Turning Merchants Into Marketing Partners in 2025

To successfully turn merchants into marketing partners, it’s important to guide them through a natural progression - from initial buy-in to active promotion:

1. Build Strong Merchant Relationships Year-Round

The most effective way to get merchants involved in marketing your pass is to invest in relationships long before you ask for participation. Regularly visit businesses, engage with them on social media, and create opportunities for collaboration beyond just the pass program.

2. Offer Immediate Value to Onboarded Merchants

Before merchants can become active promoters of your pass, they need to see the value of joining in the first place. Offering immediate exposure and benefits makes participation a no-brainer, even before they invest effort into marketing.

How It Works:

All participating merchants could receive:

• A dedicated mention on your pass landing page, ensuring they are easy for customers to find.
• Inclusion in promotional materials, such as visitor guides, group social media roundups, and email announcements.
• The opportunity for additional exposure, with top-performing merchants highlighted in future blog posts, social media features, or email spotlights.

Take a Look at This Social Media Feature Example From Maryland's Best Seafood. This reel combines a merchant spotlight with a quick tutorial on how to use the pass. The reel was shared on both Maryland's Best Seafood’s and Foraged Seafood’s Instagram accounts, maximizing exposure for all parties involved.

Why It Works:

This guarantees that every business gets value right away, even if they’re not yet fully engaged in marketing the pass. Once they start seeing results - such as new customers visiting because of the pass - they’ll be more motivated to promote it themselves.

3. Equip Merchants With Easy-to-Use Marketing Tools

Many merchants want to participate but don’t have time to create marketing materials from scratch. Make it effortless for them.

Provide:

• Ready-to-post social media templates so merchants can easily share pass promotions without extra effort.
• A direct link to the passport page for their website, enhanced with a UTM code to track which merchants are driving traffic
• A full marketing toolkit, including email copy, social post ideas, and in-store signage, to help them seamlessly promote the pass.
• Eye-catching print materials with QR codes linking directly to the pass sign-up page, making it easy for their customers to join on the spot.

Example: A brewery owner receives a pre-written social post and flyer design to share on their channels, making it easy to promote the pass without extra effort.

4. Leverage Social Proof and FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Merchants are more likely to participate if they see others benefiting. Use testimonials, case studies, and live examples to showcase the impact of the pass.

Example: Share a reel series on social media featuring three different merchants explaining how the pass has increased their customer traffic and revenue.

5. Make It a Performance-Based Competition

Want merchants to go the extra mile in promoting your pass? Turn it into a challenge. Reward those who drive the most signups through their unique promo codes with valuable advertising perks that bring real exposure to their business.

How It Works:

Each merchant receives a unique promo code to share with their customers. At the end of the competition period, the merchant with the most signups under their code wins a premium advertising package - such as a feature in a local magazine, a dedicated blog post, a social media spotlight, an in-pass ad, or top placement in an email campaign.

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With a strong relationship, valuable incentives, and made-easy marketing, you can convert merchants into enthusiastic ambassadors of your pass program. Using these updated strategies in 2025 will ensure your pass remains a dynamic and attractive opportunity for businesses, driving engagement and success for all parties involved.