Advertising co-ops are nothing new. Usually they are a "perk" offered by major manufacturers to encourage retailers to promote their products. Because retailer has direct access to customers that would want to buy certain products, it only makes sense that they should do joint advertising. You've seen it - McDonalds mentioning Coke in their commercials, Dell stating that you get a free Epson printer with purchase and so on.

The retailer doesn't make product manufacturer is providing, but it IS a great match with what they DO offer. Nobody would want to eat a Big Mac without something to drink, and a computer wouldn't do a lot of good without a printer.

Now you can use this same strategy to create your own advertising co-op to increase reach of your ads and drastically reduce cost, too.

--->> How It Works

Generally speaking, cost of any advertisements (bulk emailings, ezine ads, banners, newspaper, etc.) would be split equally between all participants. If you and two associates decide to purchase a solo ad, you would each receive equal mentions in ad and you would each pay equal portions of cost.

So if solo ad were going to a list of 200,000 and cost $150, each of three would pay $50. You get to reach 200,000 people for 1/3 cost you would have normally paid. And, because this ad relates you to other types of businesses, you actually expand your advertising reach.

--->> Getting Started

The first thing to know, and this should come as good news, is that advertising no longer has to make sale.

Not very long ago, advertising’s main goal was to make sale, though there are many other goals. But that has changed dramatically with growth of dotcom companies all over internet. Today, goal of much advertising is not to make sale but to direct people to websites.

That does not diminish power of advertising. Instead, it increases it. With many, if not most, guerrilla-run companies establishing webturf, advertising’s newest function is to motivate people to visit a website where they can get far more information than can be delivered by standard media advertising.

Advertising has become first step in a permission marketing campaign. It invites dialogue and interactivity with prospects and customers by directing people to websites, by offering free brochures, by generating kind of action that leads to permission to receive marketing messages. Once people grant that permission, which they do at a website or by simply calling to request a brochure -- printed or electronic --- that’s when serious guerrilla marketing attempts to close sale.

That means prime obligation of advertising is to motivate an easy-to-take-action. This should come as good news because it places less of an onus on advertising than ever before. Motivating action of getting person to click to your website is a whole lot simpler than motivating a person to part with his or her hard-earned money and risk spending it wrong way.

Not only is it easier to motivate action, but that action is becoming even easier as being online is now endemic. Over 100 million people are now online, though America Online’s chief, Steve Case, pegs number as being closer to 200 million.

It’s not always a whole lot of fun to visit your store or order from your toll-free number, but it is fairly enjoyable to click over to a website and take a gander at what is being offered and how you can benefit. There is a risk when somebody responds to advertising with an order. There is no risk at all if they check your website. Advertising seems to grease skids to sale. It takes far less time to learn about you online than to cruise around a mall or drive to a location further away than their computer.