CO-BRANDING AND AFFILIATE MARKETING

Affiliate Marketing the process of earning a commission by promoting other (Person’s or Company’s) product or/and services, and sharing the revenue-generating with them in the form of sales commissions.

It’s like chocolate and peanut butter. Wine and cheese. Nuts and bolts. Some things just go together. Some things, you wouldn’t think of as a great combination, but with clever partnerships, co-branding, and affinity marketing can elevate two separate companies into something better together.

Co-branding may be a marketing strategy that utilizes multiple brand names on an honest or service as a part of a strategic alliance. Also referred to as a brand partnership, co-branding (or “co-branding”) encompasses several different types of branding collaborations, typically involving the brands of a minimum of two companies. Each brand in such a strategic alliance contributes its own identity to make a melded brand with the assistance of unique logos, brand identifiers, and colour schemes.

The point of co-branding is to mix the market strength, brand awareness, positive associations, and cachet of two or more brands to compel consumers to pay a greater premium for them. It also can make a product less vulnerable to copying by private-label competition.

Few advantages of co-branding are:-

1. Brands share customer loyalty and increased sales. Those loyal to one brand are given the green light to explore an affinity for the other brand, earning both products new customers.

2. Boost to reputation. When one brand has built goodwill, that gets transferred to a new product and vice versa, helping both brands become greater than before.

3. A unique product. With the marriage of two companies, sometimes new products are born that neither company would have been capable of introducing on their own.

4. Cost-effectiveness and shared risk. With a budget spread between two partners, either there’s an opportunity for great cost savings in the campaign, or the campaign itself can be more widespread, reaching greater audiences than either would have been able to afford alone.

Strategies for co-branding:-

1. Market diffusion planning: A well-planned strategy that seeks to preserve the existing market share and brand names of two partnered or merged firms.

2. Global brand strategy: Seeks to serve all customers with a single, existing global co-brand.

3. Brand reinforcement strategy: Exemplified by the use of a new brand name.

4. Brand extension strategy: The creation of a new co-branded name to be used only in a new market.

When co-branding, there are many factors to think about like the fit, equity, resources, and benefits, etc. which means there is a risk of missing the finer details. A smart approach would be to enter into a co-branding partnership by strategically analyzing one’s own brand which of the partners, by reviewing the broad spectrum and gradually work your way down the benefit funnels.