Partnering with other businesses, both on and offline, is a tremendous way to increase your brand’s awareness while gaining valuable referrals and exposure.

You can use this strategy in many ways, but one of my favorites is to seek out a potential partner, one who serves your target market, and offer to provide a free report or other valuable information to their clients or subscribers. You may even wish to offer to co-brand the report and fulfillment process for them to give your partner as much reason to participate as possible. Here’s a simple example of this strategy in action.QuickBooks Community sign-up page

If you offer resources to your clients or readers as an affiliate you may find that some affiliate partners are more than happy to co-brand your affiliate page like My AWeber sales page. I think this “partnership” look and feel makes your efforts with the affiliate appear more permanent. Lots of others may be promoting the same affiliate program – look for ways to make your connection stronger. You might even consider offering special training or tips for your affiliates.

You can also brand or co-brand simple processes. Again, I believe these touches, over time, help lend more and more credibility to your brand and give even the casual surfer or prospect the impression that you have a great deal to offer. Here’s an example of My StockLayouts Affiliate Sign-up page

Think about other organizations that serve your same target market, referral partners, companies you admire, your clients, testimonial providers and even your vendors – all great co-branding candidates.

The best way to start down the co-branded path is to ask. Be prepared to offer your partner a benefit of some sort as incentive for partnering and then go out and find even more partners.