The Truth About Partnerships Marketing & 3 Tips for Getting Started

We hear the term partnerships marketing being thrown around all the time like it’s this bright and shiny new toy every brand is over the moon to play around with. But then the reality sets in and they realize – wait… what even is partnership marketing. It sounds so simple. Well obviously it’s forming relationships with partners and capitalizing on those to drive growth for my brand. I mean kinda. But that’s far from the full picture. 

Who your partners are and how they generate growth is important to figure out before you jump right in and start sending emails out to parnterships@bigmediapublisher.com. Today we’re gonna take a look at what partnership marketing really consists of and why it’s so attractive to brands and hopefully you learn a few new things along the way. 

There is infinite potential for strategic alliances to promote healthy and scalable growth for your brand, but it can be hard to know where to start. There are legitimately hundreds of thousands of potential partners out there so it’s understandable to be overwhelmed or confused. That’s where a CRM like Mosaic can come in to save the day. Mosaic gives access to 50K of the top performing affiliates across a dozen networks, making it easy to find relevant partners for your brand and have the performance data to back your recruitment decisions. 

At Mosaic we trust statistics and verified data more than we trust word of mouth, but there’s plenty of hard proof backing up the need for partnerships programs in the world of digital commerce. Over 80% of brands believe partnerships are essential for their overall marketing strategy while collaborative campaigns yield a staggering 43% increase in customer acquisition and 47% higher conversion rates compared to solo marketing efforts. So the hype is definitely justified, just make sure to check your sources. When it comes to partnership marketing here’s a few tips to keep in mind as you’re building out your program.

Tip 1: The Significance of Strategic Selection

People say to choose your friends wisely because you’re the sum of your closest 5 friends. The same could be said about choosing business partners. Your program will be the sum of the affiliates you choose to work with so their reputation and performance data matters if you want to see high returns. Even though it’s great to have a portfolio of thousands of affiliates, it’s way better to have a solid 10 really successful partnerships that you can optimize your relationship with than having 1,000 affiliates with half sitting idle, a third driving false traffic, and the remainder bringing in a handful of clicks that don’t convert. Use Mosaic’s data-driven partner profiling to identify relevant, like-minded affiliates who target a similar demographic to your audience. This strategy paves the way for more fruitful, enduring partnerships. On average brands using the Mosaic CRM to fully build out their performance marketing programs have an ROAS of 8.5 which far surpasses the returns on traditional marketing. Since you pay out based on conversions, partnership marketing can actually be extremely cost effective for brands of all sizes and stages of growth. 

Tip 2: Communication is Key

Clear and efficient communication is the linchpin of successful partnerships. It’s as simple as that and the data supports it. 85% of marketers believe open communication is the key to nurturing successful partnerships. Leverage automated communication tools, like CRMs, to maintain seamless communication channels with your partners. Real-time performance insights in analytics dashboards such as the reports in Mosaic provide feedback on how the partnership is performing to foster transparency, enabling both parties to navigate challenges, redirect efforts when necessary, and figure out new strategies to drive unparalleled results.

Tip 3: Partner Appreciation Drives Returns

The power of making your affiliates feel seen cannot be underestimated in the world of partnership marketing. Brands that acknowledge and celebrate their partners’ contributions experience a striking 78% increase in partner satisfaction. An appreciative environment increases partner engagement, enthusiasm, and overall drives up your campaigns performance. Recognize achievements within your affiliate program on a regular basis to foster a sense of loyalty and pride among your partners. Reward performance with incentives that keep your partners eager to promote your brand. Doing so will motivate them to go the extra mile and deliver outstanding results.

Following these tips will set you on a path to profitability leveraging a partnerships program but it’s going to take a lot of work and dedication from your team to get started. If you want the invaluable experience and insights available with a partnerships marketing CRM like Mosaic, we’re more than happy to set up a time to walk you through what growth means with our platform and how your team can start scaling your brand’s business by connecting with new partners now. If you’re ready to jump in and get started, reach out to a team member and find out what Mosaic can do for you today!