A co marketing agreement is created when two or more businesses work together to promote a product or content item. They are thus able to reap the benefits of leveraging both companies' resources, creating more awareness and more leads with less effort. The co-marketing agreement details the terms of the partnership and indicates how the companies will work together and the roles and responsibilities of each. With a co-marketing agreement, the businesses agree to attract new customers to both businesses through collaborative advertising, promotions, events, content, and other methods.

Basics of a Co-Marketing Agreement

Before entering into a joint marketing promotion or campaign with another business, you should develop a co-marketing agreement to prevent misunderstandings and establish collaborative goals. These agreements are often used for joint sales or marketing campaigns, or when one business begins to sell its products in the storefront of another business.

The co-marketing agreement should spell out the resources each business will dedicate to the collaborative effort, including tools, materials, and training. Many businesses enter these types of agreements to build buzz for their products and services while minimizing advertising costs. A co-marketing agreement is also sometimes called a cooperative marketing agreement or joint marketing agreement.

Co-Marketing vs. Co-Branding

Co-branding refers to the creation of a shared product or group of products to provide additional customer value, while co-marketing campaigns are used to promote this type of offer and share the rewards of their collaborative promotion.

Advantages of Co-Marketing

Advantages of co-marketing include:

  • Increasing your audience
  • Introducing new products or types of content

Types of Co-Marketing

Co-marketing most commonly takes the form of collaborative content that is promoted to both company's audiences. This works best when both companies have similar goals, such as increased ticket sales or new leads. Types of collaborative content can include:

  • E-books
  • Blog posts
  • Webinars
  • Videos
  • Twitter chats
  • In-person and online events

Negotiating and Drafting a Joint Marketing Agreement

Joint marketing agreements can range from very simple to very complex depending on the nature of the collaborative project. In many cases, it consists of a stand-alone agreement with clauses that detail the various terms and conditions of the collaboration. Aspects of the joint marketing agreement should include:

  • The terms for exiting the agreement and how easily either party can do so.
  • Whether the agreement is exclusive and if so, if exceptions to the exclusivity exist.
  • Whether restrictions will exist on each party's authority to promote the other party's products.
  • A management and government structuring for the scope of the project.

Joint Marketing Agreement Template

The joint marketing agreement should state the name of each signer and the effective date of the agreement, as well as state the purpose of the agreement. It should list the activities each party will undertake during the term of the agreement and the responsibilities each will uphold.

You may want to include a clause indicating that each company will freely share marketing data generated in the course of the collaboration, including but not limited to campaign performance metrics and leads generated. Each party should also agree to uphold the other's confidentiality requirements and refrain from sharing confidential data with additional parties.

The agreement should indicate the governance structure for the agreement or indicate that it will be governed based on the laws of a particular state. When an agreement is reached, both parties should sign this legally binding document.

If you need help with creating a co-marketing agreement, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.