A great partnership marketing initiative starts with a fruitful partnership offer. And the main offer or benefit of the partnership must be for the consumers of the two brands that are associating. What is more, before being sealed, a collaboration must be thought of according to the value it adds to the market and, of course, the added value for the targeted consumers.
The offer can come off as a product launch campaign – such as joint product partnership – but it can also be a partnership discount or even an association for a humanitarian cause. It all depends on your brand, the partner you choose and what you both want to accomplish.
Successful associations: how to create a valuable partnership offer
When two brands decide to forge an alliance, there truly must be something special about that offer. The two partners should add significant value to the merged target audience and send a powerful message as well.
Before creating the offer you should consider analyzing the partner you’re about to align your goals with. They can’t be just any brand that has a large customer base. Mainly because you’re leveraging your marketing assets along with your customers’ trust and brand loyalty to the one you choose to partner up with.
To create a convincing partnership offer, there are several steps to take into consideration. Have a grasp at the full picture of who you’re trying to attract, understand their audience, analyze their product/service, and then make the offer.
3 tips on making an appealing partnership offer
- Solve a problem with your partnership offer
The whole idea of a partnership offer is to take the other’s brand weak point and turn it into an opportunity. Identify your marketing assets that could help a potential partner and seek to find the right marketing assets for your business growth as well.
For instance, you may have a local reach and a very loyal pool of customers but lack the technology to dig deeper. You may find a partner who wants to help you out with the technology your brand needs to have a meaningful impact on your audience in exchange for a shared customer base.
- For a compelling partnership offer set both mutual and individual goals
Nothing is as compelling in a partnership offer than the results you envision beforehand. But try to be honest with yourself. Besides forging a powerful alliance, you want your business to grow. So set mutual goals with your partner but focus on your set of individual goals as well.
- Create an opportunity that your potential partner can’t dismiss
Seize the opportunity with your partnership offer and make it so irresistible, that your potential partner can’t say no to. Maybe you have the know-how, and your potential partner has the means to implement it and if you combine forces, you’ll be able to create an impressive partnership. Pitch it to your potential business partner as if his business growth depends on this partnership offer.
The most important aspect when forging a successful partnership marketing initiative is to produce value to both brands’ customers. Let’s dive into some successful partnership offers and learn how they did it right!
LEGO AND IKEA
Aimed at two different audiences, the LEGO x IKEA partnership struck both parents and kids with the amazing collection of storage boxes with LEGO studs on the lids. As above mentioned, for a partnership offer to be appealing, it must solve a problem.
Well, LEGO and IKEA sensed this, and through the offer they tackled the barrier between children and adults by introducing a sense of playfulness to storage solutions that children and adults alike can enjoy together.
The collection is a range of play storage solutions that create more room for play in the everyday. Kids can build inside, outside, or around them to make them part of a bigger story, while parents can rest assured that their children will store the LEGO parts inside the boxes.
What to keep in mind when creating a partnership offer
- Analyze your partner’s business, understand their audience, analyze their product/service, and then make the partnership offer.
- Propose the partnership offer as a problem solver
- Transform weak points into opportunities
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