Partnership marketing (or co-marketing, collaborative marketing) is a collaboration between a business and another business or individual. The collaboration is mutually beneficial in achieving goals, such as expanded reach by tapping into one another’s customer base, and enhanced customer insights by joining what each knows.
It leverages social media, paid advertising, and other advertising services to enhance brand visibility and drive mutual growth through strategic alliances. Sometimes, a business opts in to gain access. For example, CPG brands utilize retailers’ first-party customer data that is otherwise inaccessible. Other times, one could build credibility by being introduced by a third-party brand with a loyal following and, in turn, offer revenue shares.
There are numerous types, including affiliate, referral, and influencer campaigns, as well as co-branding, sponsorships, channel partners, and content collaborations. All should ultimately lead to revenue growth for both parties.
Today, we’re breaking it all down for you with a full review of the best agencies to work with for your co-marketing endeavor!
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2017
Location: New York City and fully remote with employees across the US
Number of Employees: 51 – 200
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Specialized in affiliate and performance advertising, PartnerCentric provides expert, strategic, data-driven, and proprietary tech-enabled services for every aspect of your campaign.
They create bespoke “speed to value” strategies to achieve real results and quickly address your unique challenges. In addition to a wide range of expert services, their patented technology platform, Control Suite, is an all-inclusive solution for optimizing affiliate campaigns and maximizing profitability using data and advanced analytics.
A fully woman-owned, WBE-certified, and the largest independent collaborative firm in the USA. They operate fully remotely, with team members across the US.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2011
Location: London, UK, with offices in Bulgaria, Thailand, Singapore, Egypt, and South Africa
Number of Employees: 201 – 500
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Brave Bison is an award-winning, full-service agency that offers comprehensive services, including affiliate and influencer services. Their expertise in these areas, combined with strong creative and even stronger data and analytics, makes Brave Bison an excellent option.
With hubs also in Europe, Africa, and Asia, they offer comprehensive services for everything from collaborative marketing campaigns to social media and paid marketing. Brave Bison has multi-regional experience and expertise as a global firm, which benefits anyone looking for a company to help them with cross-border programs. Brave Bison is also a tech-centered agency that combines the creative with the technical to provide modern digital marketing solutions that get results.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2019
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Number of Employees: 11 – 50
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Hamster Garage is a great choice if you’re looking for performance-focused experts who work with a wide range of companies, from traditional affiliates to social media influencers and podcasters.
It was established in 2019 by the experts behind Airbnb’s efforts. Despite being a relatively young agency, Hamster Garage has an exceptionally strong track record and a client list that includes the likes of Canva, Turo, Bloomscape, and Brex.
Hamster Garage is an excellent choice if you’re looking for an agency that can do it all for you, work seamlessly with your in-house team, or function as an extension of your business.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2009
Locations: Richmond, British Columbia
Number of employees: 11 – 50
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Founded in 2009, All Inclusive provides an all-inclusive digital experience, focusing on co-marketing and affiliates in particular. They have a good track record of achieving great results for their clients.
Their goal is to engage each client and team member individually through leadership, knowledge, open communication, and innovation in order to provide an excellent All Inclusive Digital experience that accelerates outcomes.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2013
Locations: Sheridan, Wyoming, USA
Number of employees: 11 – 50
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Monster Claw, established more than ten years ago, is a leading B2B agency that offers a comprehensive range of plans and services and has been recognized as one of the top agencies in the world.
They like helping businesses grow, and they know that a strong and reliable team is the foundation of any business.
Over the course of their ten-year journey, they have also grown into a full-service digital agency that offers everything you need to grow your business in one place.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2012
Locations: Park City, Utah, USA
Number of employees: 1 – 10
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Clique connects brands with each other and their customers through customized joint marketing efforts. They offer great affiliate services and can optimize existing programs as well.
They are a co-marketing company specializing in connecting lifestyle and passion brands with influential customers.
Furthermore, their diverse customer base includes large and small businesses operating in various markets. They know that forming relationships with endemic websites and influential people will result in the acquisition of loyal customers, and they’ve built their business model on it.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2013
Locations: Sydney, Australia
Number of employees: 11 – 50
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Splendid Group is a specialized B2B agency helping technology companies and brands grow with strategic co-marketing initiatives and customized programs.
They ensure technology companies and brands are better understood in an ever-changing and evolving world.
They thoroughly understand the subject and are laser-focused on combining cutting-edge technology with human insights to generate “creative accelerant” ideas.
As a result, leaders who choose to add Splendid to their team will always benefit greatly from the company’s global agility as well as their commercial innovation.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2017
Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Number of employees: 1 – 10
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NYMO.CO specializes in assisting D2C brands to grow their revenue by adding new customers, with a 4-5x ROI.
Furthermore, NYMO.CO, an affiliate consultancy focusing on relationships with a pay-for-performance approach, helps emerging brands grow. They have been in the field for years and work tirelessly to get the best results for their clients.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2005
Locations: Manchester and Preston, UK
Number of employees: 11 – 50
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Soap Media is an award-winning, market-leading firm with offices in Preston and Manchester. They combine innovation and strategic thinking, always putting their team first.
“Your Partner in Digital,” their company’s mission statement, pervades everything they do. It embodies its brand and produces exceptional results that embody this maxim. Since its inception in 2005, they have successfully expanded and improved its distinct omnichannel approach, collaborating with top companies across a wide range of industries.
AGENCY SNAPSHOT
Founded: 2006
Locations: Plymouth, UK; London, UK
Number of employees: 11 – 50
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Optimus Performance Marketing focuses on e-commerce businesses, aiming to generate growth and revenue. They have a solid track record and have achieved impressive results for their clients.
In 2006, they noticed a demand for competent, reasonably priced affiliate management services and, therefore, began as a profitable full-service digital marketing firm with offices in Plymouth and London. The incredible brands they work with now respect and trust them and have evolved and added new clients along the way by consistently producing results.
Different strategies are often involved, such as an influencer marketing campaign and an affiliate program that support each other. The services you need will depend on your unique business goals and how you’d like to collaborate.
That said, let’s take a look at the most common services:
This is a win-win strategy that involves working with a content creator, such as a blogger or an influencer, to advertise and promote your product or service to their audience.
By teaming up, business alliances boost their reach by promoting each other’s products or services to new audiences. These marketing collaborations open doors to untapped demographics that traditional marketing methods can’t access due to the unique appeal of each partner’s offerings.
Sponsorship is when a brand supports a third party for visibility. This can include events, athletes, musicians, content creators, or specific pieces of content like a popular YouTube video. It’s a key marketing strategy that often makes up a significant portion of a brand’s budget.
Furthermore, sponsorship is a powerful marketing channel that typically accounts for 11% to 18% of a brand’s total marketing budget.
This is when a brand’s product or service is promoted to its followers by an influencer or industry expert in exchange for a fee, free products, or perks. Furthermore, influencers benefit from creating content for brands because it becomes part of their channel’s content and provides value to their followers.
When a brand adds another brand’s products or services to its bundle, it is referred to as distribution partnership marketing. As a result, the brands gain access to each other’s distribution networks.
Like affiliate and loyalty marketing, it involves a brand partnering with individuals who will refer people to the brand in exchange for an incentive, reward, or commission. Furthermore, consumers consider word-of-mouth marketing to be 2 to 10 times more trustworthy than paid advertisements, making it an excellent tool.
Summary: What Services Does a Partner Marketing Agency Offer?
Partnership marketing is the perfect way to tap into a target demographic that you might otherwise miss out on. And what’s more, these strategic relationships help both your brand and your partner grow revenue, boost sales and increase brand awareness.
To pull it off, using a specialized agency is a perfect solution – saving you time and money to identify the businesses or individuals to collaborate with, figuring out terms and revenue share structure, managing marketing programs, etc.
If you’d like to learn more about partnership marketing and how it works before you choose an agency, check out our comprehensive Partnership Marketing Guide.
It is a company that helps your brand to find and collaborate with a company or person. This partnership could be an affiliate, someone willing to refer your brand, other brands in a different niche, or an influencer who has access to your target audience. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that leads to increased revenue for all. For example, credit card companies reward extra points for shopping in certain categories. Increased sales and, hence, credit card fees benefit both. There are traditionally many co-branding examples, including BMW & Louis Vuitton, Uber & Spotify, GoPro & Red Bull, and Apple & MasterCard. Retailers and CPG brands often co-market together, as you can see on commercials where a grocery store features top-selling brands of frozen meals and beverages. Affiliate is a type of co-marketing wherein affiliates promote the partner brand in exchange for revenue sharing. Partnership marketing include other formats such as co-branding, sponsorship, channel partner, etc.Frequently Asked Questions
What is a partner marketing agency?
What is the mission and strategy of co-marketing?
What are examples of Co-branding partnerships in business?
What is the difference between co-marketing and affiliate marketing
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