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You may not realize it, but there are millions of marketing dollars left on the table every single year - and you could be claiming a share of that money. One study estimated up to $450 million in co-op funding is left behind annually when these dollars could go directly into your marketing budget. How can you get it? How should you use it? Take a look.

Co-Op Marketing Program Guidelines

If you're not familiar with the idea, co-op marketing refers to the programs that national brands offer for their affiliates; they have money set aside for you to use in your everyday marketing practices.

Imagine this - you're a local VW dealership. Not only do the ads you run for your dealership give you some benefits, but they also offer some name recognition to the national brand itself. This is true for other verticals as well. If you owned a jewelry story, you might have five to ten brands you work with on a regular basis. Running a promo that involves one of those brands means sales for you, but it also means good things for the national brand as well. Co-op funding comes from the national brand, and it typically pays for 30 - 80% of an ad campaign involving the national brand.

There are, however, co-op marketing program guidelines involved. You not only have to find the money, which can usually be done through your sales rep or your backend ordering program, but you'll also have to design the campaign, then submit it for preapproval. That step is essential because without preapproval, you can't submit your paperwork to get reimbursed for the cost of the advertising.

How To Use That Money

Once you figure out how to get your hands on co-op funding, it's fairly simple to use it in your business to help enhance your ad campaigns. It starts with a closer look at the guidelines involved. Be aware that some brands have extensive strategy documentation, so read all of it before you ever get started. The devil is in the details, down to getting their logo right as well as utilizing the right font.

Often, however, enlisting the help of your ad agency is a blessing here. You can typically turn the entire process, including the long guideline familiarity training, over to them to develop a campaign that will instantly gain approval from the national brand and begin running as soon as you'd hoped.

Stop walking away from those co-op funding opportunities to enhance your marketing program. Start making them work for you.