Two complimentary brands collaborate to create contents together which may be of interest to the audience of both brands. The “collaborative content” is mutually beneficial and one of the biggest benefits of co-producing content is having access to each other’s audiences. The sharing of resources to increase leads, brand value and influence on audience became easier with the loads of content sharing options on internet.

Big brands like Playboy and Red Bull created some collaborative content recently with great success where Red Bull’s Danny MacAskill performs stunts on Playboy’s mansion’s grounds with the familiar playboy bunny’s that enforces Playboy’s brand message about luxury lifestyle. Action, adventure and deeds of daring are all part of RedBull brand message. The key here for both brands is presenting both the messages in an indirect but engaging way to not only entertain their audiences but was guaranteed to be shared by them.

After researching and following this space for quite some time, I am giving 7 tips for successful collaborative content marketing.

1. Find the right brand to collaborate with
The first step is obviously to find the right partner brand which is complementary, has some audience and the value proposition and perceived value of two brands is much higher

2. Choose the right media channels
Every channel offers its own merits. Think what media channels appeals to your audience most and where do they spend time. Do they watch you tube channels more or they read blogs. Depending on the channel you need to co-create your contents.

3. No Self Promotion of either brand
It is advisable that you stay away from self promotion of either of the brands. If the contents are interesting and non-commercial then your audience will most likely share it and make it viral.

4. Have clear association with both brands
Make sure that the contents has a very clear association with the values of both the brands and the relationship between the brands is visible.

5. Audience Targeting
There has to be a match between the contents and the audience to which the content has to be delivered. The audience of both the brands is different and the contents are addressing the common interest then Collaborative marketing may fail.

6. Brand Relevance
Even though the contents are non commercial, it still must have brand relevance. It can reinforce the emotions and associations you want people to have with your brand without being too pushy.

The Collaborative Content Marketing is a win-win situation for both the brands. If you are a startup but think that you complement a big brand then you can probably reach out to them. There are many success stories of collaboration between startups and big brand. What you need is a strong value proposition and a compelling story!