Effective cross promotion

Consumers communicate on a wide variety of platforms in today's market. To effectively reach the widest possible number of potential customers, it's important to devise a range of different contact and communication mediums. This is especially important if you are trying to reach a wide demographic, made up of tech-savvy and not-so-techie customers.

Cross promotion marketing is not only an effective way to reach a wide audience, it's also a cost-effective practice, because it helps you promote your message and your company through existing mediums, allowing you to make the most of your advertising dollars. Here are a few ideas:

Make sure all collateral is in synch with cross promotion

The average business has business cards, business lines, cell phone lines, brochures, letterhead and a website, at minimum. More advanced companies also have a Twitter and Facebook account, as well as blogs and other interactive online e and mobile marketing strategies. It's vital to include all of these different promotional vehicles on every piece of corporate collateral your company produces and distributes.

Web site

Your Web site should have a "contact us" tab that includes physical address, a map or a link to Mapquest, your phone numbers, mailing address and links to all other online venues. It should also contain a directory of employees with their full name and title and personal email address link, links to your online newsletter and links to product descriptions.

Letterhead

All professional stationary should include physical and mailing addresses, phone numbers and Web site address. You can also include social media sites and a tagline at the bottom of the page for promotional purposes. Since printing different forms of letterhead can be expensive, design a basic template that you can later embellish in the printer with changing taglines or marketing messages.

Business cards

A business card can serve as a great marketing tool if designed correctly. While you want to maintain your company logo and branding, consider the following elements of business card design:

* Use the back side as a discount coupon, or to convey a marketing message.

* Invite consumers to visit your social media site to participate in a contest or give-away.

* If you have an ambiguous company name, include a line or two about what you do so your cards don't get lost in a shuffle. Example: Morton Industries: "providing high-tech computer assistance since 1989."

Newsletters

Both e-newsletters and hard copy newsletters should always include a "contact" section that lets customers know how to reach you. You can also use these venues to provide greater detail about the advantages of a particular product or service you're promoting. For example, if you sell solar swimming pool heaters, consumers have a basic idea of what your company does. However, you can use newsletters to provide FAQs on the product, detailing the cost savings people with solar pool heaters enjoy over time. You can also cross-promote other products or services in the same article, and include client testimonials or links to industry Web sites that provide technical specs about your product.

Receipts

Take a page from the grocery store playbook. If you look at the back of your receipt for buying a bag of tortilla chips, you'll probably find a coupon for corn chips, guacamole or salsa. The grocery store has designed a computer-generated algorithm that cross promotes other items a consumer may like based on their established buying habits. You can use this technique in your place of business as well: restaurant customers get fliers for catering, theme park visitors get a coupon for the same company's animal park, hotel guests get coupons for shows and car rentals. The possibilities are endless!

Bundling

Look for venues to introduce the idea of "bundling" or combining services in your customer's minds. For example, if you own a pet grooming business, create a package that includes grooming as well as nail clipping and teeth brushing. This not only upgrades your customer and encourages them to spend more, it simultaneously cross promotes your other products and services in the hopes a customer will purchase them again in the future.

Cross promotion is really just a practice of using all of your existing tools to effectively promote your full range of products and services. Once you get started, you'll be surprised at the range of promotional opportunities before you.

Dave Archer, a veteran of the marketing industry, is president and chief executive officer of Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology. Contact him through ncet.org.