Why You Should Elevate Partnership Brand Marketing to the Strategic Level
Today's smart marketers are turning to various marketing tools to grow and drive their brands and businesses. In the busy world of brand marketing, using the strength of marketing alliances or marketing partnerships to get product into new channels and venues is an essential marketing element in generating incremental sales.
As corporate and brand budgets are constantly scrutinized, partnership brand marketing programs can grow your business and acquire new customers and users in all distribution channels.
The power of partnership brand marketing brings two companies and brands together—each with its own brand equity and its own distribution channel strength. Whether teaming a car manufacturer with a theme park to capture the family segment, pairing ketchup with home video or aligning toys with food, corporations are looking to create strategic alliances that tap areas in which they may not normally compete—providing incremental marketing exposure and ultimately gaining new customers.
Many organizations often place partnership marketing under the promotions banner within the marketing mix; as a result, it can become more promotions-based and limited. Partnership marketing programs, however, are much more strategic and expansive, and therefore, more than just promotions.
For partnership marketing to deliver its full potential, it should be elevated to a more strategic level. The key reason is that partnerships can involve all elements of the marketing mix and thus have an impact on a company's overall marketing message and platform, its advertising program, as well as product packaging and merchandising. Partnership marketing programs can also establish a base on which to create joint sales and distribution opportunities, broader in-store merchandising, more compelling point-of-sale displays and overall stronger value for the consumer.
To benefit from partnership marketing's full potential and reap all of its results and successes, it should be positioned at the top of a company's marketing mix, providing incremental value at all levels. Thus, partnership brand marketing can actually affect and contribute to all elements of the marketing mix, including product, price, place/distribution, and promotions.
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Gregory J. Pollack is founder and president of PBM Marketing Solutions (www.pbmmarketing.com), a partnership brand marketing company. He can be reached via gpollack@pbmmarketing.com.
