Partner Marketing Tips for Local Small Businesses
Are you a profitable, independently-owned small business in the Pacific Northwest struggling with brand awareness on a limited marketing budget? Partner marketing could be the answer. It’s an incredibly efficient way to generate brand awareness, build credibility and ultimately acquire (and keep) customers with little to no cash outlay. At Rinehart Marketing, it’s one of our go-to strategies for local small businesses who are (or who should be) networking and building relationships in their communities.
Understanding partner marketing: key definitions
Let’s begin by clarifying a few important terms.
Partner marketing
A strategy where you collaborate with other businesses that share your target audience and values in order to generate brand awareness and deepen customer relationships. Usually the focus is on building a partnership over the long term.
Joint marketing
A specific type of partner marketing where two businesses collaborate on a particular marketing campaign or initiative, sharing costs and responsibilities for the execution. These efforts typically have a shorter-term focus.
Influencer marketing
Another type of partner marketing that involves collaboration with individuals or business partners who have influence within your target market (e.g., they may sell a complementary or related product/service or have a following in your market). You equip and incentivize them to recommend you, helping you tap their audience for greater reach.
Partner program
A formalized process where you outline the collaboration opportunities, provide clear guidelines for participation and mutual commitments to promotion, with mechanisms in place for sign-up, onboarding, and tracking of ongoing success.
If you are a small business rooted in your local community, we strongly recommend integrating partner marketing into your overall marketing strategy. Then, depending on the nature of your business, you’ll want to decide if a formal partner program makes sense, or if staying with periodic joint marketing campaigns is a better fit for your goals.
Finding the right fit: criteria for effective partnerships
To get started, you’ll want to identify partners using these key characteristics and practical considerations. Let your audience personas inform your pursuit of partners by thinking about their demographics, psychographics, life stage, financial means and more.
Key characteristics of a good partner:
Overlapping target audience: Their customers align with yours.
Like-minded business: Similar values, culture, and vibe.
Open to collaboration: A demonstrated willingness to work together.
Active & engaged: Present on social media with a following, and active in the local community.
Established credibility: Positive reputation and demonstrated market success.
Practical considerations:
Existing relationship: You have a connection with the business owner already.
Solid local presence: Their business is visibly established in the community.
The “what” of partner marketing: collaborative strategies
Align marketing plans: Meet with partners to review each other’s annual marketing plans. Look for natural points of leverage and overlap, like seasonal promotions or specific events. For example, if you’re a spa, you could collaborate with a local farmer’s market to highlight summer’s skin-healthy foods. (See how we put this very collab together for our client.)
Create timely, relevant offers: Develop time-bound incentives and offers that appeal to both audiences. For example, you could offer a discount on a set of services exclusively for your partner’s members one month, and another month they could extend a deal to your customers on one of their products or services..
Craft compelling content & stories: Create content that educates, persuades, entertains and inspires, finding ways to tell a story about why your businesses make a great pair. Assume that you will take the lead on content creation and then route to your partner for review, since you’ve initiated the partnership. Think blog posts and social media content highlighting both businesses and their shared mission.
Ways to collaborate
Review this list of specific tactics to get the word out, agree on the right opportunities, map them to your calendars, and then execute:
Events: Participate in one another’s hosted events, and/or share a presence at a community event. Here’s how our client continues to rely on partner marketing to expand their reach at events.
PR: Issue joint press releases and share media contacts with one another, dividing press outreach efforts.
Social post collabs & giveaways: Cross-promote on social media to amplify reach. See how a small spa business increased brand awareness by partnering with a local fitness studio.
Guest blog articles: Write for each other’s blogs to share expertise or team up on an article and pitch it to a publication that works for both of you.
Exposure in emails: Feature each other in newsletters or email campaigns
Onsite materials: Have flyers, coupons, banners, and in-store TV graphics at each other’s locations to promote the partnership.
How to approach potential partners
Worried about how to approach your potential partners? We break it down with these simple steps:
Preparation: Identify your ideal partners, conduct some due diligence regarding their online presence and reputation, and confirm alignment with your audience and values. Have a short pitch ready to explain the benefits of partnering clearly. Tip: try out your pitch on another business owner you’ve got a solid relationship with (who may or may not be an ideal partner) and ask for feedback before doing it for real. It will ease the nerves.
Approach: Reach out with a personal touch - business owner to business owner. Don’t delegate this initial outreach to your marketing person. Be equipped with leave-behind or piece with talking points and a clear call-to-action for them to join. Give examples that demonstrate win-win & that you are thinking about ways to increase their business too - find a way to address a pain point (like slow days/times). Example: A local brewery could partner with a local climbing gym to offer discounts to its members during a slower weekday timeframe.
Follow-up: Create an easy way for the partner to join. Use a landing page with details & form to sign up. Include a QR code on the leave-behind for easy access to the page.
Streamlining the partnership process: securing the basics
Create a landing page with a form on it to easily collect this information from your partners:
Logos (our advice? ask for one-color, vector-format - EPS, square)
Elevator pitch (one sentence customer-facing messaging that says the who/what/why of the partner’s business)
Offers or incentives, complete with terms and conditions
Business owner info: name, cell phone, email
Key contact person for ongoing mktg: name, cell phone, email
Build out spreadsheet of your target partners with participation details to track progress
Partner marketing strategies for different local businesses
The best partner marketing approach can vary depending on the type of small business.
For Local Service & Retail Businesses:
Look for other local businesses with a similar target market and values, and make a connection. Discuss marketing plans, find mutually beneficial opportunities, and see if there are ways you can cross-promote.
Additional tips:
Vendors: Your existing vendors are natural candidates. They have a vested interest in your business being successful & will want to highlight how their products are being used by you.
Influencers: When pursuing influencers, consider doing service trades or barter arrangements rather than direct payment to save on cash outlay requirements. And keep in mind that you’re looking for folks with a local or regional influence or ‘micro influencers’, so this tactic should be within reach.
Retail space: If you have a retail space, consider stocking locally-sourced items from businesses with a strong local following.
Membership-based-businesses: Develop a partner program around offers from partner businesses available exclusively to members. Brainstorm ongoing offers (versus one-time offers) that create a natural reason to continue co-marketing efforts. See how one of our clients tapped the power of partnerships to launch their business.
For Professional Services Businesses:
Create a formal referral program to encourage other businesses to send clients your way, outlining all of the benefits and expectations, and equipping them with the right (sales) resources to make referring easy. Then add the info to your website, with the option of securing the sales resources in a private section requiring login.
Conclusion
Partner marketing is all about collaborating with like-minded businesses who share your target audience, and finding win-win marketing strategies that are organic, rather than purely paid. When it’s done right, both businesses will extend their reach, deepen customer relationships, and build a positive vibe in your community.
At Rinehart Marketing, we’re passionate about working with local small businesses in the Pacific Northwest to create partner programs in their communities! Ready to give partner marketing a try and want some expert guidance? Reach out today.
