You may be wondering why partner marketing grows business and how. Partner marketing involves joining forces with another business, and together, running marketing campaigns and sharing resources. By taking advantage of the connections and skills of the other business, you’ll reach a wider audience and enhance your range of offerings.
Partner marketing has been used by major brands to spearhead some of the most successful marketing campaigns. Some famous examples of partners are:
- GoPro and Red Bull
- Apple and Starbucks
- Casper and West Elm
- Volvo and Lego Land theme park
How Does Partner Marketing Build Exposure?
Through partner marketing, a new audience (the customers of your partner) develop an awareness of your brand. This goes beyond pure visibility; the loyal customers of your partner will trust the endorsement of your brand, meaning people will need less nurturing than they otherwise would to become one of your customers.
Of course, simply becoming a partner does nothing to build exposure: you need to put in an effort to show customers that you are now connected. There’s no need for this to be anything complex. Running a joint marketing campaign, mentioning the partnership to current customers (over social media, on your website, or in store), or asking your partner to give their customers freebies or samples of your offerings are all effective methods.
How Partner Marketing Grows Business
Partner marketing cuts costs significantly. Whether your partner is paying for half the expenses in a campaign or providing you with an additional service to offer your clients, you will be saving a large amount of money. You can then use the amount you save to invest in other areas of your business and grow.
If you are using a partnership to increase the range of services you offer, your business will grow even faster. Current clients will be able to receive a more comprehensive selection of services, meaning they have no need to go elsewhere. This increases the likelihood that they pick you over a competitor.
How to Choose the Right Partner
There are risks to starting a partnership — which is why it is critical that you pick the right brand. For instance, if you choose poorly, you may have problems with:
- Disagreements about direction or message
- Sharing profits from joint campaigns
- Competing services
- Lack of exposure to your target audience
To avoid all these, you need to have a strategy in place to choose the right partner.
1. Find a Business That Compliments Yours
You never want to partner with a direct competitor. At the same time, it is important that your partner has a similar target audience. Find a business that offers services that complement your own.
2. Opt for a Partner With Similar Values
Likewise, the business you choose needs to share your values. If there are points where your goals clash, your audience will be confused about your message.
3. Focus on Business Size
You want to avoid partnering with brands that have a small audience. After all, one purpose of the partnership is to gain as many new customers as possible. The company you are considering should be able to show a large following on social media or a decent-sized mailing list.
4. Your Partner Must Have Marketing Knowledge
Your partner needs to have a good understanding of marketing. Otherwise, you’ll be doing all the work.
How to Get Connected With a Partner
Starting a partnership will differ slightly according to your partner. In some cases, the business may already have a process for connecting with partners. One such example of this is Boostability. To better understand how the process in such cases may span out, we can use Boostability as an example.
To become a partner with Boostability, all you need to do is fill out a simple form, giving your name, business name, contact details, and website. A representative from the client success team will respond to your request and provide you with all the information you need to finish setting up the partnership.
Once you are set up, you can start providing your clients with a personalized mix of services. Each of your clients will have their own marketing expert assigned to their account. These team members will manage all marketing tasks for you and be your go-to contact for the clients. The team members can even handle billing for you, if you choose.
You’ll receive access to the LaunchPad software system, which will provide you with access to marketing metrics in real time. You will also be able to white label the Boostability software and connect metrics through the open API platform. This will allow your clients to view information about their accounts (such as open tasks, fulfilled hours, and scheduled social media posts), as well as success scores like search engine ranking status.
Finally, you’ll receive a number of other tools to help your business grow and scale. These include sales collateral, channel support, and lead generation tools.
No business is too large nor too small to become a partner. If you want to grow your business in a scalable way, reach more customers, offer a wider variety of services to clients (while maintaining quality), and avoid clients leaving you for competitors who offer a more comprehensive package of services, you need to consider connecting with a marketing partner.
