Cross-promotion is a marketing arrangement in which two or more organizations agree to promote each other’s products or services to their respective customer bases. Each participant gains exposure to an audience it would not otherwise reach, while the audience receives a relevant recommendation from a trusted source.
Formats and structures
In a cross-promotion, each organization leverages its own communication channels (email lists, websites, social media, in-product messaging, physical storefronts) to promote the other’s offering. The arrangement is reciprocal: both parties give and receive promotional exposure.
Common formats
- Email inclusions: Each organization features the partner’s product in its email newsletter or a dedicated promotional email.
- Website placements: Banner ads, blog posts, or landing pages on each organization’s site that highlight the partner’s offering.
- In-product recommendations: A software vendor surfaces a partner’s complementary product within its own application (e.g., “Works great with [Partner Product]”).
- Social media sharing: Each organization shares the partner’s content, product announcements, or promotional offers through its social channels.
- Bundled offers: Both organizations create a joint promotion (e.g., “Buy Product A and get 20% off Product B”) that each promotes through its own channels.
- Event partnerships: Both organizations promote a shared event to their audiences, pooling attendance.
Structure of the arrangement
Cross-promotion can be informal (a handshake agreement to mention each other) or formal (a documented agreement specifying the scope, duration, creative approval process, and exclusivity terms). In channel partner programs, cross-promotion is often coordinated by the vendor’s partner marketing team and executed through the PRM or marketing automation platform.
Low-cost audience expansion
Cross-promotion is one of the lowest-cost methods for reaching new audiences. Unlike paid advertising, the primary investment is the promotional real estate each party contributes (an email send, a website placement, a social post), with no media spend required; the currency is audience access.
For channel partnerships, cross-promotion creates value in both directions:
For the vendor: Partners promote the vendor’s products to their customer base, reaching buyers that the vendor’s own marketing cannot efficiently target. This is especially valuable when partners serve specific verticals or geographies where the vendor has limited direct reach.
For the partner: The vendor’s promotional support lends credibility and visibility to the partner’s business. Being recommended by a recognized vendor brand signals to the market that the partner is a trusted, authorized provider.
The multiplier effect increases with the number of partners participating. A vendor that orchestrates cross-promotion across 50 partners reaches 50 distinct audiences with a single campaign concept.
Execution guidelines and tiered benefits
Effective cross-promotion
Cross-promotion works best when the products are complementary rather than competitive, and when both audiences are likely to find the promoted offering relevant. A cybersecurity vendor cross-promoting with a compliance training company makes sense, as both audiences care about risk management. A cybersecurity vendor cross-promoting with an unrelated consumer brand does not.
Guidelines for execution
- Audience relevance: Only promote products that your audience will genuinely find useful. Irrelevant promotions erode subscriber trust.
- Balanced effort: Both parties should contribute roughly equivalent promotional value. If one organization sends a dedicated email while the other posts a single social update, the exchange is lopsided.
- Clear calls to action: Each promotion should direct the audience to a specific landing page or offer. Generic “check out our partner” messaging generates minimal response.
- Tracking: Use UTM parameters, unique discount codes, or dedicated landing pages to measure the traffic and conversions each partner drives. Without tracking, neither party knows whether the promotion delivered value.
Cross-promotion in tiered partner programs
Some vendors integrate cross-promotion into their partner program structure:
| Partner tier | Cross-promotion benefit |
|---|---|
| Standard | Listed in the vendor’s partner directory |
| Advanced | Featured in the vendor’s quarterly partner spotlight email |
| Strategic | Co-featured in vendor webinars, included in the vendor’s customer newsletter, and promoted at vendor events |
This tiered approach gives partners an incentive to deepen their partner engagement with the program in exchange for increasing promotional exposure.
Cross-promotion vs. cross-selling
Cross-promotion is a marketing activity: one organization promotes another’s product to its audience. Cross-selling is a sales activity: a salesperson recommends an additional product to a customer who is already buying something. Cross-promotion often sets the stage for cross-selling by creating awareness, but the two operate at different points in the customer journey.