Given that owned media channels are an invaluable asset, it’s natural that brands might be selective and reluctant to consider cross-promotions. However, you might be surprised to learn what the data reveals about the benefits when done strategically.
Keep reading to learn why some common concerns are rooted in misconceptions and what untapped partnership opportunities may exist for your brand.
Will It Negatively Impact My Brand’s Reputation?
The Concern:
“Aligning with another brand will dilute my brand's reputation.”
The Reality:
A strategic alignment can strengthen your brand’s identity, making your audience feel that you understand them and their preferences. 71% of consumers enjoy co-branded partnerships, according to a survey report from Visual Objects.
The key is to present an incentive your audience eagerly anticipates rather than something that disrupts their day.
For instance, Mobivity's Connected Rewards™ leverages the synergy between brands and mobile game developers, tapping into a shared audience that enjoys both gaming and getting great offers and rewards from brands.
These consumers have practical needs like eating, shopping, and filling their tanks – and with costs on the rise, 60% of consumers are looking for discounts and deals to offset higher prices.
Connected Rewards offers rich in-game rewards (such as a free cheeseburger) to mobile game players as they reach certain objectives. By injecting real-world offers into a game as a reward just for playing, your brand can reach attentive, highly engaged consumers who look forward to hearing from you!
Will It Lead To Unsubscribes?
The Concern:
“Using owned media channels to cross-promote offers may confuse or annoy my audience, leading to unsubscribes.”
The Reality:
When aligned with your audience's interests and needs, cross-promotions can offer fresh, unique content that surprises and delights subscribers, especially when adding brand rewards to mobile games. For example, 56% of gamers are more likely to buy from a brand that features in their favorite game.
More specifically, a leading national convenience store brand added a game promotion to their offer through Mobivity’s Connected Rewards and drove 13% more offer opt-ins to their loyalty program and 20% fewer opt-outs compared to promotions that presented the brand offer alone.
Another national QSR brand also saw what they called, “surprisingly great results” using Connected Rewards. After attempts to entice lapsed users with large discounted offers were not working, the brand started adding a game to their regular offers through Connected Rewards. With the new approach, they saw 54% engagement and redemptions come from their lapsed customers.
Will I Miss Out On Sales?
The Concern:
“Dedicating owned media space to a partner means my brand has less space to promote our offerings.”
The Reality:
Using your owned media channels to connect with your audience beyond how they might think about your brand in the traditional sense has a surprising impact on consumer behaviors and sales.
Mobile gaming audiences are an incredible opportunity, too. People spend on average 5 hours per day on their phones, and playing mobile games is the #1 form of mobile entertainment – more popular than social media or texting.
Additionally, 56% of gamers are more likely to buy from a brand that features in their favorite game. Combining these real-world rewards and offers with mobile games boosts campaign performance across various marketing metrics while drawing more unplanned visits.
Once the consumer is through the doors, the data suggests they will likely make additional purchases. According to Mobivity’s collection and analysis of over a billion POS transactions and reward redemption data, 67% of consumers add other full-priced items to their order. On average, brands saw purchase values more than double the reward given. POS data also shows that 26% of the redeemers bring their friends and family, leading to even more profitable traffic and revenue.
Will It Stretch The Marketing Budget Too Thin?
The Concern:
“Covering the costs of advertising space in addition to redemption costs might overburden my marketing budget.”
The Reality:
Depending on your partner, this may be a real concern. Most third-party advertisers focus on top-of-funnel impressions, which might add to your costs without attracting the engaged, purchase-ready consumers you hoped for.
But you have options. Connected Rewards offers brands partner-funded advertising opportunities to use owned media channels to cross-promote to mobile gamers. Doing so allows you to earn reimbursement dollars on each redemption, which can be used in a variety of ways. Common use cases are applying them toward the costs of the offer to improve margin or reinvesting those earned reimbursement dollars into new customer acquisition.