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Techniques and tactics in marketing are constantly changing. Additionally, as technology advances, so do the ways in which businesses advertise their products and services.
One of the fastest-growing marketing strategies is partnership marketing.
Partnership marketing is one of the most effective ways to grow your brand and boost sales.
But what does it entail?
And what can you gain from it?
Find out what you need to know about partnership marketing if you want to boost your brand's visibility and sales.
What is Partnership Marketing?
A partnership marketing campaign is a marketing campaign created by collaborating with another company.
They are mutually beneficial and help both parties reach their goals.
Primary Types of Partnership Marketing
A variety of partnership marketing techniques are available, and they all work differently. In the end, both partners should achieve results.
Affiliate marketing and distribution partnerships are some of the most effective methods.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a form of digital marketing that involves brands collaborating with publishers to promote products to the publishers' audiences. A publisher may be a website, a brand, or a blogger with an audience like the company's target audience.
Brands can access new customers if they work with publishers. Seventy-four percent of online customers in the U.S. check two or more affiliate sites before making a purchase. Affiliates even influence brick and mortar customers.
There are many types of affiliate marketing. Linking to a brand's website within content is a widespread practice among some brands. Other brands use banner ads, promotional pages, social media, or newsletters.
Making a purchase on the publisher's website or mobile app is a win-win for both parties. The company gets a new sale, and the publisher gets a percentage of that sale or a small fee for directing traffic to the company's site.
Reviews from trusted publishers remain one of the most effective marketing strategies. Publishers are even going one step further by creating images and videos to drive campaigns.
As we move into 2022, more brands are hiring affiliate marketing agencies to create and manage their campaigns.
By utilizing an extensive network of affiliates and publishers, agencies can better expose brands. Data is reported so their clients can focus on techniques that convert best.
They know the importance of finding the right publishers and affiliates. Finding the right publishers and affiliates is crucial to growing an affiliate campaign.
Distribution Partnership
Distribution partnerships operate differently.
This method allows one partner to bundle a partner's product or service with his or her own. They may choose to cross-market each other's products to their target customer base in some cases.
Distribution partnerships have excellent benefits for both partners and customers. If a customer has loyalty to brand A and sees that brand B is partnered with brand A, they are more likely to trust brand B.
There are a variety of ways to conduct a distribution partnership. Many brands do so with the use of in-store coupons, magazine coupons, email vouchers, mobile coupons, and QR codes.
Some of the other types of partnership marketing include:
Event sponsorship (to be recognized as an "official" sponsor of a large event, such as a sporting or charity event)
Partnering with charities (by exhibiting at charitable events, contributing to raffle prizes, and sponsoring events)
Placement of a product or logo in a TV or film production
Joint product partnerships (involving collaboration with a partner brand to develop a co-branded product)
Content marketing partnerships (to create co-branded content such as articles, whitepapers, sharing links, or collaborating on videos, webinars, or podcasts)
Licensed products (made by one company under the name of another company)
Benefits of Partnership Marketing
Partnership marketing offers many advantages over traditional marketing.
You have access to a large audience of potential customers when you market through affiliates or distribution partners. You can gain access to your prospects
by using partners with existing relationships. You may already be familiar with some of these customers. For others, this may be their first encounter with your brand.
In some cases, your partner will influence their purchase. They may simply expose your brand to a larger audience of potential customers. In either case, that exposure will increase brand awareness and impact future sales.
Partnership marketing is also minimal risk. You can ensure the alignment of your products with your target customer base for a small fee or commission that you pay to your partner.
Partnership marketing can also help you scale your sales. Choosing the right partners will help you increase sales, improve margins, and increase profitability.