In partnership with monday.com
As of 2020, 74% of companies say partnerships and affiliate marketing campaigns are a high or very high priority for their businesses. This proves that building brand partnerships is a vital part of business success. But first – how does a brand partnership work?
How does a brand partnership work?
Brand partnerships are essentially joint marketing strategies which benefit both parties. Both businesses will agree to work together and create an exciting co-marketing plan which meets their mutual goals. This can be to increase sales, brand awareness, credibility, or even positive public perception.
Do brand partnerships cost money?
It definitely helps to have some kind of marketing allowance behind you before heading into a partnership opportunity.
Having said that, you don’t need a million-dollar budget to carry out a successful brand partnership. It is possible to build a relationship with no financial compensation involved whatsoever. (For example, some brands are happy to exchange their own products in return for a joint collaboration.) You don’t have to have a huge budget to make a huge impact.
What makes a successful brand partnership?
Marketing partnerships can have numerous benefits, especially when it comes to growth and exposure. There is a definite process for building brand partnerships from start to finish. Luckily for you, we’ve put together a list of tips to help you along the way.
Narrow and focus your outreach
As you’re attempting to find the right brands to collaborate with, it can be tempting to batch-send hundreds of emails at a time. While it may work for some people, we’ve found that keeping the outreach process narrowed and focussed is much more beneficial. Research potential brand partners carefully and only reach out to those that truly align with your values. You’ll have a much higher chance of securing a partnership!
At Girls in Marketing, we love to use monday.com for tracking and managing our outreach processes. We have an entire workspace dedicated for partnerships and sponsorships. It’s absolutely incredible, and helps to keep everything in one place!
The workspace contains separate boards for different partnership projects. We love utilising the status updates feature in order to manage our partnership initiatives. (Plus, who doesn’t love a colourful label?!) We tag each item along the way so the team can stay easily updated with everything that’s going on.
We also use our monday.com account to create our outreach lists, so we know which brands to contact and follow up with. It is completely customisable so you can add dates, links and even assign team members to reach out to particular brands. Honestly, monday.com is the ultimate haven for project management and team collaboration.
Clear goals and expectations
From building brand awareness to selling more products or services, there is always a different goal for every partnership; so it’s important to establish yours before heading into the partnership. Ask yourself the following questions:
How can this brand help us to achieve our goals?
What do we specifically gain from this partnership?
Is there room for this partnership to continue beyond the initial project?
Make sure you state your goals and expectations right from the get-go to avoid any surprises or complications further down the line.
Always keep momentum
The key to running a successful partnership is being able to work incredibly quickly. From signing agreements to conjuring content ideas, everything has to be done within a short timeframe to ensure there is still momentum.
One of the worst things in the world is leaving a potential partner hanging on tenterhooks. While you might not want to pester them with too many emails, it’s much better to keep the ball rolling. As soon as you create distance between yourself and the partner, things can begin to fizzle out fast.
Constant transparency
Building brand partnerships is about having constant transparency and an open line of communication.
The great thing about monday.com is that you can create sharable boards which allow anyone on the internet to view your team projects. We tend to send our partners a sharable link so they are kept in the loop with any updates or changes. This accessible feature removes the need for email updates and extra meetings, as everything can be managed in one place.
It’s worth keeping in mind that things don’t have to be completely smooth-sailing in order for a brand to want to work with you again. Brand partnerships require authenticity, openness and trust above anything else. Providing you present those qualities throughout your time together, you’ll have the foundations of a really successful partnership.
If you love the sound of monday.com for helping you track partnerships, projects or campaigns, you can sign up to our extended 30 day free trial.
