Startup Guides > 7 Ways to Grow Your Business Through Marketing Partners

Want to know how to attract customers, increase sales, and grow your customer pipeline instantly by partnering strategically with other businesses? There are many mutual benefits that make the work required to build a strong marketing partnership worthwhile. There is the implied endorsement that goes along with it as well.

Strategy is the key to success. Many business professionals attend local networking events with the hope of finding others they can partner with in order to grow more quickly. Marketing partnerships may be short-lived or fizzle out quickly if not mutually beneficial in helping both businesses grow. Conversely, when an informal marketing partnership goes well, it can produce significant benefits for all of the organizations that participate.


Marketing partnerships will only be as good as the strategies and work that go into them. Here are the seven steps for success that actually get the job done...

1. Overlapping Audiences

Ideally, the customers and prospects of your marketing partners will overlap in some way with your own target markets and ideal buyer types.

2. Active Communication Channels

Look for marketing partners who are active and consistent in communicating with their customers and prospects through a variety of channels, including email, social media and other channels where your target markets are represented.

3. Web Traffic

Look for marketing partners who have content-rich websites and blogs, and be sure that exchanging website backlinks and guest blog posts is part of your strategy.

4. Displays and Demos

Exchanging lobby, sign, shelf or display space with your marketing partners can help expand your brand's reach and introduce your business to new customers. One other example of how this can work would be to partner with organizations that would let you come and demonstrate your products or services in their business.

5. Become Patrons

Since your customers will infer that you are endorsing the business of your marketing partners, it's probably a good idea to actually try their products or services yourself first. If you are going to recommend another business to your own customers, you want to be sure that they will treat your customers as well as you do!

6. Look for Logical Tie-Ins

Partner with organizations that would represent a natural next step for your own customers. One example of this would be a marketing partnership forged with a business that sells add-ons or accessories or provides maintenance or repair services for the types of products you sell. Finding companies that have a logical tie-in to yours also increases the likelihood that you will have similar preferred-buyer types and target audiences as well.

7. Offer Preferential Treatment

Give preferential treatment to customers that come to you by way of your marketing partnerships. Special offers and exclusive member benefits will go a long way.

If you're looking for a strategic marketing partner, sites like 40Billion.com can make this easy by broadcasting and promoting your business to its large network of several million professional users across the most popular social networking sites for businesses - including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and Facebook. Innovative services like tweet ads and promoted company listings were created for entrepreneurs and business owners to tap into a growing, active network online and make new connections.

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