Why Partnership Marketing is a Growth Strategy Where Everyone Wins

by Kelsi Trinidad, Contributor

You’ve done it! You’ve managed to create a solid, organic customer base for your company. They’ve stayed with you through thick and thin, and you and your customer base have become the perfect pair. It’s worth a pat on the back. And yet, there’s still room for your brand to grow and reach a more diverse audience.

But how? If you’re stuck in a rut trying to expand your audience, the answer may be expanding your reach to audiences of other brands. Partnership marketing could be the solution that ticks all those boxes. It’s a great marketing investment that allows partnered brands to benefit. Everyone wins! Ta-da!

So partnership marketing can help grow my business?

Partnership marketing is a great strategy for customer acquisition. By allowing another brand to introduce your brand to their customer base, you’ll be able to tap into a new audience interested in your product. In addition to expanding your customer base, partnering with a reputable brand has its benefits in building brand identity.

Build brand identity, you say? Tell me more.

By partnering with brands that have the established interest of your customer base, you are building up your brand identity as one that’s on par with your partner’s. This can be especially beneficial if the brand that you are partnering with has a more established brand identity than you do. But don’t let the idea of mingling with a bigger fish intimidate you. Even if your business is a smaller fish, you have a lot to offer established brands who may be finding it hard to break into more niche audiences.

I’m in! How do I find the perfect brand to partner with?

Glad you asked! Finding the perfect business to pair with can be a tricky task, but it ultimately comes down to finding a business whose interests complement yours. The goal of partnership marketing is for both brands to fill the gaps in each others’ businesses by collaborating and sharing their audiences.

It's important to keep in mind that the brand you choose to partner with should have enough interest crossover to attract both customer bases, but not so much that you’ll be in direct competition. In other words, the business you partner with should be in the same category, but should not sell the same products. For example, if your company specializes in hiking backpacks, a good potential partner could be a company specializing in water bottles. This way, both customer bases are interested in hiking and the outdoors in general, but you won’t compete for business with your partner.

Finding that perfect brand to partner with is your first step in making a solid investment in the future growth of your business. Now, that’s worth much more than a pat on the back.