We've all seen examples of how successful strategic partnerships work, leveraging
the contacts and resources of every partner, for the benefit of all by generating
business and defeating competitors that would have been impossible alone.
A successful strategic partnership is the best illustration of the expression, "all
boats rise together on a rising tide" - so what's the problem? What do you have
to lose when considering s strategic partnership?
I met the owners of five small printing companies recently. Each had known the others
for years, they are part of the same metropolitan area business community, yet when
they began considering a strategic partnership - they took months to iron out the
details. Why?
Because they envisioned using email to each other's house lists (loyal customers
and qualified prospects) as the process to jump start the process and they wanted
to be absolutely sure how they were being represented before doing so.
They had seen strategic partnerships created to undertake a joint email marketing
campaign. They had been on the receiving end of jointly sponsored mailings. What
one such group found out too late - when you hit the "send" key, everything you
have ever worked for is in play. You are instantly identified with the other partners.
Your reputation, your brand it instantly at stake.
The elements of an email marketing strategy are many. Each element is a matter for
discussion with your strategic partners. You want the look/feel, the message, everything
- to represent your brand. You want the piece to be representative of you and your
company.
But those are just the details. Unless the people you are partnering with are people
you trust with your hard won customers, unless you're convinced they'll represent
themselves and the strategic partnership in a way that you will be proud of - you're
better off, much better off going it alone.
Your brand is critical to your continued success. Email is immediate - what you've
spent a lifetime creating can be jeopardized in seconds, literally.
I know that many of you have been involved in strategic partnerships, selling 'short-line'
products and services that support you core offerings. You've been developing your
business with them. You are already mailing your lists offering their products.
In the context of an email marketing strategic partnership - you're putting that
program on steroids. Who will manage the list and the mailing? Will your valued
customers receive your email, as well as emails from each partner - bombarding them
and confusing them instead of exciting them with the opportunity?
There are lots of issues, message design, content creation, the opt-in process,
list segmentation, etc.
There are few business opportunities more potentially profitable for everyone than
successful strategic partnerships. When you add email to the equation those benefits
can be measured instantly and with proper list management and post mailing follow
up - a successful strategic partnership will keep on giving for a very long time.
Remember those printing companies? Each owner was between 55 and 63. Each was facing
the decisions around succession or exit, or growth by adding to their physical plant
and their debt and the corresponding increase in fixed overhead, or see their profitability
eroded by their aggressive and larger competitors.
Each of the five firms were well respected in a different area of printing. One
had invested a lot of money in wide format printers and was very well known for
its digital printing. Another offered custom services for consumers - wedding invitations
etc. And so forth.
Once the idea occurred to them, each saw that as a group their combined services
would allow them to compete successfully against anybody. Each had spent decades
becoming well known and well respected in their niche. If they could package all
five of their specialities together they'd be bigger and better than anyone in their
marketing areas.
So, they created a new name, business cards and stationary (that was easy) and collectively
began the process of cross training their respective sales people. Now they each
have five times as many sales people - at no additional fixed cost!
Now, when anyone is bidding a job they are bidding it for the group. If it's something
their company does, they do it. If it's for one of the others they collaborate on
the elements so the process from proposal to delivery is seamless.
They spent months putting it all together. When it came time to do their email marking
they already trusted each other, they knew how they would handle the leads and the
ownership of their current and the resulting merged email list.
The work they had done to insure their success was evident when the launched their
email marketing campaign. 100% of the costs of setting up the partnership were recouped
in 24 hours following their first emailing.
The number one comment people made was, "We didn't know you did that too" Careful
planning and positioning made all the difference.
That's why it's so critical that you get it right.
