Successful marketing isn’t always about competition. Counterintuitive as it may seem, collaborating with other local businesses on marketing efforts can grow your brand and put you far ahead of your market competitors.

An example:

Last week I went to purchase a new gym membership. When I walked up to the counter, I noticed a small cardboard sign: “Bring us a ticket stub from [the newly-built movie theater next door], and we’ll waive your new-membership initiation fee.” I thought that was pretty smart on the movie theater’s part. But it didn’t end there.  When I finished working out, I went by the smoothie shop in the next shopping plaza. Guess what? I noticed a little cardboard sign on their counter: “Bring us a ticket stub from [the same movie theater], and get a coupon for a free smoothie during your next visit.”

The movie theater’s move here was genius – they’re a new business, so they’re utilizing their local “peer” businesses to help garner attention and attract business. The theater, at the same time, is reciprocating by sending more business to the gym and the smoothie shop. It’s a win-win situation, and none of the three companies loses business to the others.

Business marketing consultant Diane Eschenbach explains, “By properly networking with other local businesses . . . you can expand your reach, more than double your word-of-mouth referrals, and become more easily ingrained in your community.”

Here are a few tips for making collaborative marketing work for your dealership:

Prospect.  Your first step to partnering with other local businesses is, of course, to find other local businesses to partner with. Eschenbach recommends joining your local chamber of commerce and other municipal organizations, and attending every meeting or event possible. You might also find local branches of groups such as the National Small Business Association, National Business Association, or National Association of Women Business Owners. Attending meetings and networking events is integral to prospecting the community for business partnerships. This article from Business2Community provides a list of business organizations you might join as a starting point.

Do your research.  Once you’ve identified a few businesses you think you might want to collaborate with, do your research before reaching out to them. This is a sales pitch in a sense, and you’ve got to know your “customer.” Eschenbach suggests finding out each business’s “vision, their specialties, their target demographics”, and incorporating those things into variable word tracks. That way, when you approach each business, you can customize what you say, work in phrases and buzzwords that specifically relate to that company, and effectively show them how this marketing partnership can really benefit them. Be sure that when you reach out, you’ve already got a proposed marketing campaign to share.

Test it out. CEO and Forbes.com contributor Deborah Sweeney recommends implementing a trial period for your new partnership marketing campaign, and measuring how much and what kind of customer engagement and reaction you garner. “In some cases,” says Sweeney, “you may need to go back to the drawing board. In the meantime, be 100% invested in the partnership. Know what you want, what your partner wants, what the customers want, and how you can make that happen to satisfy everyone.”

Partnering with other local businesses in the community is a great way to get your brand out there into the community and attract new and repeat business without breaking the bank, and it allows you to network to build and foster relationships in the community.