Becoming Who You Want To Be

Co-op advertising offers a lot of benefits to a business owner. And yet, a lot of people starting out businesses even those who’ve been in business for a while, don’t know what it is. We’re going to walk you through co-op advertising and how to use it.

Co-op advertising is a cost-sharing arrangement between a manufacturer and a retailer whereby the manufacturer pays for part of the retailer’s advertising. Manufacturers are usually pleased to do this because co-op advertising actually increases their product movement, profit margin and sales volume dramatically. This is a very cost effective way for both the manufacturer and retailer to reach their target market and pull in business.

While it’s got plenty of benefits, co-op advertising is astonishingly underused, and is critical to growth in a lot of business sectors. Mostly this is because of a lack of education. A lot of retailers have almost no knowledge of co-op advertising opportunities and how they work. Having the manufacturer pay some part of their advertising costs can make a huge difference in driving business to their shop or web site, while cutting their overhead expenses.

This is a venue for tapping into a lot of advertising money that manufacturers already allocate sometimes it can be as much as billions of dollars in a program. The typical co-op campaign is there to help you reach the widest audience possible; it’s geared towards first time buyers and brand awareness more than pulling in pre-qualified sales leads.

From a retailer’s perspective, this is like found money and found traffic for their business. It does have a drawback the manufacturer will want to have a fair bit of input into how the ad is structured and run and when and where it’s run, to maximize their brand potential. It’s understandable ? they want to make their business grow too.

The Benefits of Using Co-op Advertising For Your Business:

1. Co-op advertising dramatically reduces the cost of your advertising or at least extends the amount you can use for the promotion of your business.

2. More avenues for advertising creativity, albeit within some bounds.

3. You will now have the budget to go even further with your advertising. For example, you might consider telephone directories, television ads or even billboards where as before you wouldn’t have even considered this avenue of promotion due to a tighter budget.

4. True win-win solution for both parties there can be more than double the advertising exposure in this sort of synergistic arrangement.

Things to Keep In Mind for Co-oP Advertising.

1. When considering co-op advertising, be sure to coordinate your overall marketing plan. Make sure it is something that will suit your needs before jumping in.

2. If you’re doing co-op advertising from multiple manufacturers (not uncommon in electronics and automotive industries), keep good records for each program.

3. Coordinate with your co-op advertising partner. A new avenue of promotion should get their approval before you spend their money or dilute their brand. 4. While it’s a co-op ad, don’t forget to promote your business name. Make it prominent in the ad; the goal is to get people into your store, not promote the manufacturer at your own expense.

4. While it’s a co-op ad, don’t forget to promote your business name. Make it prominent in the ad; the goal is to get people into your store, not promote the manufacturer at your own expense.

5. Don’t be afraid to pitch a co-op ad campaign to a manufacturer who doesn’t already have one. You’ve got nothing to lose.

6. Expect the manufacturer to help out with advertising costs. Bottom line is, you will be bringing in money for them so it only benefits them to have a co-op advertising program in place. If they do not, go find another manufacturer that does if they are not willing to implement one.

In conclusion, co-op advertising is an important tool to utilize in any business both brick and mortar or even an online business. Co-op advertising is essential for both the manufacturer and the retailer as it saves them money and allows them to expand on the promotion of their businesses. The whole purpose of this type of program is to help develop and plan strategies that will improve the effectiveness of advertising by allowing the business owner to purchase more for less, create larger and more attractive ads and even venture out in promotional methods they wouldn’t have even dreamed about before on a tighter budget. Same goes for the manufacturer.