How To Use Partnerships To Grow Your Own Business
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Annabel Jamieson shares her years of business-growth experience with us in this article about using partnerships to grow your business.
Looking to scale your business? Going it alone can be challenging. An easier solution is out there – finding strategic partners.
Finding a partnership for your business can have numerous positive implications. From faster growth and reduced spending to expanding your network and improving your brand credibility. There are a lot of upsides – but only if you pick the right partner.
In this article she looks at why strategic partnerships are the best shortcut to explosive growth, along with some top strategies for choosing the right partnership for your business.
Partnering for growth
Before I dive into how to pick a growth partner, let’s first understand why you want to be in the first palace. Here are only a few of the things you win when you build a new partnership.
Access to new customers
One of the biggest benefits of a partnership is the access to new customers you gain. You basically get an opportunity to freely advertise to your new partners customer base. You can quickly reach their clients and this can fuel explosive growth, especially for new businesses that do not have an established reputation. This exposure makes partnerships an incredibly effective marketing strategy, stretching your reach and broadening your audience.
Added value for previous customers
Another big win from a partnership is what it brings to your own current, loyal following. Partnerships bring the value of your partner to your current customers.
You show your current customers that you care about what you do and they also hear about you from new sources which instills your credibility and helps to build loyalty.
You’re itching to get started and want to build a partnership that will see your business explode. But you shouldn’t get into bed with the first partner that comes along. You need to be strategic and think through who your partner is and why. Here are three top tips for helping build a solid and mutually beneficial strategic partnership.
To build a successful partnership you need to know your market and who is positioned to help you grow in that market.
For example if you are a retail store, you will know that retail is undergoing immense change and e-commerce stores such as Amazon are eating up a bigger part of the market share every year.
You would then need to think carefully about how a partnership could help you grow. If you have brick and mortar locations you would want to find partners that can help you deliver an incredible customer experience that could not be delivered on-line.
This kind of partnership would generate a boost in customers as you would go above and beyond to meet their needs and provide not only a product but an experience.
Digital transformation is happening at a rapid pace in almost every industry. Partnerships can be a great way to help you keep up with the pace of change without being overwhelmed or unable to adapt to the new technologies you implement.
Whether you need a better system for analysing your customer data, want to start using data to help your outreach to more customers , or are trying to test new channels for your sales & marketing, there are numerous potential partners you can seek out that will specialise in the area you are looking for.
By forming a partnership with companies that specialise in technology, you save money, can focus on core business objectives, and still manage to keep up with the changes in technology in your industry.
It’s easy to get carried away and put a lot of expectations on a partnership. Both you and your partner are hoping to get a lot out of your newly formed agreement. However, not all strategic partnerships will go exactly how you want them
If your partnership does not end up going as planned, it is not the end of the world. At the very least it is a learning experience and you can take away from it insights that you can use when looking for your next growth partner.
Resist the urge to get emotional when things don’t work out. Avoid finger pointing and playing the blame game. This partnership might not work right now, but you never know what the future holds and you don’t want to end with a negative relationship which might have benefited you in the future.
A key factor of any successful partnership is openness. Being open to new ideas and creative avenues will help take your business down roads you may never have dreamed of. You can start thinking bigger and take each opportunity to figure out the value you bring to a partner, you’ll grow your company and enrich your work.
Strategic partnerships can be a way to get fast and explosive growth for your company. You gain access to new audiences and boost your credibility. But you need to be tactical in your choice of partners. Think about your ultimate goal, whether it’s improving customer experience, driving more sales or upgrading your systems , you need to find the right partner for your desired outcome.
Sharing knowledge
Annabel Jamieson is a digital marketing and tech strategist with over 25 years’ experience working in the digital environment driving business transformation and growth. She is currently a Co-founder and Director of two global businesses which specialise in content services. Here she tells us about content marketing.
