Partner marketing is all about value exchange. Even relatively small companies can connect with other brands to forge meaningful collaborations that create buzz and expand their reach.
Read on to learn how your business, regardless of age or size, can harness the power of partner marketing, drive growth, and increase brand awareness.
What is partner marketing?
Partner marketing—sometimes called partnership marketing—is when two or more entities work together to achieve their business goals. This marketing strategy requires a value exchange: One organization offers something of value to another and gets something of value in return. Thus, partner marketing often entails promoting each other’s products or services to an overlapping target audience.
Companies, individuals like influencers, or even nonprofits can form partnerships to boost brand awareness through joint marketing campaigns. Partner marketing relies on a variety of tactics, from co-branded products and sponsored events to affiliate programs and cross-promotional campaigns, all aimed at creating value for the partners and their customers.
How partner marketing can benefit your business
When you join forces with a partner and combine your creative energy, it can yield the following benefits:
Expand your reach
Partner marketing is a powerful way to amplify your message beyond your usual circles. By tapping into your partner’s reach—social media following, customer base, and email list—you’re instantly expanding your potential audience.
Collaborations can also catch the eye of journalists and industry insiders, making your joint marketing efforts newsworthy and potentially scoring media coverage for both parties involved.
Pool your collective resources
When you form marketing partnerships, you’re not just combining audiences—you’re also joining forces with your partner’s expertise, past experiences, and distribution channels. This collaboration can stretch your marketing budget further than you might achieve alone. For instance, you might gain access to your partner’s physical store locations, opening up new avenues for promotion.
Build credibility and trust
The right business partnership can quickly earn brand trust. A co-sign from a prominent Instagram influencer can rapidly build trust with their devoted followers. A co-branded product release with a larger, established brand can lend you their prestige, instantly elevating your market position. These kinds of successful partnerships do more than just expand your reach—they validate your brand in the eyes of new customers.
Types of partner marketing
- Affiliate marketing
- Brand ambassadors
- Loyalty program partnerships
- Influencer marketing
- Joint ventures
- Co-branding
- Licensing
- Distribution partnerships
- Event sponsorship
- Non-profit partnerships
Partner marketing comes in many different configurations. Here are the main types:
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing involves partnering with individuals or companies who promote your products for a commission on the sales they generate. The value exchange in this type of partnership is clear: Your brand accesses the affiliate’s audience and receives an implied endorsement, and the affiliate earns income.
Affiliate partnerships are both simple and low-risk—it’s easy to track sales through unique affiliate web links, and you pay only when a sale is made, making it an attractive option for businesses looking to expand their reach without a hefty upfront investment. This model is particularly effective for retail, which generated 44% of all affiliate marketing revenue.
For example, beauty and skin care brand Glossier operates an affiliate program called Generation Glossier through the Shopify Collabs platform. The program allows approved affiliates to earn sales commissions by promoting Glossier products using unique discount codes and links.
Brand ambassadors
Brand ambassadors embody your brand’s values and actively promote your products or services over an extended period. This strategy is especially effective for lifestyle brands or those targeting specific communities.
The cosmetics company ColourPop created its ambassador program to reward content creators for posting about their products on social media. The program offers tiered rewards such as gift cards for members who create a specified number of posts featuring ColourPop products within a month. This lets the brand access user-generated content while fostering a community of engaged fans.
Loyalty program partnerships
Loyalty programs can involve partnerships between companies to offer enhanced benefits to their shared customer base. This strategy works well for businesses in related but non-competing sectors.
For instance, a kitchenware retailer might partner with a gourmet food-delivery service for a loyalty program. It may let customers earn discounts on meal kits when they buy cookware, appealing to its shared foodie customer base. Walmart and Burger King’s recent partnership, which provides Walmart+ members with a dining benefit, is an example of this increasingly popular model.
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing partnerships are collaborations with social media personalities who have a significant following in your target market. This model is similar to affiliate marketing, in that brands pay to access an individual’s audience, but it differs in that a commission is not paid on sales. Rather, brands usually pay a flat fee for the influencer to create content about their brand and share it on their channels.
This approach is particularly effective for brands in fashion, beauty, travel or other areas that depend on appealing visuals. The key benefit is the potential for a high return on investment through access to a highly engaged audience.
Gymshark, a leading fitness apparel brand, partners with influencer Whitney Simmons, appointing her as the creative director of its Adapt collection. This successful partnership leverages Whitney’s huge following across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Gymshark gets to tap into her engaged audience of fitness enthusiasts and present its products through her authentic content and personal style.
Joint ventures
In a joint venture partnership, two or more companies join forces to create a new product or service, sharing both the risks and rewards. This type of collaboration often is particularly powerful for businesses entering new markets, focusing on specific markets, or developing unique offerings.
For example, a legacy shoe brand might partner with a company making plant-based leather to create a new line of loafers made with alternative leather. A partnership like this would help both tap into the growing market for sustainable fashion.
Co-branding
Co-branding involves two established brands collaborating to create a unique product or campaign leveraging both their identities. This strategy works well for companies with complementary products or similar target audiences.
Consider this example: Alyse Borkan and Sam Georges started their stylish minifridge brand, Rocco, in 2023. They quickly embraced co-branding partnerships as part of their go-to-market strategy. Less than a year after launch, Rocco partnered with Wölffer Estate Vineyard to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its iconic “Summer in a Bottle” rosé. The collaboration included stocking its limited-edition pink fridge with six bottles of rosé, garnering attention for both brands.
Licensing
Companies that enter licensing partnerships can use another’s brand, logo, or characters in products. This approach is useful for up-and-coming brands looking to boost their visibility and appeal by drawing on the strong brand recognition and cultural cachet of beloved properties or characters.
Teddy Fresh, a streetwear fashion brand founded by YouTube power couple Hila and Ethan Klein, has made a name for itself through clever licensing collaborations. The company regularly partners with iconic properties like Care Bears, Teletubbies, and SpongeBob SquarePants, creating unique, nostalgia-driven collections that often garner press coverage from influential sites like Hypebeast.
Distribution partnerships
In distribution partnerships, a company uses another company’s established channels to reach new markets. This can be a powerful strategy for brands looking to expand geographically or into new retail environments.
Bite, a brand that produces eco-friendly personal hygiene products like toothpaste tablets, built a distribution partnership deal with Erewhon, a high-end grocery chain in California. This partnership introduced Bite’s sustainable products to Erewhon’s health-conscious, affluent customer base, aligning with both brands’ commitment to offering innovative alternatives to everyday items.
Event sponsorship
Event sponsorship involves supporting an event—financially or through other means—in exchange for brand exposure. This approach is helpful for companies looking to connect with specific communities or demographics. An outdoor gear retailer could sponsor a local trail-running event to reach active, nature-loving consumers and show off its products in action.
Non-profit partnerships
For-profit companies can partner with nonprofit organizations as part of corporate social responsibility initiatives. These partnerships can improve a company’s reputation and appeal to socially conscious consumers—and they can also do tangible good around the world.
Poppy Barley, a certified B Corp footwear and accessories company, demonstrates its commitment to social responsibility through The Future Fund. As part of a $100,000, three-year pledge, the company partnered with charities like KidSport and Junior Achievement. Donations are made to these organizations to empower young people through sports and financial literacy programs.
Strategies for effective partner marketing
- Seek brand value alignment
- Iron out terms and expectations
- Develop integrated marketing plans
- Establish a feedback loop
A few key rules can help things go smoothly once you’ve decided on the kind of partnership you want. Here’s what to consider as you embark on your partner marketing initiatives:
Seek brand value alignment
Before contacting potential partners, take stock of your brand values to ensure you find the right fit. Brand alignment ensures that both companies appeal to consumers with similar priorities. For example, if you’re an accessories brand that values environmental sustainability, partnering with a fast-fashion brand for a joint venture might backfire. To avoid these missteps, vet potential partners using social listening tools, industry networking, and customer surveys to gauge public perception and brand sentiment.
Iron out terms and expectations
After reaching an informal partnership agreement, make the terms of the collaboration explicit. Work with legal counsel to iron out a detailed contract that prevents misunderstandings, disputes, and potential fallout. Include these elements in your contract to set up your partnership for mutual success:
- Revenue sharing. Clearly define how profit will be split between parties.
- Budget allocation. Outline who’s responsible for what costs in the marketing partnership.
- Timeline. Establish concrete dates for key milestones and the overall duration of the collaboration.
- Deliverables. Divide your partner marketing activities, specifying exactly what each party is expected to produce or provide.
- Brand guidelines. Set rules for how each brand’s assets can be used in joint marketing materials.
- Exit clauses. Define conditions under which either party can terminate the partnership if needed.
Develop integrated marketing plans
When crafting your joint marketing strategies, develop integrated plans that blend both brands’ strengths and marketing channels. Start by mapping out how to create a cohesive campaign for the various channels you plan to use.
For instance, if you’re working with an influencer, you might state that the collaboration includes a 10-minute YouTube video and a 30-second Instagram Reel—both of which should be similar in content and style. For distribution deals, you might specify whether the partnership covers stores nationwide or just in particular cities and decide how online and offline promotions will work together.
Careful planning ensures both brands make the most of their strengths, crafting a consistent story whether customers encounter it on social media, in stores, or through other channels.
Establish a feedback loop
Set up a weekly cadence for updates and brainstorming sessions to keep the collaboration on track. This continuing dialogue helps you gauge whether the partnership is working and worth expanding, or if it might be time to go your separate ways. The feedback gathered can improve your partnership and serve as a valuable template for future collaborations.
Partner marketing FAQ
What is an example of partner marketing?
An example of partner marketing is the collaboration between fitness influencer Whitney Simmons and athletic wear brand Gymshark, where Simmons promotes Gymshark products to her vast following while also co-designing exclusive collections.
What is the difference between partner marketing and product marketing?
While product marketing focuses on promoting a specific item or service to potential customers, partner marketing involves two or more brands working together to reach shared goals, often combining their strengths and audiences.
What is the difference between partner marketing and affiliate marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a subset of partner marketing, where individuals or companies promote another brand’s products for a commission on sales. Partner marketing includes a broader range of collaborative efforts, including event sponsorship and co-branding campaigns.
