Afraid to be perceived by customers as the less valuable offer in a Marketing Partnership with a bigger partner brand? If you're not careful as a "little fish" when getting into a marketing partnership with a much "bigger fish", your perceived brand value can diminish.
The prospect of working with a heavyweight who is more visible and powerful can be quite exciting -- but at the same time poses loads of risk.
I'm not just speaking of the risks regarding how much or how little importance your partner brand gives to the Marketing Partnership ; I am speaking of the perception that the end users/customers of their websites will have for your products and services.
If your partner brand doesn't think you are all that important, it will reflect in how they market your proposition and the chances are high that their customers will regard your brand as not all that important either.
Man & Guard These 3 Checkpoints
As a result, you are best to avoid the "big fish-little fish" scenario and ensure you get Fair Market Value from your Marketing Partnerships and take certain things under your control before you launch.
Make sure that you receive a fair share of co-branded elements.
Don't discount your brand completely. Larger brands may like your offering and want to throw it in as a free 'value add' for their customers, yet you need to stand up for your brand and ensure that you are present in marketing vehicles and are not completely invisible.
In most cases your partner's brand stands out more than yourss, that is OK - especially if they are communicating the offer to their customers, but don't disappear altogether.
Placement in key marketing vehicles is crucial.
You may achieve a fair level of co-branding on the box that ends up at the end customers house, but be sure that you have placement on the website or in digital marketing vehicles as well .
Not every customers is going to redeem the offer so make sure you benefit through visibility and awareness, driving traffic back to your site too.
Who controls the message?
If you are not controlling the marketing messaging, make sure you get to approve it.
Wording can diminish your proposition and hold your brand back from creating the right impression. If you are promoting a premium service as a 'value add' to a partner offer, you need to be seen as a 'premium service'.
Include yourself in the messaging process; insist on seeing and approving everything before it goes live anywhere.
You might be the "little fish", but it's up to you to ensure that the little fish has big say as to how the Marketing Partnership is communicated to end users. It's up to you to get Fair Market Value from your Marketing Partnership.
