You don’t need a bigger marketing budget to reach new customers — you need the right neighbors. Cross-promotion lets two (or more) businesses introduce each other to their existing audiences, so both sides gain visibility without paying for ads.
This guide covers exactly how to cross-promote: what the term means, a step-by-step process for setting up a partnership, a full list of cross-promotion ideas for both local and online businesses, real examples of cross-brand promotion done well, and the mistakes that make these partnerships fizzle out after one social post.
Quick Answer
To cross-promote with another business, pick a partner who shares your target customer but isn’t a direct competitor, agree on a specific joint offer or activity (bundle, giveaway, event, or content swap), and promote it through both businesses’ channels — email, social media, in-store signage, and receipts — over an agreed time period.
What Is Cross-Promotion?
Cross-promotion (sometimes called cross-brand promotion or cross-promotional marketing) is a marketing strategy where two or more businesses market each other to their existing customer bases. Instead of each business paying to reach a cold audience, they borrow each other’s trust and attention — through joint offers, shared shoutouts, co-hosted events, or referral arrangements — so both sides gain exposure to a warm, pre-qualified audience.
It’s different from a basic affiliate deal or sponsored post because it’s reciprocal: both partners actively promote each other, not just one business paying another for exposure. It’s also different from co-branding, which usually involves creating a single new product together. Cross-promotion keeps each business’s identity separate while temporarily combining their marketing reach.
How to Cross-Promote: Step-by-Step
1. Identify your ideal partner. List businesses that serve the same customer as you but solve a different problem, and aren’t a direct competitor.
2. Vet them before reaching out. Check their social media activity, review ratings, and overall brand fit — a weak or inactive partner can drag your brand down instead of lifting it.
3. Pitch one specific, low-effort idea. Skip the vague ‘let’s collaborate’ message. Propose something concrete, like a receipt-based discount swap or a joint giveaway.
4. Put the terms in writing, even informally. Define what each side promotes, how long it runs, how redemptions are tracked, and who covers any costs.
5. Launch and promote through every channel you both have — email, social, in-store signage, and receipts — for the agreed time window.
6. Track results and decide whether to repeat, extend, or deepen the partnership.
Find the Right Partner Business
Start by mapping out businesses near you that serve the same customer but solve a different problem. A bakery and a coffee shop share customers. A yoga studio and a smoothie bar share customers. A pet groomer and a dog trainer share customers. The goal is complementary, not competitive — you want businesses your customers already visit before or after visiting you.
Look at businesses within walking or short driving distance, since local cross-promotion works best when customers can act on the referral immediately. Check their social media and reviews first: a partner with an inactive Instagram or a poor reputation will drag down your brand instead of boosting it.
Reach out with a specific idea, not a vague ‘let’s collaborate’ message. Business owners are far more likely to say yes when you propose something concrete, like ‘What if we offered a bundle where your customers get a discount here with a receipt from you, and vice versa?’ Keep the first ask small and easy to say yes to — you can build a deeper partnership once you’ve proven it works.
Cross-Promotion Ideas That Actually Work
Bundled offers or discounts: Create a joint deal, like ‘show your receipt from [Partner] and get a discount here.’ This is simple to run and easy to track, since customers have to physically bring proof from one business to the other.
Joint giveaways: Run a social media contest where entrants have to follow both businesses’ accounts and tag a friend to win a prize made up of products or services from each. This grows both follower lists at once and works especially well on Instagram or Facebook.
Co-hosted events or workshops: Pair up for something your shared customers would attend, like a wine shop and a cheese shop hosting a tasting, or a bookstore and a coffee shop running a reading series. Events give people a reason to visit both businesses in person.
Referral partnerships: Agree to refer customers to each other when it’s a natural fit, such as a real estate agent referring clients to a moving company or a photographer referring clients to a florist. A simple referral card, discount code, or QR code makes this easy to track.
Content and social swaps: Feature each other in social posts, guest blog on each other’s site, or do a short interview or story takeover. This is the lowest-cost option and a good first step before committing to a bigger joint promotion.
Shared physical space: Display each other’s flyers, business cards, or a small product display at the register. It costs nothing and keeps your name in front of foot traffic all week, not just during a single campaign.
Cross-Promotion Ideas for Online Businesses
Cross-promotion isn’t limited to storefronts — it works just as well for online and e-commerce businesses, where ‘foot traffic’ is replaced by email lists, social followings, and website traffic. The mechanics are the same: find a brand with an overlapping but non-competing audience, then swap exposure.
Email list swaps: Feature a partner’s product or offer in your newsletter, and have them do the same for you, so each list is introduced to a relevant brand it hasn’t seen before.
Affiliate or referral codes: Give each other a trackable discount code or link, so both businesses can measure exactly how many sales the partnership drove.
Joint virtual bundles: Pair a digital product, course, or subscription with a complementary one and sell them together at a combined discount.
Social media or podcast collaborations: Co-host a livestream, guest a podcast episode, or run an Instagram/TikTok takeover with a brand whose audience overlaps with yours.
Co-branded landing pages: Build a simple page that promotes both offers together and splits the traffic driving to it between both businesses’ channels.
Real Cross-Brand Promotion Examples
Big brands use the same core idea at a larger scale. Red Bull and GoPro built a long-running cross-promotion around action sports content, pairing Red Bull’s extreme-sports events with GoPro’s cameras because both brands appeal to the same adventurous audience. Coca-Cola and Domino’s have run joint promotions pairing a drink deal with a pizza order, since the two products are already consumed together.
The pattern in every successful example — big or small — is the same: two non-competing brands that already share an audience agree on one specific, trackable offer and promote it through both of their channels at once. A local version might look like a brewery and a food truck running a joint happy-hour promotion instead of a national ad campaign, but the underlying strategy is identical.
Tips and Common Mistakes
Put the basics in writing, even informally: what each business will promote, how long the offer runs, how you’ll track redemptions, and who covers any costs (like printed cards or giveaway prizes). This avoids the most common failure point — one partner promoting actively while the other forgets or lets it lapse.
Track results so you know what’s working. Use unique discount codes, a dedicated landing page, or simply ask new customers how they heard about you. Without this, you won’t know whether the partnership is worth repeating.
Don’t over-promise in your ask. A partner is more likely to commit to a one-month trial promotion than an open-ended arrangement. If it works, you can extend it or turn it into a recurring monthly collaboration.
Avoid partnering with a business that’s too similar to yours — it can blur your brand identity or create indirect competition instead of a true win-win.
Keep the relationship active outside of promotions. A quick check-in, a shoutout on their launch of something new, or grabbing coffee occasionally keeps the partnership from going stale after the first campaign ends.
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cross-promotion with local businesses FAQs
What is cross-promotion in marketing?
Cross-promotion is when two or more businesses market each other to their existing customer bases, typically through joint offers, shared social media shoutouts, co-hosted events, or referral arrangements, so both sides gain exposure to new potential customers.
How do I ask another business to cross-promote with me?
Reach out directly (in person or by email) with a specific, low-effort idea, such as a bundled discount or a social media shoutout swap. Business owners respond better to a concrete proposal than an open-ended ‘let’s collaborate’ request.
What’s the difference between cross-promotion and co-marketing?
Cross-promotion usually means two businesses each promote the other through their own existing channels for mutual exposure. Co-marketing often goes a step further, with both businesses jointly creating and funding a shared campaign, asset, or event together.
Can online businesses use cross-promotion too?
Yes. Online and e-commerce businesses can cross-promote through email list swaps, affiliate or referral codes, joint virtual bundles, and social media or podcast collaborations — the same partnership logic as local businesses, just using digital channels instead of foot traffic.
Is cross-promotion free?
Many cross-promotion tactics, like social media shoutouts, referral codes, or displaying each other’s flyers, cost little to nothing. Others, like joint giveaways or co-hosted events, may involve some cost for prizes, printing, or venue setup, which partners typically split.
How do I know if a cross-promotion partnership is working?
Use trackable methods like unique discount codes, dedicated referral links, or simply asking new customers how they found you. Compare redemption or referral numbers against the effort and any cost each partner put in before deciding to repeat or extend the partnership.
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