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Part of Local partnership marketing for people who want the details
Local partnership marketing trends to pilot next year, with named programs and stop rules
Local partnership marketing trends for next year run from customer-led referrals to co-branded local events, each with a named program and a stop rule.
What to take away
- Local partnership marketing trends for next year start with customer-led referrals. The customer makes contact, so no list changes hands, and Dropbox and Airbnb grew that way.
- Retail media networks sell in-store and online placements that small advertisers can buy through a pooled deal. Criteo, Instacart Ads and Walmart Connect are examples.
- Visitor-bureau guides from NYC Tourism + Conventions and Visit California show one model for local guides; check each publisher's own method and correction policy before you copy it.
- USDA's Local Food Promotion Program funds farm and food partnerships; it is not a private-partnership grant.
- Recheck the primary source page before you commit budget.
Seven local partnership marketing trends worth a pilot
Each row names the trend, the named program or company, and the condition that ends the test.
Seven trends and stop rules
Trend
- Customer-led referral
- Dropbox, Airbnb
- Joint retail media
- Criteo, Instacart
- Verified local guide
- NYC Tourism, Visit California
- Cause clarity
- 1% for the Planet
- Shared service standard
- Shopify, Zendesk
- Temporary neighborhood program
- Open Streets, GrowNYC
- Lift study
- Meta, Google Ads
Named example
- Customer-led referral
- Consent lost
- Joint retail media
- Inventory unmeasurable
- Verified local guide
- Corrections unlogged
- Cause clarity
- Payment unverifiable
- Shared service standard
- Support loop
- Temporary neighborhood program
- Capacity fails
- Lift study
- Spillover breaks inference
Stop rule
- Customer-led referral
- Joint retail media
- Verified local guide
- Cause clarity
- Shared service standard
- Temporary neighborhood program
- Lift study
| Trend | Named example | Figure or date | Stop rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-led referral | Dropbox and Airbnb referral links: the customer shares a code, so no list changes hands | Dropbox: 250 MB per referral with an 8 GB cap at first; 500 MB and a 16 GB cap from 2012 | Context or consent is lost |
| Joint retail media | Criteo, Instacart Ads and Walmart Connect: pooled local inventory | Spend estimates vary by research firm; use the firm's current report before you budget | Local inventory cannot be measured separately |
| Verified local guide | NYC Tourism + Conventions and Visit California publish local visitor guides; check each one's method and correction policy | NYC Tourism + Conventions publishes its visitor totals; check the current figure there | Corrections stop being logged |
| Cause clarity | 1% for the Planet: member businesses donate a share of sales to environmental causes | 1% for the Planet, founded 2002; members give 1% of annual sales | Beneficiary or payment cannot be verified |
| Co-branded local event | Small Business Saturday, a shopping day American Express has run since 2010 with local merchants | Merchant sign-up and sales are reported by each participant; no program-wide figure is quoted here | Merchant cannot staff or stock the event |
| Temporary neighborhood program | New York City Open Streets and GrowNYC Greenmarkets: one location, one period, one owner | Open Streets began 2020; GrowNYC Greenmarkets began 1976 | Capacity or public burden fails |
| Shared loyalty | Air Miles, a multi-partner loyalty program in Canada, where partners earn and redeem points together | Earn and redemption rates are set in each partner agreement | Partner earn rates cost more than the lift they bring |
Referrals happen without a shared list
The referral model worth piloting is the one where the customer makes contact. Dropbox and Airbnb built growth on referrals the customer initiates, and neither needed a partner database to do it. Dropbox gave extra storage to both sides; Airbnb gave travel credit.
Compare that with list swaps, where two businesses exchange customer files. In the United States, consent for one purpose does not automatically cover the next.
The FTC treats a broken privacy promise as a deceptive practice and publishes business guidance on securing data. There is no single comprehensive federal consumer privacy law. California's CCPA took effect on January 1, 2020, and the CPRA amendments followed on January 1, 2023.
Several states now have comprehensive consumer privacy laws, and many require notice at collection. Rules for sensitive data differ by state, so counsel should review consent language before any shared list or data use.
Local partnership marketing works the same way: the smaller the data surface, the easier the audit.
Retail media keeps pulling local ad dollars
Retail media is a major advertising line, and retailers hold the purchase data advertisers want. Estimates of US retail media spend differ by research firm, so use the firm's current report before you set a budget.
Criteo sells sponsored placements across retailer sites. Instacart Ads puts brands in front of grocery shoppers at the moment they build a cart. Walmart Connect sells search and display inside Walmart's own properties.
Target's Roundel and Best Buy Ads sell similar sponsored placements for their own retail audiences. For a small advertiser, the practical move is a pooled buy with two or three non-competing partners. One contract, one agency contact, shared creative costs.
A pooled buy can run on one master contract, with the spend split set by each partner's share of placements. Reporting comes back per partner, so nobody has to trust a pooled total.
Check the program page before you pitch a food partner
USDA's page for the Local Food Promotion Program lists current project types, eligibility, funding and application dates. Those details change, and they say nothing about a private partnership's eligibility or return. Check the page in the year you apply.
The Census Bureau's Business Dynamics Statistics data publishes establishment and job-dynamics measures by area. Use it to size a market before you pitch a partner, not to pick one.
Set the review date before the pilot
Set the review date first, then run the pilot and check the evidence against it.
- Name the customer problem the trend should solve
- Verify partner capacity and current rules
- Pilot one reversible mechanism, starting with local partnership marketing
- Keep brand, claim, data, service and exit controls
- Measure delivery, mature outcome, burden and cost
- Retire the trend when evidence or partner fit fails
Keep the evidence record beside the decision so a reviewer can reproduce the reasoning. Record rejected options too, because the constraint that killed them may change.
For more on the questions these pilots raise, see common local partnership marketing questions and how to improve local partnership marketing. The direct mail marketing trends page covers the print side of the same budget.
Common questions
Will local partnerships replace paid media?
No. A partnership is one channel with its own cost, risk and evidence burden. Retail media buys sit alongside it, not instead of it.
Should partners combine customer databases?
Usually not. Use the least data the task needs, and get consent for the specific purpose.
Which trend should a small business test first?
Pick a customer-led referral with one credible partner, clear ownership and low data. Dropbox and Airbnb used that model. It is the cheapest mechanism to stop if the evidence does not hold.
