Choosing the right marketing partnership

In the corporate world is common to receive partnership proposals for different properties and with this 5 Key Partnership Rules, managers could determine which ones are the most probable to be successful. There is a broad range of properties options such as: events, non-profit organizations, or community projects, all with different causes. This rules will help the corporate management team to determine to continue the relation with this property owners with creative partnerships or perhaps re-evaluate the proposal at another appropriate time, either what is more convenient for both parties.

Most corporations already have a budget for partnerships and is highly recommended that those alliances are targeted according to business philosophy and commitment with the community. However, a percent of the total budget goes to proposals received all throughout the year. For those proposals are the following Key Partnership Rules:

1. The Proposal is Complete

By complete, I mean that the following information is included:

• Full name of the event

• Date and Place on which the project will be held

• Owner and Presenter of the property

• Summary of the property

• Expected results and economic impact in the community

• Summary of the promotion plan, including target market

• Customized partnership option

• Expected investment from the partnership, and in a matter of a sponsor, donor or business partner.

• All other sources of income

• Complete person’s contact information

On those occasions when the information received is limited, potential partners have the option to communicate with the applicant so that they can provide within a certain time. However, if the relation does not have probabilities of being nurture, I would recommend making a determination with the information already provided.

2. The Proposal is received with time in advance:

Building a long-term business relation takes planning in order to increase its success. The appropriate period of establishing a partnership will depend on the impact of the project. This rule work as an indicator that a thorough project is carried out properly. It means that it will give time to both parties to customize the partnership, budget it, develop an experience for their publics and smoothly implement the efforts.

3. The concept of the property matches the brand:

The identity of the brand is regularly associated with different social causes such as: sports, arts, gastronomy, economic development, medical conditions, among others. For example; The Dove brand is associated with the self-esteem of women, therefore their advertising campaigns and the philanthropic causes they promote are focused on that audience. An event with its well-defined concept facilitates the integration of the strategic partners and, more importantly, can create an added value for both parties’ market.

4.Property’s market mirrors corporation’s stakeholders:

Nowadays corporations have the opportunity to create experiences so their publics can easily identify with them. Partnering with key property-holders complements other integrated marketing efforts, that altogether will result in great customers relations and loyalty. However, narrowing potential proposals is easy when the corporation has an accurate psychographic, behavioral and lifestyle profile of their market, to complement the demographic profile.

5. Ponder the value of the partnership:

Partnership proposals are regularly received with predetermined investment options, commonly called sponsorship categories. The value ​​of each of the categories will vary from property to property, even from year to year (if it is a recurrent project), and must include the description of the benefits. It will come in handy for the corporate management team to have a different analyzing tools like a return on investment (ROI) projection with details of the cash investment, activation costs and/or in-kind agreements. On the other hand the management team should know, how this sponsorship would support the achievement of the marketing-communications goals. The expected results could vary from associating the brand with a cause, to increasing the sales of a product.

Putting in practice this Key Partnership Rules will help maintain the corporate management team focus on developing great business relations with the community without negatively affecting the revenues of the company. In addition, it will generate time saving within the corporation and will help serve as a filter for property-owners who have options aligned with the corporation’s identity. The result of a thorough choice of properties will always complement the rest of the marketing-communications efforts.

About the author: Cristina Martínez is experienced in corporate social responsibility management, who specializes in partnership negotiations and communications strategies. To contact Cristina write to theprvenue@gmail.com

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