What Are Collaborative Local Ad Campaigns?

Small businesses have been hit hard over the last two years, having to deal with new consumer habits, safety measures, shutdowns, labour shortages and, of course, supply shortages. One of these issues alone could be enough to push a small business over the edge but handling all five is a masterclass in the survival of any SME. If you are one of those who were able to cut costs and adjust to the way the world works post lockdown, then you'll know that the fight is not over, and every day, you need to look at ways of squeezing more out of your business.

When businesses go through cost-cutting exercises, they focus on the most manageable overall expenses to cut, which often means marketing and advertising. It's easy to reduce your marketing budget or cut off specific channels to focus on ones that work for you. But what some business owners may find is that spending x amount to get the number of customers they need to keep in operation and then to cut your spend by, let's say, 30%, doesn't mean 30% fewer customers; it can mean 50 or more.

Advertising is not a set science, and if you're reliant on a particular channel cutting your spending can have devasting effects. You may have to choose between spending and absorbing into your margin or cutting and having no margin. This is a tough decision to make and one that can make or break businesses, but I am here to offer you a third option for consideration.

It may not work for everyone, but for some, the collaborative advertising option could be the lifeline their business needs.

What is collaborative advertising?

Collaborative advertising is a marketing strategy where two or more businesses combine their monthly advertising budget to either focus on a particular channel or spread it across multiple channels. Instead of competing for the same eyeballs and paying for these views, the collaborative ad campaign allows you to reach the same audience with a wider reach, with more repetition and drive home your offers to your target audience.

Let's say monthly, you need 100 customers converting at your business to survive, and your conversion rate is around 3%, which means you need to reach 3400 viewers each month to keep your business going. When budgets are tight, trying to reach that same amount of users gets more challenging, and as other competitors bid for these views, it can get more expensive pricing you out of the market.

By combining your budget with a complementary business or a business in the exact location, you can average the cost per view and eventually the cost per lead.

So in our example above, if the business you partner with needs 50 customers and they usually convert at 4%, they only need 1250 views per month to run their business. Together you could reach 5000 to 6500 views with the combined ad budget, and both get enough customers to keep operations afloat.

What is an example of combined advertising?

Perhaps you're a restaurant in a shopping centre, and you're advertising on Google and Facebook to people in your local area. Instead of competing with the ad campaigns of all the restaurants in the mall, you can approach the different businesses and create a generic ad campaign instead. Combining all your ad budgets into one campaign with the same targeting allows you to outbid other singular competitors, reduce your cost per view and reach more people with the combined ad.

In the ad, you can offer a wide selection of dining options that way; you appeal to people who aim to eat out locally and reach more people. They all need to visit the same local mall to eat there, so it makes sense to attract customers with all the dining options available.

Another example would also be a local mall that host boutique fashion and apparel stores, instead of each shop targetting the same demographic with singular campaigns. A fashion retailer, a jewellery store, a shoe store, a fashion accessories store and even a beauty store could all combine their budgets. A coordinated ad campaign can target their preffered demographic with the same campaign reaching a wider audience and age group and attracting more foot traffic into the boutique stores at a lower cost.

Collecting combined data

When you combine ad budgets, you not only reach more users but you can create larger data sets. These data sets can be used to refine your campaigns and segment your audiences for more granular campaigns using tighter budgets. You can also use these combined campaigns to target combined customer lists if you all have email addresses or remarketing on your social profiles or websites.

You can also use the combined data sets to capture direct marketing leads by collecting email addresses phone numbers or pushing users to your Facebook group, WhatsApp business profiles or Telegram or Discord groups.

Not ideal for every business

I realise many businesses don't want to share their marketing budget or want to do combined offerings, and I am not forcing anyone into this, merely suggesting it as an option. These combined campaigns won't work for everyone and require buy-in and coordination with all the brands/businesses involved, which can be complex.

While collaborative ad strategies have obvious restrictions, it should be an option you consider if you have brands willing to collaborate with you.

If you and a few brands are interested in this approach, we would be more than happy to build a strategy for you; all you need to do is reach out.

Contact us

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Are you looking to promote your business?

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If you require a more detailed guide on how to create your profile or your listing, then we highly recommend you check out the following articles. 

• How to create a nichemarketer profile 
• How to create a nichemarket business listing 

Recommended reading

If you enjoyed this post and have a little extra time to dive deeper down the rabbit hole, why not check out the following posts on Google Ads.

• How To Switch From Google Ads Express To Google Ads Expert
• Google Ads Now Subject To VAT In South Africa
• What Are Google Discover Ads & How To Use Them
• How To Track On-Site Telephone Calls With GTM & Google Ads
• How To Send Cross-Device Conversation Data From GA to Google Ads
• What Is Google Ads Parallel Tracking?

Tags: Advertising , Marketing