Cross-promotion

I remember when I first learned about the benefits and the tactics of cross-promotion. It was in the first year of my bachelor degree in Communication and Multimedia Design. I had never thought about cross-promotion before as an actual strategy, but when our teacher talked about it, it made immediate sense.

I also realized I had been stumbling upon cross-promotion all my life already – without even noticing it.

Cross-promotion is basically the promotion of one product via another. An example: a podcast of your favourite author, who then in his podcast refers to a free resource or a coupon code on his or her website. You are guided from one platform to another (or from one product to another).

Wikipedia says: “Cross-promotion is a form of marketing promotion where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product. A typical example is cross-media marketing of a brand; for example, Oprah Winfrey's promotion on her television show of her books, magazines and website”.

Got it?

So today, you are going to use this deep-rooted marketing technique to bring people from one of your platforms to another. From your Instagram to your Facebook, from your Instagram to your website, from your Facebook to your AirBnB listing, or whatever is possible and most relevant for you.

Obviously, you need an incentive for people to make this move though. My recommendation? A so-called ‘freebie’, or discount code. You could, for example, post on Instagram that you’ve hidden a coupon code on your about page, and if people use it, they can claim a discount that’ll be valid for 12 months. Or you could mention that you now have a code up on your Facebook page, which people can use until the end of the year to get a free bottle of wine with their stay.

Do emphasize scarcity though. You want people to TAKE ACTION! So mention how long the code will be available on the specific page.

This is definitely ‘move’ content: you are pushing people to take action NOW. Hence, don’t be afraid to use some of the ‘move’ prompts in your caption.