The pro's of cross-promos

Often ignored, an underrated growth channel such as cross promotions should be utilized into your business plan.

Why cross-promos work so well

Obviously, it's free
Instead of buying exposure, you're trading it. The only "cost" you really have here is time: finding partners, setting up the promo and tracking result.

Trust gets transferred
Cold traffic doesn't know you, trust you or doesn't care yet. This way you're piggybacking on the trust someone else already earned. This also points to the fact you need to have a product as good as theirs, or a better one at that.

You get exposure
One of the best ways to reach a wider audience is to use newsletters. You reach out to a newsletter with a similar subscriber count to yours and you do a cross-promo.

Different ways to cross-promo

Newsletter swaps

• Feature each other in a section of your emails (not just a naked link).
• Explain what the other person does and who it's for.
• Add a clear CTA

Works well if you already send a regular newsletter and your audiences have overlapping interests.

In-product Shoutouts
You add someone else's product where it naturally helps your users:

• "Recommended Tools" section in your dashboard.
• "Powered by" or "Works great with..." hints in your UI.
• Success screens suggesting helpers for the next step in their workflow.

Co-Created content
You create something together:

• A case study showing how your tools work together.
• A joint webinar or live session.
• A guest post where they write for your blog and you write for theirs.

This works well because you both get content to share, you get a natural reason to email your lists and the content itself keeps working over time (replays, blog posts, clips)

Bundles and Special Offers
You package your products/services together:

• Launch bundle.
• Starter stack for a specific niche.
• Added perk for existing customer.

This reduces the number of decisions new users have to make.

Finding good cross-promo partners

Keep in mind for the partner to be relevant to your work, a job to be done based on your services from a different angle. If you're competitors chances are they won't accept a cross promo, or won't follow through on what you agreed on. Ask yourself three questions:

• Would I honestly recommend their product to my own customers even without a promo?
• Can I clearly explain in one sentence why their users might care about my product and vice versa?
• Is there at least one obvious place where our tools or content naturally connect?

How to pitch a cross-promo

When you reach out, lead with context - who you are, what you're building, why your audiences overlap. Mention a specific feature or piece of content they offer to show you've done your homework. Make a rough template of what you could send and make it easy for them to say yes.
Don't make it look like you're begging, you're not asking for a favor, you're pitching a trade that could benefit both sides.