Partnership marketing is a great way to find and engage new customers in your target audience.
Essentially, it’s about creating a mutually beneficial relationship between two brands. Typically, it will be between brands that share the same target audience and similar distribution channels. It allows brands to work together to drive brand awareness, broaden their reach and increase revenues.
Partnership inserts are branded collateral, packaged within a partner’s distribution. Say for example if you were a brand selling houseplant delivery subscriptions, your audience would be the same profile as a brand selling gourmet vegan meal subscriptions. A partnership could be agreed where your marketing communications were packaged in their meal delivery boxes, and vice versa their communications could appear in your plant delivery boxes.
If you’re not doing it, you’re missing a major channel in your marketing mix. We’ve put together our top 5 reasons why you should be doing partnership inserts.
1. It’s the most cost-effective way of getting your brand into the home.
Getting through the door – that’s the costliest part of any marketing campaign. In their home is where you need to be to grab their attention, and inserts offer a cheaper alternative to other methods. Distribution costs for door drops start at around £70 per thousand and postage costs around £220 per thousand. Partnership inserts however are typically around just £45 per thousand, they’re great value.
2. Perceived partner endorsement.
The audience for your insert is already buying from your insert partner, and by associating your brand with them, you can inherit that positive relationship. Effectively, a brand they like and trust is approving your brand, and so must therefore your brand must be credible, trustworthy and something they will be interested in. This is where finding the right partnership is essential, to make sure brands are aligned.
3. Guaranteed to get to the audience
Because your collateral is enclosed in a product dispatch that’s been ordered by the recipient, it will always be delivered and opened. In many cases the offers and added collateral are part of the value of the delivery to the customer. They actively want to see what discounts and product offers they have got with their delivery.
4. The right mood.
Captive eyeballs – that’s the holy grail for any marketer. And that’s exactly what partner inserts get you. People tend to order something they want or need to fix an issue they have and so when the parcel arrives, they’re excited, happy or relieved to get it. Opening it is a mini event, and your brand is a part of that. At the moment of interacting with your brand, they’re going to be in a positive frame of mind, and probably more likely to engage positively with your collateral than other channels.
5. They’re awesome for raising awareness and launching products
Because it’s a format that people are used to getting discounts through and seen as a common route to discover new brands and products, it’s ideal for introductory offers and getting people to try your products and services for the first time. When you combine this factor with the other points above, you can see why so many brands use it for awareness and launches.
Time to partner up?
The key to making the most of the partnership inserts is having the right host, and the right campaign. That’s where we can help. We take the time to understand your brand and your goals, and then plan, broker and execute the best partnership and campaign for you.
You can view our current partnership programmes here or get in touch to discuss a bespoke partnership.
