Cross-Promotion is a form of marketing promotion where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product or service. A typical example is cross-media marketing of a brand – for example, Oprah Winfrey’s promotion on her television show of her books, magazine and website.
Cross-promotion may involve two or more companies working together in promoting a service or product, in a way that benefits both. This type of marketing is not new; it has been done for years by Disney, Burger King and even Pokémon partnering up with Doritos.
For manufacturers and designers in the kitchen and bath industry, the nature of our products and services is rife for cross-promotion – and the opportunities are almost endless. This article will provide a virtual bible for this cross-promotion in the kitchen and bath industry as we go forward into 2018, combining curated concepts married with 2018 digital marketing trends for optimum results.
MARKETING TRENDS
Let’s first look at a few of the relevant marketing trends on the horizon.
- Brands will start to develop voice-optimized content — In 2016-2017, 20% of online searches were conducted through voice search. By 2020, that number is expected to increase to 50%. Just as marketers have optimized content for web 2.0 and mobile, they will start optimizing content for voice search as well. “Find a kitchen designer near me” would be an example of a voice search on mobile that targets a nearby location.
- Video marketing is on the rise — YouTube has over one billion users, totaling almost one-third of all people on the internet. Furthermore, millennials refer to YouTube nearly two times more than traditional television, and Generation X and baby boomers are YouTube’s fastest growing demographics, a whopping 40% and 80%, respectively. YouTube alone reaches 95% of online adults from ages 35 to 55. It makes more sense to put your efforts into YouTube video and advertising over traditional television advertising. Additionally, Facebook live streaming places higher in followers’ feeds than any other post type. Video is a marketing strategy to add to your arsenal.
- Twitter is struggling — Twitter has been unable to grow daily active users in 2017. Since consumers generally pick a social platform to live on, it appears Twitter is losing ground. The key takeaway is your precious social media resources should not be focused on this platform for growing your brand.
- Instagram is growing — Kevin Systrom, the CEO of Instagram, has built a platform that consistently grows in users. Most recently he developed Instagram Stories, which quickly became more popular than Snapchat one year after going live. He is also building a kinder, gentler social media platform that offers hotline help when certain terms are searched. In addition, Systrom and his team at Instagram have quietly built a filter that would automatically delete specific words and emojis from users’ feeds. Users could click a button to “hide inappropriate comments,” which would block a list of words the company had selected, including racial slurs. It is the first social media platform to operate at this level. I expect continued growth in users for this platform.
SOCIAL MEDIA CROSS-PROMOTION
Statistics have shown that 46% of consumers’ decisions to patronize or purchase a product or service was influenced by a social media post. Utilizing cross-promotion is the ideal method to stand out and be seen. I’ve compiled a list of mainstay brands in the kitchen and bath industry, and their respective Likes on Facebook (see below).
Let’s say you’re a kitchen designer and have just completed a breathtaking renovation of a kitchen. You have stunning photos to share on your website, social media and email blasts. This kitchen includes a Kohler faucet in the main sink and a Delta faucet on the island; the design was created using Chief Architect and has a Vent-A-Hood product, and is constructed with Fabuwood Cabinetry dressed up inside using Häfele solutions.
By “tagging” the manufacturers in your Facebook post, you are creating the opportunity for your post to be seen by over 1,236,218 Facebook users. Tagging the manufacturers in the posts alerts them to view your post and, if they are willing, to share it on their own page. This method of cross-promotion permits a small design firm’s Facebook posts to have a viral reach far beyond anything they could have organically done on their own without considerable expense. It’s a smart way to utilize each other’s existing assets with little effort and no expense.
Here are some heavy hitting manufacturers on Instagram:
Creating a post on Instagram with photographs of a bathroom remodel that includes TOTO fixtures, Delta faucets, a Silestone countertop and Wellborn cabinetry adorned with Top Knobs hardware will result in the post potentially reaching 60,000+ people if properly tagged. They are compelling numbers, right?
Manufacturers in the industry should certainly be receptive to sharing the content of their loyal customers. By promoting their clients’ work, it encourages repeat business, and promotes brand loyalty and community goodwill.
Tagging a company on Facebook and Instagram is simple. While in the body of your post text, type @ and then start typing the name of the page you want to tag. For example, if you want to tag Häfele in an update, start typing @HafeleAmerica, and Facebook displays a list of related people and business pages for you to choose from.
VIDEO SHARING
If you’re not already producing video for your business, you’re very likely behind the competition. It’s time to add video to the content marketing mix. Video content is huge, and it’s going to keep getting bigger. Video is more engaging than standard text, or even images. It catches attention and increases engagement significantly.
Many kitchen and bath manufacturers provide pre-branded video clips for firms to share and, in some cases, add their own logos. By sharing the videos on your own YouTube page, you are reaching the sweet-spot demographic for kitchen and bath consumers. For sharing videos on Facebook, it’s paramount to keep the length no longer than one minute. The videos can be added as a link to email blasts and serve double duty on your website as well.
Modern designers and manufacturers in the kitchen and bath industry have the greatest opportunity to cross market their visual products and services in this digital era. Your fans and followers spend their time in different places on the web. With the click of a finger, anyone can expose their brand to hundreds of thousands of eager and willing consumers. No matter how large or small, each business can benefit from each other in a mutually complementary style. It’s up to you to provide a cohesive message across all channels. ▪