Cross-Promotion Marketing Campaigns Behind Creative Alliances

by Sarah Clark
sarah.clark@careertrainingdirectory.com

Career Training Directory Columnist

Cross promotion as a marketing strategy is nothing new, although it seems to have become more widely adopted in recent years. In fact, a TV viewer may be hard-pressed to find a show that doesn’t contain a marketing or public relations message.

Consider the many talk and news magazine shows that make up a large segment of daytime network television programming. Shows like “Rachel Ray,” “Martha,” “Ellen,” and “Oprah,” regularly feature celebrity guests who typically have a book, film, theater opening, album, or some other project to plug.

Morning news shows like “Today” and “Good Morning America” feature guests from popular reality TV shows, like “Survivor.” Whoever gets booted off the island on the previous night’s episode effectively gets an invitation to talk about their experience with Matt Lauer or Diane Sawyer.

Television sitcoms are also popular vehicles for carrying marketing messages. A recent episode of a popular network show featured repeated images of characters consuming food from Red Lobster, a seafood restaurant chain, along with a reference to the television drama “Lost.”

Even cable news shows are subject to the business of cross promotion. Guests with a new book to promote might appear on shows hosted by Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson, or Bill O’Reilly, particularly if they have written on a subject related to current news stories. Speaking of Tucker Carlson, he recently featured his stint on “Dancing with the Stars” on his MSNBC news show “Tucker.”

Businesses are also using cross promotion to reach very specific audiences. For example, Turner Classic Movies has partnered with Architectural Digest to promote a series of movies the cable network portrays as having architecturally-relevant themes.

Marketing and Business Degrees

You’ll likely learn about cross promotion during a business degree program, particularly if you concentrate on marketing or focus on it exclusively. Marketing professionals increasingly seek ways to reach consumers through nontraditional advertising campaigns, looking beyond the realm of paid television commercials and radio spots. Cross promotion, like other less in-your-face marketing techniques such as word-of-mouth marketing, are regarded as effective ways to reach savvy consumers. As an aspiring marketing mogul, you may want to master this very popular and seemingly effective advertising strategy.

About the Author

Sarah Clark is a freelance writer who specializes in postsecondary education and career development.