ClickZ Email Marketing Conference: Strategic Partnerships by Wayne
Messick
We've all seen examples of how successful strategic partnerships work,
leveraging the contacts and Subscriptions 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.
About the Author
Wayne Messick reports on how Main St. businesses can integrate technology to
succeed in the 21st Century on
http://www.ibizSubscriptions.com/blog/and his commentary for
business coaches and advisors at
http://www.wdm.net/blog
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