“Co-branding, also called brand partnership, is when two companies form an alliance to work together, creating marketing synergy.”
Who wants to be average? If you knew that the average webinar according to Clickmeeting.com had only 28 participants, wouldn’t you want to beat that average? (28 participants does not necessarily indicate only 28 people registered—this means that 28 people attended the webinar at the scheduled time. Many more probably registered, but those whose schedules don't allow live attendance will only watch the webinar recording.)
If getting 28 people to attend your webinar seems like a lot for the size of your company, or if you want to exceed that average number, you might want to consider some alternative methods to getting more registrants. One alternative to the common promotion techniques of social, email and advertising is to use some form of co-branding.
Why Co-Branding is Effective
Co-branding your webinar with a marketing partner can increase the audience for your webinar. Having a company co-brand your webinar effectively doubles your chances of success as you now have two companies vested in the success of the webinarm, and you won’t have to go it alone with your own marketing database.
For example, a media company looking to promote their mobile MMS (multi media messaging) services to their clients or prospects could co-brand the webinar with their mobile technology partner. Most companies work with key vendors and partners that have mailing lists that they regularly send to and their own advertising and social posts. When thinking about potential vendors or partners for co-branding a webinar with, think about those companies that you work with who offer a complimentary service or product.
Presenters from Both Companies
It’s recommended that when you have a co-branded webinar that you make sure that both companies involved are represented on the webinar. This helps with re-enforcing the brands of each company and creating a relationship between the two of them.
In the MMS example above, a media company could discuss the benefits of small businesses using mobile marketing and the mobile marketing company can discuss how to create and manage a MMS campaign.
Co-Branded Presentation
Similar to having presenters from each company, it goes without saying that the presentation should have branding and contact information from both companies. One thing to note here is that the presentation doesn’t have to be a 50/50 split between content or time from each company.
Co-Branded Promotions and Advertising
Using both companies logos on all collateral materials such as promotional emails, landing pages, and social media is common with co-branded webinars. Another common arrangement with co-branded webinars is something more like a sponsored webinar. A sponsored webinar can have a lead company with a second company being the “sponsored” company. This can be another way to bring two companies together with a common goal of getting a large number of participants registered for the webinar.
Follow Up
The follow up after the webinar is best done by just one of the two companies involved. This ensures there is no confusion by webinar attendees as to who they are speaking with and what they are following up about. Any follow up emails or landing pages where presentation materials reside can also be co-branded to represent both companies participation.
Co-Branding is an effective to way to market any product, and webinars are no different. Try this approach with your next webinar.
