Enter Player 2
Your business is a great white shark, it’s the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs, it’s the Terminator. A true force to be reckoned with. What happens when this force meets an equal, pushing in the same direction? Albert Einstein would tell you that the net outcome is zero. However, when these forces combine, in the same way small waves combine to create an unstoppable tsunami, your business becomes unstoppable.
Disruptive Duos
The right partnership can be what elevates your business to the next level. For example, five years ago no one had heard of Uber Eats. Then the taxi firm struck a deal with food vendors that meant the restaurant industry could utilise the impressive number of vehicles and drivers in Uber’s arsenal. Now Uber Eats has a huge market share with Deliveroo and JustEat, they combine to dominate the food delivery market, causing disruption to the entire restaurant industry.
Client Cannibalism
With niche B2B marketing there’s a limited number of potential clients. With procured business being acquired from direct competition, a strategic partnership would eliminate the risk of losing said clients. Thus, giving businesses the chance to improve their product or service to extract a greater ROI, while having peace of mind that the valued clients will not be tempted away by a cheaper alternative.
Extended Knowledge
Companies with a beneficial partnership can share acquired knowledge. With a vast portfolio of experiences built up within a company, they know what works and what doesn’t work for their clients. Hark have had experience dealing with national retailers so would know what it takes to succeed; if another tech start-up wanted to build a partnership with Hark they could advise them on what a similar client would want and what their development goals look like.
Social Media Partnerships
Typically, marketing partnerships are either a casual endorsement of a product or service, or complete adoption of a company’s business operations. The introduction and subsequent popularity of social media for B2B marketing has created marketing alliances. These allow businesses to use each other’s following to gain increased credibility within their social circle. The simple act of retweeting or interacting on the platforms gives potential clients the idea that the business shares the same brand values.
This is a way for businesses to become soft partners and be seen to share the same space, an act whereby both parties benefit from quality exposure from each other’s audience. Take for example our client Imageco, a wide format print company, they retweet and comment on content from Vism, a software tool designed to streamline planning processes in the print industry. They both benefit from having interactions from the other parties’ followers.
Partners in Tech
Dell are well known in the industry for getting stuck into tech start-ups, they use it to diversify their portfolio as well as contributing to product output. Hark have a mutually complementary relationship with the tech giant, requiring huge amounts of hardware to complete their value proposition. To satisfy their massive demand they use Dell’s production line, as well as their logistics set up and research & development departments. On the scale that Hark are asked to compete, they need mass amounts of hardware to feed information to their platform. The benefits go both ways, Dell cannot produce the innovative energy monitoring solution that Hark has developed, but due to their partnership, they are now able to offer this unique solution to their customers alongside their hardware.
The benefits of this partnership are there for all to see, with the two companies collaborating on talks, events, joint exhibition stands and a plethora of content and PR. We are proud to work with such an amazing, innovative client such as Hark, they are currently mastering the art of forging alliances. The right partnership has helped facilitate this exponential growth.
As a company, we continuously introduce our clients to our existing network of companies to help them establish meaningful relationships. If you would like to find out more about building lasting partnerships and the Halston Network, then get in touch.