with each participating vendor offering a $10 to $15 savings. With five participating businesses, you can offer customers a $50 savings booklet when he or she uses any one of the businesses. By printing up the booklet all at once, you’ll save on printing costs, and with all of you distributing them, you’ll get five times the return!

Consider developing a newsletter jointly with each promotional partner contributing one article and one “coupon offer” per issue. You can produce the newsletter monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly, and all participating businesses can distribute free copies to their clients, by mail, by dropping them off at customers' homes, or by placing them on a counter or in a display stand.

While some potential partners may not be interested in participating (usually because they don’t realize how joint promotions work), remember that there are other small business owners out there, like you, who are looking for ways to reach prospective customers easily and inexpensively, Just keep looking until you meet up with these people!