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How to Run a Co-Marketing Campaign on LinkedIn Ads
How to Run a Co-Marketing Campaign on LinkedIn Ads
A co-marketing campaign runs a joint effort with a partner — combining audiences, sharing credibility, and splitting the cost and work — so both companies reach people they couldn’t reach alone. On LinkedIn, that means each partner promoting to their own audience, co-branded creative carrying both brands, and a joint offer like a co-hosted webinar, shared report, or integration announcement. Done well, co-marketing gives you access to a relevant audience you don’t have, borrowed credibility from a trusted partner, and shared costs. Done badly — mismatched partner, unclear split of leads and work — it creates confusion and friction. This guide covers how to run a co-marketing campaign on LinkedIn and what makes it work.
Key takeaways
- Co-marketing runs a joint campaign with a partner, combining audiences, credibility, and cost.
- Both companies reach people they couldn’t reach alone — each other’s relevant audiences.
- On LinkedIn: each partner promotes to their audience, with co-branded creative and a joint offer.
- Benefits: audience access, shared credibility, and split costs.
- Requires an aligned partner and a clear split of work, cost, and leads.
What is a co-marketing campaign?
A co-marketing campaign is a joint marketing effort between two (or more) companies that share an audience or complementary offering, run together for mutual benefit. Instead of each company marketing alone, they combine resources — audiences, content, budget, credibility — around a shared campaign, so both benefit from the other’s assets. The classic examples are a co-hosted webinar, a jointly-produced report, or a campaign around an integration or partnership between the two products.
The appeal is access and leverage. Each partner brings an audience the other doesn’t have, credibility the other can borrow, and resources that, combined, produce more than either could alone. For B2B companies with complementary but non-competing offerings, co-marketing is a way to reach new relevant audiences efficiently.
Why run co-marketing on LinkedIn?
Because LinkedIn’s targeting and professional audience make partner audiences genuinely accessible and valuable. On LinkedIn, both partners can promote the joint campaign to their respective audiences, and the co-branded message carries the credibility of both brands to each audience. This matters because a partner’s audience is often exactly the relevant professional audience you want but don’t have — and reaching them with a message co-signed by a brand they already trust is far more effective than reaching them cold.
| Co-marketing element | On LinkedIn |
|---|---|
| Audience access | Each partner promotes to their own audience |
| Co-branded creative | Both brands on the creative, joint value |
| Joint offer | Co-hosted webinar, shared report, integration |
| Shared credibility | Each brand borrows the other’s trust |
| Split resources | Cost and work divided between partners |
What makes a good co-marketing partner?
An aligned partner with a relevant, non-competing audience. The partnership works when the other company shares your target audience or reaches an adjacent one you want, offers something complementary rather than competitive, and brings genuine value — a real audience, real credibility, real resources — to the effort. A mismatched partner whose audience isn’t relevant to you, or whose brand doesn’t fit, produces a campaign that benefits neither.
The alignment also has to be practical, not just strategic. Both partners need to agree on the split of work, cost, and — crucially — leads, before the campaign runs. Co-marketing that’s strategically sensible but operationally vague (“we’ll figure out the leads later”) creates friction when the results come in. The best co-marketing partnerships settle who does what, who pays what, and who gets which leads upfront.
The co-marketing framework
Run a co-marketing campaign deliberately:
- Choose an aligned partner — relevant, non-competing audience, complementary offering, real value to bring.
- Agree the split upfront — who does what work, who pays what, and who gets which leads.
- Create a joint offer — a co-hosted webinar, shared report, or integration campaign both promote.
- Co-brand the creative — both brands and a joint value proposition, promoted to each partner’s audience.
- Coordinate and measure both sides — execute together and track outcomes for each partner.
How do you handle leads and measurement in co-marketing?
By agreeing the split before the campaign and measuring outcomes for both sides. The most common source of co-marketing friction is leads — both partners want them, and if you haven’t agreed how they’re shared, the results create conflict. Decide upfront how leads are split or shared (both partners get all leads, leads are divided, or each keeps the leads from their own audience), so there’s no dispute when they arrive. On measurement, co-marketing has two beneficiaries, so track outcomes for each partner rather than a single blended number — each side should be able to see what the campaign delivered for them, since that’s what justifies their investment in it. Clear agreements on leads and clear measurement for both sides are what keep a co-marketing partnership functioning, because they remove the ambiguity that otherwise turns a mutually beneficial campaign into a dispute over who got what. Getting these operational details right upfront matters as much as the strategic fit of the partnership.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do you run a co-marketing campaign on LinkedIn?
Partner with an aligned company, agree the split of work, cost, and leads upfront, create a joint offer like a co-hosted webinar or shared report, co-brand the creative with both brands, and have each partner promote it to their own audience. Coordinate execution and measure outcomes for both sides. The goal is reaching each other’s audiences with shared credibility.
Q2. What is a co-marketing campaign?
A co-marketing campaign is a joint marketing effort between two or more companies with a shared audience or complementary offering, run together for mutual benefit. Instead of marketing alone, partners combine audiences, content, budget, and credibility around a shared campaign — like a co-hosted webinar, joint report, or integration announcement — so both benefit from the other’s assets.
Q3. Why run co-marketing on LinkedIn specifically?
Because LinkedIn’s targeting and professional audience make partner audiences genuinely accessible and valuable. Both partners can promote the joint campaign to their audiences, and co-branded messaging carries both brands’ credibility to each. A partner’s audience is often exactly the relevant professional audience you want but don’t have, and reaching them with a co-signed, trusted message beats reaching them cold.
Q4. What makes a good co-marketing partner?
An aligned partner with a relevant, non-competing audience, a complementary offering, and genuine value to bring — a real audience, real credibility, real resources. A mismatched partner whose audience isn’t relevant or whose brand doesn’t fit benefits neither side. The alignment must also be practical: both partners agreeing on the split of work, cost, and leads before running.
Q5. How do you split leads in a co-marketing campaign?
Agree it upfront, before the campaign runs, to avoid conflict when results arrive. Options include both partners getting all leads, dividing the leads, or each keeping the leads from their own audience. Leads are the most common source of co-marketing friction, so settling how they’re shared in advance is essential to keeping the partnership functioning smoothly.
Q6. What are the benefits of co-marketing?
Access to a relevant audience you don’t have, borrowed credibility from a trusted partner, and shared costs and work. Each partner brings assets the other lacks, so combined they produce more than either could alone. For B2B companies with complementary, non-competing offerings, co-marketing efficiently reaches new relevant audiences with the added trust of a co-signed message.
Q7. What can go wrong in a co-marketing campaign?
A mismatched partner whose audience isn’t relevant, or an unclear split of work, cost, and leads that creates friction when results come in. Co-marketing that’s strategically sensible but operationally vague — “we’ll figure out the leads later” — leads to disputes. The fix is settling who does what, who pays what, and who gets which leads before the campaign runs.
Q8. How is co-marketing different from partner recruitment?
Co-marketing is running a joint campaign with an existing partner to reach audiences and generate results together. Partner recruitment is advertising to find and sign up new partners for a program. One markets with a partner for mutual benefit; the other markets to attract partners. Co-marketing leverages a partnership; recruitment builds one.
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