The Power of Partnerships & Collaborations

In 2011 I launched my first business. I was 39, with three small kids. I’d always wanted to be an entrepreneur but worried I couldn’t match my corporate income. 

With mounting family financial obligations, I decided it was now or never so I dived in and launched Australia’s first group buying site which catered for mums and families.

I raised a bit of capital from local investors to get the business going but I wasn’t paying myself and really struggled to grow the member base. I reached out to another woman with an online parenting platform and asked if she’d run a joint competition where entrants signed up to both our websites. She came onboard, as did an even bigger market player.

I secured two Thermomixes as prizes and the competition kicked off. In 10 days I added over 7000 new members to my email list! The only cost was $50 in graphics and my time negotiating the prize sponsor. It would have cost $10K to achieve that result from paid advertising. I knew the value of selling my business was in the size of my community so to build it as such a low cost blew my mind.

I repeated that same partnership format with different businesses and in five years had a community of more than 150K mums. I never spent more than $300 a month on marketing, and in the last 18 months of owning the business spent nothing at all while building a powerful asset attractive to big brand advertisers.

Since then, partnerships have become my obsession. I’ve used them to position my business, drive my profits by reducing my operating expenses, position myself as a global expert, improve customer experience. Partnerships funded an editor for my first bestseller and have even helped dress me at international speaking events.

What I’ve known for over a decade is now being backed up by one of the world’s biggest analyst firms: partnership marketing is not just the fastest, lowest-cost way to grow a business, they are an integral part of any serious business’ DNA and future-proofing.

As advertising budgets shrank during the pandemic, partnerships flourished, according to Deloitte’s recent 2021 Marketing Trends report. Some were prompted by necessity – think Uber teaming up with Pet Barn to deliver pet food to vulnerable —because customer behaviour changed so fast.

In Australia, fast fashion business The Iconic and streaming platform Binge collaborated on ‘inactive wear’ for customers to watch TV in. Talk about catching a moment in time!

According to the Deloitte report, 80 per cent of its C-suite survey respondents who introduced new pandemic partnerships see them as critical to their future plans. As brands step up to the plate in creative ways heading into 2024, partnerships should be top of the list for any business owner.

Before we go any further, let’s clarify what a partnership is. Nothing scary! It’s when two or more parties come together for mutual gain. It can be called a JV or joint venture, a collaboration, collab, marketing partnership—I lump them all together under the word partnership.

There are three principles of a successful partnership. 1) Same audience but not in direct competition with each other 2) There is an equal exchange of value taking place 3) The parties share the same business ethics and values. This last one is often overlooked by many—often disastrously.

One thing I really notice is most small business owners see the value in partnerships and recognise how valuable they could be but are held back by three things. These might strike a chord with you if you’re keen to collaborate but have questions and see challenges.

1. They don’t know where to start

Many business owners are stumped when it comes to their first partnerships move. What should they ask for? How should they reach out? Overwhelmed, they continue to invest in other marketing activities. I love working with these people. By taking them through my partnership framework, they gain confidence in exactly how to identify, approach and negotiate with a potential marketing partner. Once they have this skill, they see their business in a whole new light. Opportunities abound.

2. They don’t know who to approach

The key is to partner with someone who has the same clients or audience but isn’t in direct competition. Think Doritos and Taco Bell. Uber and Spotify. Lego and Stranger Things. And always do your due diligence: your new partner has to share the same values as you. If they don’t, your own clients could be put off and desert you.

It’s a total misnomer that you should approach a business of similar size. When I launched my second business, I approached a big brand to collaborate with me. I didn’t know anybody at the company but did my research and knew what would be attractive to them. Without ever meeting them in person, we negotiated a deal that paid for more than half of my expenses related to producing and printing my first book.

Now more than ever big brands are looking for innovative, low-cost ways to grow their brands. Your business has never looked so good to a big brand. Be bold and aim high.

3. They aren’t sure what they can offer which will be valued and what to ask for in return

One of the biggest issues I see is small-business owners failing to understand how valuable they are. Because something comes easily to them, they discount its value to others. When this happens, marketing partnerships become grossly unbalanced. The business owner gives away huge amounts of value and gets very little in return when they could have received so much more.

Small-business owners should get clear about their value before making any approaches to a potential partner. Investing the time to unpack all your skills and expertise and understanding what’s important to a potential partner will go a long way in negotiating an equal exchange of value in partnership agreements.

All of this leads to inaction and it’s costing businesses dearly. Partnerships allow you to create bigger opportunities for your business. They provide effortless deal making.

I encourage every business or brand going in to 2024 to master this wonderful, replicable, successful marketing strategy and see their results rocket. For lots more resources, including my free masterclass, please head to www.partnershipmastery.global or reach out to me at katrina@katrinamccarter.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katrina McCarter is a business wingwoman and coach giving you clarity, confidence and commercial success. She is a best-selling author, international speaker and marketing maven who works with small business owners and entrepreneurs to accelerate their path to success. Connect with Katrina at katrina@katrinamccarter.com

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