I can’t believe that this month we celebrate Rimu Marketing’s 3rd birthday. When I worked within the corporate world I would never have imagined that this amazing and powerful community of small businesses existed and I would be part of it. Every month I learn something new, every week I meet more inspirational business owners and every day I face a new exciting challenge. Over the last year I have been looking at my business and seeing how I could grow and without a doubt working in partnership along side some very talented colleagues has not only been the key to this but also very rewarding.
So what is partnership or sponsorship marketing? Simply it is the collaboration between two businesses to achieve a common goal. I worked extensively in this area of marketing within my corporate life so the approach seems really logical to me. I have had the pleasure of working along side some really talented creative designers, videographers and website designers over the last year in particular – without a doubt the power of team work is very strong. With sponsorship marketing global spend set to rise by 4.5% to $62.8 billion in 2017 it is definitely an area of marketing not to be overlooked. As always we can apply the learnings from larger brands to the small, local businesses. Not only is this approach to growing your business rewarding but it can also be cost effective, some things to think about when when working in partnership with someone:
- Brand Values: Choose another business with the similar brand values as you, this is important to ensure that you will be working in a similar way and towards common goals.
- Deliverables: Be clear, on the deliverables and the activity that you will collaborate on. If you are going to feature in each others newsletters then think about how and when this happens.
- Timing, this links into the above point, be clear on what will be delivered and when.
- Be open, if you have any concerns or worries then let your partner know early on, that way they can influence some change.
- Of course it depends upon the activity you are looking at but try to look at a partnership as long term to really be able to take the benefits of the collaborative approach
Partnerships and Sponsorships are all around us, CLICK HERE to read our last blog on the topic and to see some great local examples of how this could work. What partnerships have you worked in and how have they worked for you?
In celebration of our 3rd birthday and a great example of working in partnership with local businesses, I am delighted to launch our competition this year for a local charity to WIN a year of marketing support.
Good luck!
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