In order to properly explain affiliate marketing, cast your minds back to Chaffey…If you haven’t heard of him, then keep reading. Chaffey et al. (2009) created six digital marketing channels that he believed important for a business to base its marketing strategy on. These being; Search marketing, Online PR, Interactive ads, Opt-in e-mail, viral marketing and Online partnerships. Online partnerships is what we are going to be focusing on at the moment.

So what does an online partnership mean?… As explained by Kunitzky (2009), a partnership means ‘A smart collaboration of two or more organizations with the intent to develop a mid-term or long-term marketing programme designed to meet each of their respective business goals’. Basically meaning that two business can come together, in order to help each other with their marketing strategies. Ever heard of the saying two heads are better than one? Well it applies here. Mohr & Spekman (1994) imply that ‘trust’ and ‘joint planning’ is needed, in order to grow a successful strategic partnership between two businesses.

  1. Find a local company that would complement your own business

 

Now this may seem quite obvious but for some perhaps not. For example, if you are a local swimming pool, you may want to join up your marketing or promotion with the local sportswear shop. If you know that users are going to swim, this means they will need swimwear and vice versa. Atom Content Marketing (2016) supports this by implying that you can find these by thinking ‘what service is the next along from yours that is a natural add on?’ Once you have found that, you can link together carefully and think of a really current and interesting marketing strategy that is going to benefit the both of you.

 

  1. Trust can be moved from one local business to another

By this, we mean that if you pair up with a business, that has perhaps lots of different customers than you do… then the customer may be persuaded to try you out because a business they believe in and trust is associated with them. It is like becoming friends with someone, through a friend. You love your friend and they introduce you to a friend they love and then you end up liking this said friend. Lane (2013) explains this concept as ‘piggybacking’ and means that you can develop many new customer relationships.

  1. Both businesses have something they can get out of the partnership

When you create a partnership between two local businesses, both companies have got something to gain from it. Whether it is increased sales, or increased awareness, or many different improvements, joining together can mean that you are a stronger unit. As Lane (2013) calls it “partnerships are win-win situations”, therefore meaning that both companies can strive forward.

Partnerships can go wrong

Now it is not all plain sailing…if you pick the wrong company to partner with, there can be a risk that you both don’t have similar goals. This can therefore mean that your marketing campaign doesn’t benefit both of you. And this is where the problems arise. Furthermore, if you both don’t put as much effort in as required, there could be squabbles amongst both companies.

Final few points

So now you know what a partnership can do and how it can help local businesses, the next step forward is to think what kind of business your business can partner with…and let the amazing creations commence. Just be wary of who you are going into business with, as there are definite risks to it.

 

References

Atom Content Marketing (2016) Marketing partnerships that every small business should build [Online] <http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/your-marketing-plan/marketing-partnerships-that-every-small-business-should-build> [accessed 13 April 2016]

 

Chaffey et al. (2009) Internet Marketing: Strategy, Implementation and Practice. England: Pearson.

Kunitzky, R. (2009) ‘What is Partnership Marketing?’ Search Engine People, 29th October 2009 [Online] <http://www.searchenginepeople.com/blog/what-is-partnership-marketing.html> [accessed 13 April 2016]

 

Lane, B. (2013) ‘Partnerships: The Benefits of Working With Promotional Partners’ Cision, 17th October 2013 [Online] <http://www.cision.com/us/2013/10/partnerships-the-benefits-of-working-with-promotional-partners/> [accessed 13 April 2016]

 

Mohr, J., & Spekman, R. (1994) Characteristics of partnership success: partnership attributes, communication behavior, and conflict resolution techniques. Strategic management journal, Vol.15, No.2, pp135-152