There is a large variety of business partnership classifications. For instance, two or more businesses may join forces on a temporary, promotional initiative, and they may become permanently associated with one another, or they could co-brand and begin to trade as one new business. Other types of partnership can include an individual making a financial investment within a company, or a more relaxed, promotional partnership, which is known as ‘business to business’ (B2B). These are just some of the different types of partnership ventures that brands embark on every single day.
Businesses joining forces for promotional purposes is becoming more and more common for many reasons. Apparently, 56% of directors state that collaborations with other businesses have had the largest impact on their company’s profits.
So, just how can a B2B partnership help a company grow?
Reputation
When partnering two businesses together, an important factor to consider is each company’s reputation. For example, it’s unlikely that businesses are going to want to partner with a company that’s recently had negative press. Likewise, if a company has good press and is well-known for being a strong, ethical brand, they are likely to be well sought-after. Partnering with the latter of these businesses is beneficial because they already have a solid reputation. Although this usually has to work on both sides to bring benefits to both parties.
Trustworthiness
In a similar respect to reputation, partnering with a company that is well-trusted amongst their own community and in the public eye can be advantageous. This is because people will have confidence in this company’s opinions/recommendations. For example, Tritility have recently announced a brand-new partnership with a like-minded energy company. With both companies having such a positive ethos and reputation, each of their audiences should feel equal trust in their partnership.
Shared Audience
Partnering with another like-minded brand is an intelligent way to expand your business. By working with a company whose audience is similar to your own, you’re essentially introducing your business to a whole new potential client base. That’s why your partnering company needs to be carefully selected depending on many important factors, including the audience.
Mutually Beneficial Campaigns
As with every partnership, there should be benefits for all parties involved. Campaigns can be carefully tailored to ensure that both the company’s needs are catered for. For example, one company might want to generate leads, whereas the other company might want to generate more social media traffic.
Therefore, they may run a joint competition, whereby the requirements are:
- Completing a short contact form
- Following one company on social media
This way, both brands are benefiting from the partnership.
Needless to say, you won’t want to partner your company with a direct competitor. When you plan on proposing a partnership, you want to ensure that your decision is carefully researched and deliberated. Sometimes, companies will partner simply because their brands align nicely and seem to complement each other. This is the ideal partnership, where you share a very similar audience type, but aren’t in competition. This is the type of partnership that should hopefully bring brands the most results.