What is Co-Op Marketing and How Does it Benefit OEM Brands?

mediagistic Co-op 2.0

Does your home services manufacturing brand have a strong co-op marketing program? Co-operative marketing, or co-op marketing, describes the relationship between manufacturers, retailers, and distributors who share marketing duties to benefit everyone.

It helps you build successful campaigns, taps into your partners’ creativity, and delivers better messaging to consumers. HVAC OEMs and distributors use co-op marketing to produce wider marketing campaigns and use each partner’s expanded resources to reach a larger audience or a new audience.

You can do a lot with co-op marketing, whether you’re experimenting with a new marketing channel or a new partner with new-to-you skillsets. Each partner brings different things to the table and can help you long-term.

The Mechanics of Co-Op Marketing

The foundation of co-op marketing is that you’re sharing the marketing costs and effort with a partner. For example, OEMs might allocate funds and promotional products to dealers while the dealer chips in resources to the program. This helps both of you market your products or services more effectively to a wider audience without assuming all the costs for it, financial or otherwise.

In the HVAC industry, co-op marketing works when OEMs and dealers collaborate on a campaign or piece of marketing content and then promote it to both audiences. Typically, the goal is to increase lead numbers and gather more contact information. However, you may also collaborate to increase brand awareness before launching a secondary sales-related campaign.

The most important thing when working on a co-op marketing campaign is to ensure the purpose and goal of the project are similar for both parties. For example, if the dealers are expecting leads and the manufacturer expects to increase brand awareness, it won’t work.

Co-Op Marketing Benefits

Because of the collaboration across teams and organizations, co-op marketing leads to more creativity and faster turnaround times for campaigns. It lowers your marketing costs because you’re pooling your money and resources, preventing and reducing waste, since you use the most effective marketing tactics and channels.

OEMs and dealers like co-op marketing because it helps them expand their reach and brand awareness into markets and areas they may not be able to reach alone. It also helps businesses reach relevant KPIs and achieve reliable growth because it improves discoverability across communication channels.

6 Best Practices for Co-Op Marketing

Before diving into your first co-op marketing experience, here are some best practices to consider.

Decide on rules and guidelines for the work. Ensure you know who’s responsible for what so everyone is accountable for their share.
Document the plan and strategy. This keeps everyone on track so they know who’s doing what and when, what messaging to use, and who to ask questions to.
Provide clear brand guidelines. Ensure consistency across the work with the right brand guidelines and messaging. Put your best foot forward with your new audiences.
Be transparent when it comes to money. Everyone needs to see the allotment of funds and understand the claim and reimbursement process. Be transparent across the whole thing to establish and maintain trust between you. Plus, it ensures the money is used effectively.
Track KPIs and analytics. Good marketing is measured by outcomes, so you need to understand what each of you is tracking and how to do it. See what works and what’s not through metrics.
Mix up the content types and delivery channels. It’s one of the benefits of co-op marketing, getting others involved who are great at things you’re not. E.g., a partner might have an amazing videographer while you’ve got an amazing writer. One might know exactly how to get the attention of their audience, while another is great at the execution of the strategy.

Expand Your Reach Through Partnerships

HVAC OEMs and dealers looking for new marketing ideas often turn to co-operative marketing. These partnerships help them extend their reach into new markets and maximize marketing budgets.

Whether it’s by creating a video series you’ve never been able to before or accessing a market segment you’ve been trying to break into, co-operative marketing can help.

Are you curious about how co-operative marketing can work for your HVAC business? Contact Mediagistic today for strategies on setting it up and maximizing your outcomes.