When it comes to social media, marketers like to S T R E T C H budgets. I get it. You need to prove ROI, and maybe you’re still not sure that social media can – or you’re adamant that social media cannot – bring in leads and drive revenue.

I’ve got news for you: it absolutely can – and does. And in this blog post you’ll learn how partner marketing can save money, extend your reach, and, yes, bring in leads and drive revenue.

Partner marketing has become a vital component of many businesses’ marketing strategies due to its ability to boost brand awareness, share resources, and impact on your bottom line. There are many partner marketing strategies from native software integrations to mobile partnerships and influencer tie-ins. One of the easiest for brands to implement is a social media partner tie-in promotion. It’s also the most popular: The largest percentage of partner marketing budget spend over the next 12 months will go to Social Media Presence (48%) followed by Demand Gen (46%) and Content Development (45%), according to the Foundry 2024 Partner Marketing Study.

Let’s take a closer look at how this strategy can transform your business.

In the fast-paced world of social media marketing, collaborating can expand your reach and help you achieve your goals faster, and more cost-effectively. Companies leveraging partner marketing report a 30% increase in brand reach and awareness. By teaming up, you can tap into each other’s audiences, share resources, and create a more engaging and impactful campaign that provides mutual benefits and generates impressive results.

Choosing the right partner is key to reaching a larger segment of your target audience, building credibility and trust, and strengthening your company’s reputation.

Here are the rules I follow.

1.      Great minds. Partnering with a like-minded, non-competitive business can help you reach a new demographic or a larger percentage of your target demographic. A plumbing company might partner with a professional carpet cleaning company, for example, because if a customer does have a plumbing emergency, they might also need their carpets steam cleaned. A lawn care company might partner with a gutter cleaning service or a power washing company. The idea is to find a partner that complements your own products or services.

2.     Do your homework. The most important consideration is the company’s values and culture. Partner with a company whose values and culture is like your own. You don’t have to be a perfect personality match, but you do want to partner with a company that puts the same value on customer care and experience that you do. When researching potential partnerships, take a look at their social media profiles to see how they respond to comments and reviews, take a look at what’s on the home page and the news section of their website to discover what’s most important to the brand right now.

3.     Get aligned. Newer, younger brands might align themselves with a well-established brand that has a reputation they want to be associated with. Years ago, I had a financial services client who wanted to promote their online banking services. Their audience was new to online banking and concerned about the safety and security of their accounts. To build trust with their audience, we partnered with a brand that at the time was well known for safety and security: Volvo Cars N.A. We created a cross-promotion with Volvo using Facebook and LinkedIn to invite our audience to enter to win a Volvo.

4.     Think local. Most communities and residents of communities are proud to support local businesses. Local businesses feel the same way. Work with a partner located in the same community you serve. Our plumbing company client is a local, family-owned small business, so partnering with other local, family-owned small business allows us to tap into other audiences that value and support small businesses and are loyal to their communities

5.     Know your audience. Brands that are launching a new product or service may be open to partnering with a business they might not otherwise consider. I was on a call recently with the One Thing Better community where Jason Feifer brought in Mario Armstrong to talk about sponsorships. He suggested focusing on your audience’s psychographics more than their demographics. That can help you uncover shared habits among both audiences. Years ago, the agency I worked for managed a sweepstakes for Sony, giving away hundreds of their new Playstation consoles. We partnered with Taco Bell. Why? Because Taco Bell’s audience loves fast food. They also love gaming. As Jason said in a recent LinkedIn post, “The best marketing opportunities have a kind of non-obvious logic. Go where others aren’t – because when you know something they don’t, you’ll be there first.”

6.     Understand What They Value. When you’re partnering with another company to offer a prize, consider not only the actual cost, but the perceived value of the prize. In 28 years of marketing, I’ve managed hundreds of tie-in promotions, and the perceived value of a prize is typically higher than the actual cost. But the opposite can also be true. Some services might have a high cost but to your target audience, may have a lower perceived value. In January, I began running a new social media giveaway, where the prize was a service valued at $350. Our audience wasn’t particularly excited about it, and our first weekly giveaway had very few entries. The following week, we partnered with another company to give away a small ($20) gift card in addition to the $350 prize. That’s when the entries came flooding in! We’ve had a winner each week since, earning a 73% increase in engagements and thousands in revenue.

7.     Make it hard to say no. If you’ve created a digital marketing campaign and want to bring in a partner, make it easy for them to say yes by doing all the work: handle all the logistics and ask them for permission to use their logo and to donate a prize. Make it easy for them to help you promote the campaign by providing the company with the artwork and social post copy they can publish as-is or tweak to best fit their brand voice.

Partner promotions not only introduce you to new audiences and build brand credibility and trust, but they also impact your bottom line not only by saving you budget, but by driving revenue growth, improving retention rates, and delivering an average ROI of 14:1. In fact, the majority (76%) of companies report that partner marketing significantly contributes to driving sales and revenue growth.

In the past three years, 70% of companies have expanded their partner marketing programs. Not only is it a popular strategy for Fortune 500 companies, but more than 60% of small and medium-sized businesses also plan to implement or expand their partnership programs within the next year. It’s easy to see why: This year, a social media partner campaign we are running for a fast-growing small business has already earned a 500% ROI.

Could your team use a hand creating partner promotions? Schedule time to chat here.