For any new business or startup, a well-executed promotional partnership can be a great way to leverage good relationships to grow your audience effectively.
However, great partnerships take time and effort from both sides. Don’t be blinded by the excitement of a partner agreeing to promote you, and instead focus on the important steps that will make your partnership successful.
Know the Audience
Before you even begin working out the partnership’s details, it’s important to understand the audience and the reach your promotion will be provided.
If you’re in a newsletter, what is it circulation? If you’re being placed in an email, is the email dedicated or will you be sharing space? If your offer is being featured on their website, what kind of coverage will you be given as opposed to offers from other companies?
These types of questions will not only help you determine whether the partnership will be a worthwhile investment of your time, but it will also help you determine how best to reciprocate.
Ask what works best for them
Every successful business has figured out what works best when reaching out to their audience. Before even beginning to put materials together, ask for samples, image sizes, word count, and any other stipulations typically used by your partnering business.
This will create a turnkey process that will allow your materials to be plugged seamlessly into existing template. By doing this, your materials will be in line with what audiences typically see in their communications, and you’ll control your brand’s messaging by avoiding edits after you submit.
Track, track, track
Plain and simple: if you can’t track the business that comes from your partnership, you can’t track how effective that partnership was.
Too many new companies create one discount code, or one blanket offer for all community partners because they think it will streamline their marketing process, but it will only lead to confusion later when you try to determine which partnerships were successful.
Whether it’s separate discount codes or a required question asking customers how they were directed to your site, tracking the effectiveness of your promotional offers will help determine how to promote and discount in the future.
Reciprocate
Great partnerships aren’t just about what you can get, they’re about what you can give. Before you ask about what your partner can provide you, make sure to brainstorm a comprehensive list of ways you can reciprocate at a variety of levels.
In this way, you can guarantee that you have a matching offer ready to go for your audience on your partner’s behalf. This show of professionalism and planning will encourage partners to work with you again in the future—building your business, and growing your audience.
Conclusion
No matter where you are in the process of building your brand, partnerships with like minded companies can be a great way to grow your audience.
If you need help developing imagery, content, leads, or anything in between for your upcoming partnerships, begin chatting with Tara AI now for a full-stack team to get it done.
Pablo Pinto works as a product specialist at Tara AI. He has experience in startup-up operations, business development/sales, growth, and product building. Pablo considers himself a self-starter with an entrepreneurial spirit and a special interest in data analytics and digital marketing.