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What do you think about exchanging exposure with other startups which has users that are your potential clients?

For example you have a time management app, other startup has a note taking app, the users of both startups can benefit from those applications.

Why not the owners/marketing responsible can discuss and exchange newsletters mentions, tweets, blog reviews and so on? Kinda: I mention you in my newsletter, you mention in yours...

Would you do something like this? Personally I think it's a good idea to grow your user base but I never tried...have you done something like this?

[UPDATE]

I made a LinkedIn private group to implement this idea: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4765042 where startup owners can post their niche and what type of exposure they want to exchange.

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4 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

It could work if done right. But you have to be respectful of your users. Here are a few things to consider:

  • Make it relevant to your users. I wouldn't be upset if one of the services I'm signed up for emailed me information about a relevant service or offer that I might be interested in. For example, I recently received an email offer from Kissmetrics on a free landing page kit from Unbounce. If on the other hand, I received an offer about something totally unrelated I'd consider it spam, and I'd be upset.
  • Don't do it all the time. Don't send them an ad every day, every week, or even every month. You should only do this sparingly.
  • Make it an offer. Don't just say "check out this cool startup." That's not interesting and is a little spammy. Instead offer them something of value (e.g. a discount or a special offer that's not available to people outside of your newsletter). Make your users feel special. For example, a whitepaper on a topic they are interested in, or a screencast, or a 90 day free trial to a service.
  • Don't send an email that only contains the ad. To start off with, include the offer in a newsletter you planned on sending anyway that has other information. Watch how your users react. If they react positively, then you can start experimenting with sending an email just for the special offer. If they react negatively, drop the idea or come up with a better way of communicating the offer.
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Thanks for your detailed answer. You are right on all the points. It definitely should be a service that will help my users, something which solves a problem I know they have. – Virgil Dec 19 '12 at 16:44
Glad to help! Let us know how it turns out. – Zuly Gonzalez♦ Dec 19 '12 at 18:37
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I really like Zuly's point of "Make it an offer". That is great advice and could be the deciding factor on this being a success or not. – Joel Friedlaender Dec 19 '12 at 22:23
up vote 1 down vote

No disrespect to your idea but that's what expert marketeers like to call a ticking time-bomb. Any kind of manipulation of followers/subscribers attention by partnering with other business is going to backfire at some point. It's a gamble. Instead if a company knows how to create and execute social media strategies properly, they can create their own ever enlarging following.

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up vote 0 down vote

I definitely would! It's good idea, don't know if someone tried it already. I'm trying to do that all the time with moderate success.

It depends on the other side - partner of yours. If she thinks it's a good idea, both of you CAN benefit. But you must give your self in a lot more than you think you need.

You really must promote the partner's product in order to see benefit for him. Only then they will do the same on their said (not all of them!) and then you will benefit.

If you are interested, contact me at ivan@e-75.rs.

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Yea, it depends on the other side a lot. You need to have almost the same reach and you need to earn trust first. I just made a LinkedIn private group for this, we can try something out: linkedin.com/groups?gid=4765042 – Virgil Dec 17 '12 at 18:47
up vote 0 down vote

Do your users agree to receiving advertisements from you? If it's clear that you are going to do that then I think it's ok.

For me, my users pay to use the service and I wouldn't feel right to send them ads. I already get my money from them, I don't need to double dip and advertise to them as well.

I would be careful, you might get more users because you have a wider reach, but you also might lose them because you are spamming them with other products while you reciprocate the deal.

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Thanks for replying. I wouldn't advertise the other startup, i would just mention in the newsletter and include a deal if possible. For ex, at the end of the newsletter I could add something like: If you have [this problem] this service may help you [the service]. [A short words about it] . They offered a special discount for our users. – Virgil Dec 19 '12 at 16:41
We may have different definitions of ads, but that's an ad to me. Whether it's in it's own email or at the bottom of your newsletter, it's an ad. I think the offer is the only way for me that you blur the line and can get away with it. – Joel Friedlaender Dec 19 '12 at 22:24

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