Co-marketing is core to partnerships. It is the act of two similar businesses joining together for a mutually-beneficial marketing partnership in order to reach new potential customers.

Co-marketing is often used interchangeably with the term co-branding, however co-branding requires that two companies join together to market a new collaborative product, while co-branding does necessitate the companies creating a new product. Instead they are using the partnership to market their already-existing owner service or product.