Business is hard, there is no getting around that, but it doesn’t have to be something you do on your own. Strategic partnerships are a fantastic way to expand your business in many unique ways that would not be open to those determined to go it alone.
There is an old saying that behind every great person, there is a significant other supporting them all the way through. The adage does not extend into the business world, but there is no reason why it shouldn’t.
Just like in life, in business, forming a strong, stable partnership that benefits both parties can be one of the most astute moves business owners can make. Here are four ways strategic partnerships can change your company for the better.
1. Create A Unique Identity
Offering a great product isn’t enough to guarantee a successful business anymore. People need to know you exist and, more importantly, people need a reason to choose you over the competition.
For example, take ride-sharing apps; they have been all the rage since Uber burst onto the scene in 2009. There have been many challengers to Uber’s title as the globe’s premier ride-sharing app. Still, the American company has held onto its throne by entering into strategic partnerships to ensure its offering remains more attractive than the competitors.
One such partnership involved a deal with Spotify, a bit strange on the surface given taxi services and the music industry don’t have much in common. However, the deal allowed Uber riders to use Spotify to pick and choose the music in the car while riding with Uber and proved to be a big hit with customers, significantly boosting both brands’ appeal.
2. Open Up To A New Customer Base
Finding the right strategic partner for your business can significantly impact your company in a very short space of time. This is because people tend to attach feelings they have for one company to another it has partnered with. This can result in an avalanche of new customers and goodwill upon the announcement of a new strategic partnership.
1xBet, which is usually found at the top of the list of IPL betting sites in the cricket world, also offers esports betting in addition to more traditional sports. In fact, it was voted as the Esports Operator of the Year in 2020 despite being a fairly new entrant into that sector. The company attributes this stellar accolade to two strategic partnerships it made with Ukrainian esports organizations Navi and Cascade Esports.
Not only did the partnership cement 1xBet’s position in the Esports industry, but it also opened the company up to a wide range of potential new customers who will already have a good opinion of 1xBet based on their support of either Navi or Cascade.
3. Expand Your Capacity
Partnerships aren’t only about sharing customers or creating a unique identity though; they can also be formed to spread the workload or share resources. It is, quite simply, impossible for one company to stock every single item any given consumer might want to buy.
Stock control can be one of the most tricky aspects of running a business, especially if the products are perishable. You don’t want to stock too much, or it will go to waste, but if you stock too little, you risk upsetting customers who want to buy the product and sending them to a competitor.
You just need to look at the strategic partnership between Pottery Barn and Sherwin-Williams, a paint and coating manufacturer, to see how beneficial it can be in this regard.
The companies banded together so that customers browsing the Pottery Barn website could coordinate the color of furniture pieces with Sherwin-Williams paints. It was a brilliant campaign that played very well with consumers.
4. Gain Access To New Markets
There are many benefits to successful strategic partnerships, but the last one on this list concerns how they can expose your brand and products to new markets you may not have even considered before.
It is common for people from all walks of life to become infatuated with a project the more it goes on. This can lead to a form of tunnel vision that keeps companies going down a familiar path. There is nothing wrong with this per se, as it is a great way to ensure things keep running smoothly, but it does also mean potential outside-of-the-box solutions can be missed.
Take the partnership between Ford and Eddie Bauer, for example, a strategic deal between a car manufacturer and a luggage company. There are many ways this could have worked; cars are used for travel, so is luggage, etc.
But they went about it a bit differently. Instead, select Ford models featured Eddie Bauer leather seats while the company’s luggage was produced with the Ford logo on it.
This created a vast amount of exposure for both companies in an area neither might have expected before, such as free advertising for Ford at the airport’s baggage claim if someone was using Eddie Bauer luggage.