Partnership Marketing
"Great things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people."
– Steve Jobs
While this quote can easily apply to a single company, it speaks to what can be accomplished by multiple businesses working together as well. We know this to be true even for large brands such as Apple, from their genius partnership in 2016 with Nike to launch the Apple Watch Nike+ - a magical match made in tech and wellness heaven, to Taco Bell’s seemingly neverending creative collaborations, including their upcoming dessert innovation with Milk Bar - a sweet surprise that’s the first of its kind.
It’s common to want to keep all the inner workings and access that a company gains to themselves for fear that the competition will take those golden nuggets, run away, and leave you in the dust. That really isn’t the case in most instances, but rather a source of limitation. More often than not, when businesses are clear on their unique value, the idea of joining forces to reach a common goal (or audience) is not something to be feared but instead to inspire big, better, banana ideas.
Point-blank. Don’t you want to be introduced to a curated audience who trusts the opinions of the brand or person introducing them to you? Yes, you do. By aligning with the right collaborators, you are each saying to your audiences that you recommend each other. This is a good reminder to be thoughtful about who you partner with.
What is Partnership Marketing?
The term used may vary from collaboration to partnership to co-operative - no matter what you call it, businesses can benefit greatly from synergistic relationships with other businesses. When brands come together to do more, we see so much opportunity to grow exposure, solidify positioning, and create strong relationships within their industry.
Partnership marketing is a mutually beneficial marketing campaign between two or more brands. The key is to understand that while you may have your sights set on partnering with a much larger brand - consider what your brand can bring to the table to get close to equal footing. Check out more examples and ideas below.
What are the Benefits of Partnership Marketing?
Expand Your Reach
Provide Added Value to Your Audience
Support Brand Positioning
Get in Front of Consumers at the Ideal Buy Cycle Phase
5 Common Types of Partnership Marketing Tactics
Partnership marketing casts a wide net which may be part of what can be confusing to brands in terms of execution. The key is just to start, and as you move through each partnership, new ideas spark and can be built into your next one.
Giveaways
Often seen on social media, brands collaborate on a single giveaway where a single winner will win a prize from the participating brands. Each brand will typically be required to support and share the giveaway on their own channel, where then the other brands are exposed to each other’s audiences. Entrants to the giveaway are exposed to each brand and may be required to engage/follow each to gain entry into the giveaway.
Affiliate Marketing
A digital marketing activity where brands work with publishers (bloggers, other brands/businesses, media networks, agencies, etc.) to feature information/content about their offering. The publisher is typically compensated based on a percentage rate or small fee for every tracked sale by the brand. There may be other agreements set up such as credit for products/services by the brand or other forms of compensation.
Publishers may share information/content about the brand in various ways, including an email newsletter, social media posts, blog posts, digital ads - as long as they can include a unique trackable link to their audience. There are important rules and guidelines provided by the FTC regarding disclosing that the affiliate was paid or compensated in some way to share information or a recommendation about a brand.
Charitable Organizations & Sponsorships
Brands may seek out charitable organizations or causes to help align with their mission and core values. In addition, the brand may seek to gain exposure to an audience with shared ideals. Consumers are savvy, and it is important for a brand to choose charitable partners that are a natural fit and for the relationship to be based on authenticity and consistent, ongoing support.
Content
A collaborative approach to content may come in the form of co-creation of content for an article, blog post, infographic, video, podcast, newsletter, or long-form content such as a white paper or book. Both brands will work together to create a single piece of content that is shared with both audiences, which exposes each brand to its respective audience.
Joint Product
When two non-competitive brands share the same or a similar ideal audience, collaborating to launch a new product or service can boost newsworthiness, expand reach, and provide cost-sharing opportunities. This is where the Apple Watch Nike+ and Taco Bell x Milk Bar examples live. Just like how two brains are better than one, two creative teams can most certainly create unique magic together. Additionally, by sharing costs for large expenditures such as advertising, PR, event production, content production, etc, the brands may be sharing the spotlight and splitting the costs to do so.
The types and variations of partnership marketing tactics go far beyond the five listed above. Licensing, events, advertising, publicity, distribution, facility operations, product placement, and more are among the many creative ways that brands can work together to do more.
As you dig deeper into the types of partnership marketing that are best for your brand - begin outlining what your goals are and identify ideal non-competitive collaborators based on a shared audience and shared values. Before reaching out to a brand, determine what you can bring to the table and what your key objectives of the partnership are. These beginning steps will help immensely when it comes to approaching potential brands with your idea to collaborate.
Now get started with those big, better, banana ideas and make some partnership marketing magic.
Written by Arica Rosenthal