Cross Marketing

Cross-marketing

It is crisis time and everrybody needs to be carefull how to market the business.
Therefore it is good to share ideas of how to make things work.
One thing I used starting up my studio in 1997, was based on cross-marketing.
Specially now it is important to know everybody, no matter what kind of business, is looking at the same problems.
So why not help each other. Looking for partnership.
Looking for this it is important to look at a share interest. Or at least the opening to look for a common interest. Even if it means something that you could create even.
Main rules:
- same kind of customers (pricerange, status, appearance)
- profitable for both
- same drive and ambition
- same click
- make it work for at least one month

Also it could be a charity as well. Or a project to promote.
Right now I am doing a project ‘Carzy Faces’.
It is together with the town-municipal. I am making images of the presidents of the sportsclubs in our town. The project is called ‘I take my sport serious’.
20 images of crazy faces of the presidents.
It is a huge sized exhibition to come in our town size ± 30x50 inch or 80x120cm.
Huge advertising and the same time very good for promoting a good feeling in the community.
But another option is the real cross-marketing.
Doing a shoot for a shoe-company as a free advertising in there shopwindow, combined with a kind of lottery. All the customers coming into the shoe-company can win a free photoshoot.
Once a week there will be three winners. They get a free photoshoot and for the picture will be payed by the shoe-company.
It looks as if the shoe-company is giving away a free photoshoot but in reality they promote you as a photographer for no costs than only a small picture size 8x8 inch (20x20cm).
This advertises both companies.
Be carefull to find the right shoe-company that ‘fits’ your photography.
Same could work with a hairdresser, carcompany etc etc.
This is a very straight and controlling way of doing business.
Another option is to promote a sportclub by sponsoring the club in photography as a kind of advertising them.
You promote them and you get promotion by them.
Cross-promoting should than be the word.
Be also carefull in this way, to find the right sportsclub to your kind of business.

I ad some images to ‘show’ my words.

Cross-marketing might be a keyword for these times.


Henk