Strategic partnerships are a great way for businesses to make the most of each other’s expertise and expand their offerings by creating a joint proposition that serves both of their customers’ needs. Armed with an exciting new offer and joint marketing campaign, both partners can broaden the other’s reach – tapping into new audiences and boosting awareness.
But working jointly across disparate teams can have its pitfalls, with projects at risk of being held up by complex sign-offs and overlapping processes. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. So, if you’re considering partner marketing, we’ve laid out the benefits and challenges it presents along with our top tips for making it a smooth process.
The benefits of partner marketing
By playing to both parties’ strengths, partner marketing can be a win-win for everyone involved. Working together effectively gives both parties access to a broader range of marketing expertise and skill sets, so you can create a stand-out marketing campaign that delivers results.
When two well regarded companies join forces they can also build on their credibility, while at the same time increasing brand awareness, attracting new customers and opening new markets. Shared marketing makes financial sense too, with the potential for larger budgets and better economies of scale.
The challenges of partner marketing
Before you embark on a partner marketing campaign, it’s important to be aware of the common pitfalls so you can avoid them. Working across teams with multiple stakeholders can lead to inefficiencies creeping in if people are unclear who is leading the project and what your end goal is. This can make projects take longer than necessary and exceed their allocated budgets.
It can also be tricky to strike the right balance in terms of whether both brands get equal promotion, or if one is more prominent. To tackle this, budgeting decisions, brand consistency and messaging all need to be carefully managed to ensure your campaign makes the right impact.
What you need for effective partner marketing
A sensible starting point for any partner marketing project is identifying a lead to guide you towards an outcome that you’re both happy with. Everyone needs to be clear on who this is and understand their role. The project lead is key to ensuring that clear goals are agreed from the outset and that a strategic promotional plan with well-defined timescales is in place.
The project lead is also responsible for ensuring effective, proactive communication between the two companies and is pivotal to fostering a positive working relationship. They can manage the sign-off process and coordinate cooperation between the parties involved. By ensuring key elements of the creative process, like joint branding and asset creation, are addressed they can make sure both businesses are aligned so you get the right outcome, first time round.
Using an agency to manage your partner marketing
Involving a third-party agency can make a world of difference to managing your partner marketing. At asabell, our partner marketing strategies are tried and tested, so we can anticipate any potential hold ups and run a smooth and successful campaign. We’ve worked with global organisations for 20 years and are skilled at managing multiple marketing departments and coordinating their efforts.
To find out more about how we can support your partner marketing, please contact us.
