20 Business Partnership Trends To Lean Into For Marketing Success

20 Business Partnership Trends To Lean Into For Marketing Success

As the business world becomes increasingly interconnected, companies are finding opportunities to forge creative and strategic partnerships with other companies, nonprofit organizations, influencers and more. While these partnerships have the potential to gain viral attention, not every trend or approach is the right fit for all businesses.

To help, 20 members of Forbes Business Development Council discuss some of the most effective partnership trends and why they’re worth the effort. Their insights can help you find partnership opportunities that help you communicate your values, build meaningful relationships and reach new audiences.

1. Seek Out Sustainable Supply Chain Partners

An omnipresent emphasis on sustainability creates a unique opportunity for highlighting partnerships. Sustainably sourced materials often require a more complex supply chain, so highlighting their use can exemplify more purposeful commitments than carbon offsets. Leveraging supplier certifications can also bolster the independent accreditations of an organization’s products. – Daniel Root, Barco ClickShare

2. Find Companies Within Your Sector

When it comes to any partnership, do it with a company that complements your current product or service. The best partnerships come from two businesses that collaborated previously on a project, and it was a positive outcome. The consumer should hear about the first-hand experience. Partnerships that have no relevance to each other oftentimes do not come off as genuine. – Elias Diaz, Virtudesk

3. Build A Network For Collaboration

Try to build strategic ecosystems, and collaborate with complementary tech companies. By integrating services, you expand reach, enhance offerings and create a seamless experience for customers. Win-win! – Sidharth Ramsinghaney, TWILIO

4. Add Expert Voices

One of the leading partnership trends to lean into when it comes to marketing and branding is the use of experts in the industry. Partnerships are not just about the brand name but are about the expertise of key stakeholders who can dive deep into topics and ensure that you own the vertical or space. At this stage, businesses and consumers want to have the most relevant information. – Angeley Mullins, Resourcify

5. Emphasize Work With Minority-Owned Businesses

Your partnerships with small, woman, minority or veteran-owned businesses should be visible now. What was once a binary requirement in government RFPs is now showing up across commercial opportunities in all sectors, representing as much as 20 out of 100 points of proposal score weighting. Promote this aspect buyers are looking for as part of your brand. – Barry Reicherter, Finn Partners


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6. Choose The Right Audience

Pick your spots. Selecting the right markets in which to play with your partners is crucial to keeping your brand vibrant and avoiding tarnishing that brand. – Eric Hutto, Diversified

7. Partner With Mission-Aligned Nonprofits

Nonprofit partnerships continue to grow in prominence as a way to deepen brand equity and trust. Companies should collaborate with partners that share common values and goals. At our company, our partnerships with the National Park Foundation and Arbor Day Foundation align with our vision of shaping a healthier and safer world for everyone, everywhere, every day by protecting the environment. – Cory White, Stericycle

8. Look For Mutually Beneficial Opportunities

Create experiences for your customers that will be beneficial for both you and your partners. I believe this is the best way to promote your goods and services with some external help. Form bonds with brands that will help you offer something special to your end customers through joint events, exclusive opportunities and personalized content. – Dima Raketa, Reputation House

9. Support A Good Cause

I like cause-based partnerships. This allows you to partner with people who are very different from your brand. By aligning with a meaningful cause, you can tap into new audiences and create a positive brand image. It can also help you reach new markets while earning brownie points with your current market. – Bryce Welker, The CPA Exam Guy

10. Make It Easy For Partners To Work With You

Many companies are anxiously going after partners, especially those with a larger reach. However, it’s more about creating a seamless experience for the partner than anything else. Product market fit is important, of course, but if you are asking them to go outside of their sales process, you are asking too much. Your goal is to effortlessly enable them to create, manage and quote against demand. – Curtis Brinkerhoff, Impartner, Inc.

11. Tell A Compelling Story

Storytelling is powerful. Telling your brand story and how your business started is critical and allows you to tell your origin story which is captivating to your audience when told properly. Just be careful not to give them digital papercuts with a PowerPoint that’s too long, and make sure you plant a joke or two to spur engagement into the story. – David Strausser, Fonseca Advisers

12. Leverage Data To Find The Best Fit

Using a data-driven framework for partnership selection streamlines resources, promotes cost efficiencies and boosts profitability. It offers a standardized view of how a partner’s solution may solve a customer problem and generate revenue. It helps determine when a collaboration or formal partnership is best, knowing where the solution intersects the scale of profitability and customer needs. – Kristen Dolan, Influential

13. Build Partnerships Where Everyone Wins

When setting up the strategy goal with business partners, the discussion should be served under the universal agenda that covers shared value for mutual benefits. Win-lose or lose-win, lose-lose comes from the ambiguous compromise without accountability—not only with the internal trust building but also the transparent long-term relationship. – Gyehyon Andrea Jo, MVLASF

14. Surprise Your Audience

Unexpected partnerships are a powerful trend! Aligning with a brand that has shared values but is completely outside of your current industry is a great way to tap into a new customer base. Doing this consistently can exponentially increase a company’s brand awareness and sales. – Angelica Kopec, She Knows Business

15. Combine Services For Your Customers

Aligning on values, mission and vision with your partners is critical to building a joint marketing effort. Find partners who echo your ethos, complement your offerings and build your brand story. A key trend in this space is to go on joint pitches by providing end-to-end services to the client. For example, build on your partner’s product implementation skills by providing strong services on the back end. – Archana Rao, Innova Solutions

16. Prioritize Alignment Over Trendiness

Look for values alignment. Just because a potential partner is hot right now with your customer, it doesn’t mean that the brand is a good fit for partnership. Be sure to ensure their purpose, mission and what they stand for are in line with what your company is all about. If there’s something contrarian, that could impact your reputation and/or won’t create the added value you are looking for. – Daniella Foster, Bayer

17. Build Relationships With Influencers

Strategic partnerships are great ways to break through with new demographics. Whether it’s trending influencers like Alix Earle or companies like Stanley, consider influencer partnerships that broaden reach, offer viral potential and increase overall brand awareness and trust. Ensuring these partnerships feel authentic is essential for creating meaningful connections with consumers, especially Gen Z. – Michael Della Penna, InMarket

18. Connect With People Your Audience Knows

Establish a relationship with a partner that both enjoys a strong reputation among your current and potential customers and also strengthens your position. This could be by complementing your activities and services. Or, it could be by being an industry authority—a kind of quality mark—that confirms that if you work with them, you really are reliable and offer the highest level of service. – Anna Jankowska, RTB House

19. Consider The Best Fit For Your Company

This is not a one-size-fits-all answer and depends on your market and audience. This is where also lies the answer to your approach. Either through market research or trial and error, you need to find your own sweet spot model. Whatever it is—influencer marketing, direct or channel adopted or conference and tradeshow drive approach—find the medium that works for your culture, people and customer set. – Mustansir Paliwala, Zomara Group & EQUANS

20. Expand With Licensing Agreements

Collaborating with established and reputable brands through licensing allows both parties to take advantage of each’s brand equity to increase visibility at retail and gain consumer spending. The benefits of this partnership include deeper penetration of target markets, category expansion and access to expertise through joint marketing efforts like co-branded content and cross-promotional campaigns. – Amanda Cioletti, Informa Markets

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