Comarketing with Partners

In a highly competitive environment, partnership marketing is one of several strategies that companies can adopt to build stronger customer relationships and, ultimately, increase profits. Many of today's biggest players have grown, in part, by building these kinds of relationships from the early stages of their corporate development.

Simply following the trend does not necessarily deliver the desired results because the dynamics of the relationships can undermine the effectiveness of the communications. Also, the expected benefits of collaboration can be diluted by poorly-executed marketing campaigns. The success or failure of partnership marketing is dependent upon a range of factors, not least the corporate personalities involved and the dynamics of the resulting relationships.

In some industries, conventions dictate that manufacturers who supply components keep a low profile in the marketing campaigns of their partners and fail to publicize their contribution to a product's success. The campaign "Intel inside" by the computer chip manufacturer demonstrates what can be achieved by a company that ignores the convention.

In many cases, a partnership agreement may stipulate that the supplier does not promote the relationship. However if a more aggressive manufacturer wanted to expand its position through communications, this could create tension between the two parties. It is important therefore to settle on a mutually-agreeable communications policy.

It is easy for suppliers who work with better-known partners to hide behind the strong market position of the dominant sales partner. However, it is more important in the long term for each party to develop its own brand. Failure to do so means that parties cannot differentiate themselves from their competitors, so they try to compensate by aligning themselves with one or more of the leading vendors. This can result in the dominant partner exploiting the situation by negotiating agreements with a number of different suppliers. If any supplier loses favor, it risks losing significant business and may find it hard to replace the business with a weak brand.

Although partners should have strong individual brands, it is essential that any partnership communications deliver a single message agreed by all the partners, rather than pulling in multiple directions in response to their individual business and marketing needs. Unfortunately, when two or more organizations are involved, it is harder to find the common ground that should underscore such a proposition. By trying to satisfy each partner's agenda, the message becomes overcomplicated, and it is harder for the audience to understand and respond to it.

Partner communications can also be weakened by "feature fighting," a situation in which each of the partners insists on including the same number of product or service features, or product images. Although this kind of "solution" might keep the different company's product managers happy, it will rarely appeal to the target audience. It reflects the political wrangling by the partners, rather than effective decision-making by a communications department with overall control. The two elements (creative design and a single-minded proposition on the one hand and campaigning within budget on the other) need to be integrated, not treated separately.

When marketing partners have an effective relationship and can agree on the best single-minded proposition, they multiply their potential for increased sales to a factor that far exceeds what they could achieve individually. Marketing partners must find a way to reconcile their differences before projects can move forward. Creating a joint taskforce of key personnel from each partner company is a natural starting point for collaborations of this kind. However, partners need to recognize that the individuals involved will probably feel the pressure of working simultaneously on both the project and on their own job—with the partnership tasks most likely to be neglected if resources cannot be wholly dedicated to them.

To help alleviate the time pressures and encourage "buy-in," the partners should consider employing a skilled and experienced external marketing agency to complement the joint taskforce. Acting as ambassadors of the comarketing effort, the agency should also manage the personalities and priorities of the marketing departments involved, as well as the pooled budget. Working in this way, the agency can cement the diverse elements into a cohesive whole that really does make the collaboration work.

An external agency can act as the final arbiter and "voice of reason." Moreover, the agency can champion the needs of the target audience and ensure that campaign communications are based upon a resounding creative proposition. Be sure to employ the services of a marketing agency with consultative approach to program development. Ensure the agency has a track record in deploying campaigns with multipartner stakeholders.

Agencies may find it difficult to reconcile multiple objectives. It is important to create the right balance between encouraging democratic decision-making and bringing objectivity to the project. The agency must ensure that the message is centered on the target market's needs, rather than reflecting the partners' internal politics. Poor comarketing communications are not usually due to a lack of budget, but rather a failure by the partners to change their internal behaviors or agree upon the message. Finding an agency with the right expertise can help the partners circumvent their own internal processes, and offer them the quickest route to finding the right kind of compromises—those that take into account the creative proposition and do not reduce its impact in the execution of the communication.

Effective partnership marketing can make budgets work harder and increase sales when partners work together to provide solutions that meet customers' needs. This probably means cooperative product and service development and cooperative marketing, since these kinds of partnerships can deliver an impressive return on investment. Make sure you have a solid understanding of the emotional, commercial, and functional drivers of your combined prospect. Just because you have recognized a gap in the market does not mean you automatically appeal to the market in the gap. But whatever the arrangement, the parties involved must work hard to assess and address the dynamics of the relationship, making changes if there is an imbalance likely to have a negative impact.

As part of this effort, the partners also have to promote their relationship internally to ensure the full cooperation of the staff assigned to the project. Do not underestimate the task and investment required for internal communications. Make sure you engage with the combined salesforce, adequately addressing their concerns. Also, present a clear vision of success to all operational marketing, allowing them to understand the importance of nonstandard requests, for example, billing arrangements and product marketing requests.

Partner organizations who take these factors into account are more likely to make their budgets go further, succeed in their attempts to strengthen customer relationships, and generate more revenue as a result.

If partners cannot find a suitable proposition, they may settle instead for a compromise solution that is not compelling. The result could turn into a "mixed message" in which each partner's brand images and messages are used indiscriminately across the communications. Although individual brand image is important, it is unlikely to have as much emotional appeal with the intended audience as a fully-developed joint creative proposition.

It is important for the partners to present a joint picture in their communications. In many cases, each party "competes" for space, trying to get its own message across or dominate the visual elements with its own identity.

A collaborative campaign should deliver benefits for all parties. It is important to agree at the outset how the campaign should be measured and how the partners will benefit. If, for example, the campaign is designed to find new prospects in the marketplace, which party will handle inquiries and who will manage any subsequent orders?

Rackham, Neil, and Lawrence Friedman, and Richard Ruff, Getting Partnering Right: How Market Leaders Are Creating Long-term Competitive Advantage. McGraw-Hill, 1995.

Huxham, Chris, and Siv Vangen, Managing to Collaborate: The Theory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. Routledge, 2005.

Partnership Marketing Agency: www.partnershipmarketing.com