So, you’ve launched your brand and you’re at least holding your own. The next step is to grow your business. But without a big advertising budget, how do you do that?
One way is to partner with another brand. With a brand partnership, you get exposure to your partner’s customer base, and vice-versa. It’s a win-win! Here, we’ll go through five different examples of brand partnerships, and how they changed both companies for the better.
ChatFuel and HubSpot
When ChatFuel and HubSpot partnered up, it seemed like a strange partnership. HubSpot was already an industry leader in online marketing, and seemingly needed no partnership. But they were looking for ways to offer more value to their customers.
They ultimately partnered with a small startup called ChatFuel to publish an eBook called The Beginner’s Guide to Building Your First Chatbot. The book was a hit, and the companies even had a web page with joint CTAs.
The reason this partnership worked so well for both companies is that their offerings are synergistic. HubSpot handles digital marketing, while ChatFuel handles chatbots. If you need one, you would probably benefit from the other.
Now, ChatFuel is a household name. They parlayed their explosive growth into a contract with Facebook, and are now among the leaders in their field.
Flipboard and Airbnb
Partnership marketing tactics can also work for smaller brands. For instance, hardly anyone had heard of social network aggregator Flipboard until they partnered with Airbnb. Flipboard generated custom, targeted content specifically for Airbnb customers.
This was effectively free marketing for Airbnb. For Flipboard, it led to a surge in traffic fueled by Airbnb users.
MoneyBox and Starling Bank
One area of steady growth in today’s technology market is financial technology. When people think of financial technology, they typically think of online banking, but one British bank, Starling Bank, wanted to offer a little something special to their customers.
They partnered with Moneybox, an app that rounds up people’s transactions and moves the difference into savings. Moneybox also offers other investment tools, above and beyond your average banking app.
Starling Bank was able to offer advanced online features to their customers, without spending millions developing their own investment and savings app. Moneybox got instant access to all of Starling Bank’s customers.
Uber and Spotify
In 2014, Uber partnered with Spotify to offer compatibility with the Uber app. Uber users could use the Uber app to import a Spotify playlist, which would be sent to the driver’s phone, and from there to the vehicle.
Uber was now able to offer their users custom music for their rides. Spotify, meanwhile, got exposed to anyone who used the Uber app.
Maybe partnering with Uber is beyond the reach of most small businesses, but you can just as easily get in your customers’ ears by getting booked on relevant podcasts.
Made.com and the World
Made.com allows their customers to choose which furniture designs get built. Independent designers upload their ideas, and Made.com customers vote on what gets made next. Winning designers get paid, the customers get what they want, and Made.com pays nothing for product design.
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