There’s no denying that tensions have been running high for Canadian business owners in recent months. From economic pressures to the ripple effects of the American political climate, many entrepreneurs are feeling the impact.
And between constantly shifting tariffs, uncertain trade relations, and ongoing boycotts, one thing has never been more clear: now is the time to collaborate with, uplift, and support fellow Canadian businesses.
Co-marketing – a strategy where brands partner together toward a shared goal – offers a powerful way to increase impact, expand reach, and strengthen your network.
It allows you to leverage the audience, knowledge, and resources of like-minded businesses, helping you fill gaps without stretching yourself too thin.
For those of us who are often trying to do too much with too few resources, co-marketing is a sustainable way to make your daily efforts count – and to create meaningful connections along the way.
Ensure Alignment With Potential Partners
Before we dive into specific co-marketing strategies, I want to emphasize the importance of choosing your business partners wisely, based on business size, type, offers, and goals.
1. Decide on your business goals.
Start with clarity. What are you hoping to achieve?
Are you looking to grow your email subscribers? Website traffic? Podcast listeners? Qualified leads? Are you simply looking to build brand awareness or credibility?
Knowing your goals will allow you to choose the right partners, and build an effective accompanying strategy.
2. Look for complementary businesses.
As you begin your search for potential partners, look for businesses which are complementary to yours.
There’s a sweet spot here. Your ideal co-marketing partner should offer something different but related to what you do. That way, their audience is likely to be interested in your business – and vice versa.
For example:
- A florist and local wedding photographer (common thread = brides-to-be)
- A nutritionist and personal trainer (common thread = interest in wellbeing)
- A financial manager and business consultant (common thread = interest in business growth)
While there should be alignment, you also don’t want to partner with your direct competition. Too much overlap in your offers or expertise might result in your audience getting pulled away from your own company – which is not the goal!
3. Review their platforms, content, and marketing strategies.
Before you agree to work with another business, make sure you’ve taken the time to review their current platforms and content. You have a vision and brand to uphold!
- Are they currently active on their social media platforms, blog, or podcast (depending on how you’re hoping to collaborate with them)?
- Is their content valuable, relevant, and well-designed?
- Do they have a similar audience size or niche to yours?
This goes both ways. In order to attract strong partners, you need to make sure your own content and branding are polished and consistent.
Creative Co-Marketing Ideas
Once you’ve identified appropriate partners, it’s time to come up with a marketing strategy.
Below, we’ve compiled some practical ways to start working together and supporting one another.
Collaborate on a Blog Post or Podcast
If you have an active blog or podcast, bringing on aligned guests is a great way to share additional value and insights with your audience.
For example,
- Do a podcast swap, where you both appear as an expert guest on the other’s podcast.
- Co-host a mini podcast series with another Canadian entrepreneur on a topic you’re both passionate about.
- Do a blog swap, where you each write a relevant blog post for the other’s site. This post can direct back to your own content and offerings.
- Co-author a blog post that you each share on your respective websites, newsletters, and/or social media platforms.
If you don’t have one of these platforms established, consider spending time pitching yourself to existing podcasts or blogs in your niche where you feel your expertise would be appreciated.
Showing up as a guest can help you build visibility, establish credibility, and put your brand in front of an already primed audience.
Collaborate on an Instagram Post
Instagram has built-in collaboration tools which make it easy to connect with other accounts.
Consider:
- Co-hosting a giveaway
- Going live together in a Q&A, or as part of a training series
- Co-creating a reel or carousel post
- Taking over each other’s accounts for the day, sharing content with their audience through Instagram stories
Have fun with it! There are so many creative ways to connect, share your knowledge, and get in front of a new audience via social media.
Co-Create a Program or Offer
If you know of a company with a complementary skillset, service, or product offering to yours, why not build something new together?
Workshops, webinar series, product bundles, online accountability groups, memberships, or collaborative programs can help serve your audience, while boosting your online presence, and getting in front of new potential clients.
For example, Karen of KCW Consulting and I have joined forces to build the Magnificent Marketer’s Club – a hub for marketing education and networking. While we’re both experts in marketing, Karen focuses more on big-picture strategy, while I dig into the planning, execution, and data. Together we’re able to provide well-rounded support for our members, relating to marketing and small business management.
By working together, we’ve also cut our workload in half – allowing us to offer access to the Club and its resources at an extremely affordable investment (come join us here!).
When you collaborate with someone who is aligned with your goals, values, and skillset – magic happens.
Start a Referral Program
Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful business tool. People trust the opinions of those they already know and interact with.
As such, setting-up a referral system where aligned businesses can send clients your way – and vice versa – is a great way to expand your client base.
Offering a small kickback, thank-you gift, or discount for referrals that pan out can help encourage consistent, relevant referrals.
Show Your Support
You don’t always need a formal partnership in place.
Sometimes showing genuine support through shout-outs or kind reviews is enough to build goodwill. More often than not, these small gestures end up being reciprocated in new and unexpected ways.
For example,
- Use your newsletter to feature another local business
- Highlight accounts and experts you love on your Instagram stories
- Share blog posts you’ve enjoyed on your Facebook or LinkedIn account(s)
- Interact with the content of other small businesses – liking, commenting, or sharing posts
- Follow others online
- Shop local, and leave positive reviews or testimonials where relevant
These simple acts of support can go a long way in supporting another business and building relationships (which may even lead to more intentional, organized collaborations down the line).
Don’t Underestimate the Power of Print
Don’t underestimate the power of physical flyers or bulletin boards to share about your business.
- If you have a physical storefront, consider creating a community board to showcase fellow local businesses.
- Ask other local business owners if you can leave flyers or business cards in other shops with similar clientele.
Visibility offline can be just as impactful as online!
Choose Canadian Businesses
Supporting other Canadian businesses isn’t just about promotion, it’s about choosing to invest your money where it matters most.
Whenever you can, choose to work with Canadian suppliers, vendors, freelancers, coaches, and service providers.
Not only does shopping locally support our economy, it also helps to build relationships with those who understand us, and who share similar values.
We’re Stronger Together
At the end of the day, we’re stronger together. It’s easy to get tunnel vision and focus on growing our business alone. But community is always more powerful than competition.
So, ditch the scarcity mindset! There’s more than enough business to go around.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to start building strategic marketing partnerships with other Canadian small businesses, recognizing that these opportunities can serve everyone involved.
