Of course, a marketing partnership takes time to develop and you need to find a committed partner who wants the best for you as well as his company. Read on to find out what exactly entails a marketing partnership, what a marketing partnership can't fix and some strategies to make a marketing partnership work.



What Exactly is a Marketing Partnership?

A marketing partnership is two (or more) professionals or two (or more) businesses that have similar prospects, common marketing needs and ideally, complementary products or services.

These people unite to combine marketing and sales tactics within a shared target market. Each business remains its own identity, and will continue to market and makes sales outside the partnership. The partnership is not two businesses merging together; it's two businesses helping one another and sharing marketing resources.

The partners can share:

• Color printing costs, so that they both can create and market professional, four-color brochures, flyers, and other marketing materials they otherwise couldn't afford

• Shipping costs of supplies that they both use

• Bulk discounts for marketing items they both use

• Sales calls

• Joint marketing materials, touting their complementary products or services

Partners can share any aspect of the marketing campaign they'd like. Partnerships work in every industry and can benefit any size company but work especially well for smaller companies or new companies who don't yet have the marketing budget to do the more expensive marketing they'd like to do.

As mentioned earlier, the businesses in the partnership can have complementary products or services that they bundle together in sales or marketing materials. An injury attorney and a doctor, for instance can bundle their services together and market to the same target audience without competition – an injured person needs to see a doctor as well as consult a lawyer. Offering a discount for both services will win more clients for both professionals.

A Marketing Partnership is Not a …

…quick fix. If you have sales problems or marketing problems, a partnership will oftentimes not be your answer for a quick fix. First of all, you'll have a hard time finding a partner that wants to help you out, unless you can help them, and if you're having sales problems, that's not likely the case. Also, if you have a problem on your own, it's likely something that your company isn't doing right, not something that you can rely on another entity to fix. Remember, partnerships take time to develop and time to work.

… contract. Many partnerships are informal agreements that boost both parties' bottom lines. They are two businesses combining efforts to meet prospects' needs that they couldn't otherwise do on their own. Partnerships should never be some kind of secret takeover of one company.

…free ride on your partner's abilities. Both businesses need to pitch in to market successfully. If one partner is doing more than the other, that partnership will not last long. You can't expect someone to offer to do all the work for you without getting something back in return.

How to Choose a Marketing Partner

Keep the following in mind when looking for a partner:

Choose a business with a good reputation. Whoever you partner with will impact your image, so make sure you find a business that the community and/or industry respects. More importantly, make sure you respect this business.

You'll need to show the potential benefits of the partnership. When you initiate a partnership, you'll need to convince businesses that the partnership will benefit them as well as you. Do some research and show them why the partnership will work and be profitable for both of you.

Be ready to do the majority of the work, at first. Whoever you partner with may be skeptical at first, so you'll need to keep yourself involved and committed and take initiative in the first few marketing projects. A great way to attract a partner quickly is to have some clients or customers already lined up, just waiting for the partnership to happen. Producing new clients right away will most likely be enough to entice even the most skeptical partner!

The benefits of a marketing partnership can enhance business for both parties involved and is also a great way to get connected in the industry. If you're ready to do the work to establish the partnership and keep it up, get out there and start scouting!

Kaye Z. Marks is an avid writer and follower of the developments in the color printing industry and how these improvements benefit small to medium scale businesses.