What is co-branding
Co-branding is a term used to define a strategic and temporary alliance between two or more companies to increase their profitability and improve their positioning thanks to the power and brand value.
As an entrepreneur, you should take full advantage of all available marketing strategies to get a privileged position in the market. Although co-branding at first glance may seem a bit intimidating, you can also develop successful co-branding strategies.
For example, suppose you are selling eBooks about nutrition and fitness issues; An idea of co-branding could be to associate with a gym in your locality and prepare an exclusive material for the members of that gym.
For this, the first thing you should do is analyze your product and prepare a report highlighting the main values of your brand to present it to possible brands or collaborating companies.
If you do not want to create a product together with another person or company, you can start doing other types of collaborations. For example, if you have a blog on the Internet, you can associate with other blogs and publish guest posts, with which both sites support each other and improve their online traffic.
Types of co-branding
These are the most common co-branding types that a brand can choose from:
Support branding
It is that type of co-branding in which one brand prevails over the other, that is, the main brand invites a secondary school for some type of collaboration.
The smaller company takes advantage of the impact of another much more recognized brand to expand its customer base, its distribution, and, of course, its sales.
This is a type of co-branding ideal for those entrepreneurs who are just beginning to develop and have not yet achieved a consolidated reputation in the market. Ideally, the brand with which the entrepreneur decides to do co-branding shares a similar audience.
Complimentary branding
It is one of the most commonly used types of co-branding by large companies and is based mainly on innovation and the contribution of solutions together to launch a new and innovative product or service to the market.
It is a type of win-win exchange in which each brand puts the best of itself and with it not only seeks to obtain new customers for both brands but each brand aims to capture the customers of the other.
An example of this type of co-branding could be the sensor of Nike and Apple.
Co-branding of ingredients
It is one of the most popular types of co-branding and consists of taking new products from both brands that share the same values and market so that both can obtain a good result.
A clear example of this type of co-branding could be the merger between McDonald’s and Hershey’s.
Advantages of co-branding
These are some of the advantages that brands have to develop co-branding strategies:
- Everyone wins
- It is a strategy in which all the brands involved win, that is why it is important that both have values and characteristics in common.
- It allows to open new markets and strengthen the positioning
- The help of other companies or brands can give you the necessary push to reach markets or niches that previously seemed impossible to conquer.
- Expenses are shared
- When you develop co-branding strategies, you share marketing and advertising expenses with the company or allied companies. If you are just beginning in the world of entrepreneurship and do not have much budget, this could be a great alternative to promote yourself at a much lower cost.
- Allows you to establish powerful relationships
- Building links with new brands and companies is always a great help and impulse
Famous examples of co-branding
Look at some examples to inspire you!
Calvo and Carbonell
The collaboration between the Calvo tuna brand and the Carbonell olive oil is a good example of co-branding.
In this case, the main brand (Calvo) provides added quality to its product, identifying the brand of oil in its tuna, which is recognized in the market and positioned as one of the highest qualities.
Calvo seeks to position itself in front of its competitors as a much healthier and quality option, while we could say that Carbonell seeks to capture new markets.
Milka and Oreo
Milka has also managed to stand out in the market thanks to its co-branding strategies, in this case with the Oreo brand. Two delicious ingredients together to guarantee much more success!
H & M & Versace
The Swedish clothing chain H & M has also been a successful case of co-branding, allying itself with different designers and important brands from the world of fashion to offer its customers to buy exclusive clothes at an affordable price.
10 tips for co-branding
- Partner with companies or entrepreneurs that share your same values.
- Discuss all possible scenarios with your partner: it is important that all the subjective, legal, or financial aspects that concern the association are discussed.
- Always remember that co-branding is a marketing strategy in which both parties’ benefit, then both parties must win something.
- It is important that the brands or businesses with which you associate have an audience similar or equal to yours.
- Do networking: meeting new people and entrepreneurs can give you a good opportunity to make a great partnership.
- Choosing the wrong partner can cause co-branding to fail: research the market and your stakeholders very well before making a final decision.
- Analyze with your allied brand the costs and benefits of the strategy. Avoid focusing on short-term benefits, co-branding is characterized as a strategy with which you can obtain very significant long-term benefits.
- Before developing your co-branding strategy, define your goal. Do you want to accelerate your growth in the market? Open to new market niches? Get higher profitability? This will help you develop a much more solid and concrete strategy.
- Without measurement, there is no control: it establishes, together with your partner, controls, or evaluation indicators that measure the success of the strategy.
- Always keep clear the role and role of each of the companies involved in the co-branding to be developed. Clarifies the roles and responsibilities of each one. Also, it is important that you are always open to suggestions that can improve the performance of the alliance.
We hope that this material is very useful for you as an entrepreneur. Collaborating with other successful brands, companies or entrepreneurs is a great help – especially if you are just starting to develop your entrepreneurship project – as it can help you achieve your digital or physical product more and more reach and relevance in the market.
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