What is partner marketing?

There are normally many advantages for all companies involved in a partner marketing effort, including:

• Benefiting from each company's specific reach and audience

• Gaining the specific expertise of each company involved

• The pooling of resources from all companies involved

• The generation of more customer leads because of the combined effort

• It can often lead to an increase in sales for all companies involved

• It enhances the brand awareness of all companies involved in the effort

Partner marketing can come in several different forms, such as:

• Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing consists of companies partnering with affiliates, who then promote that company's products or services in a trade for a commission of the sales made from the effort. Affiliate marketing can also result in one of the companies earning a flat fee for the whole partnership or deal.

• Co-marketing

Co-marketing is a specific form of partner marketing that sees two or more companies coming together to co-create a product, service, or content and then also jointly promote that product or service to their respective consumer bases.

• Cross-promotion

Cross-promotion is a type of partner marketing that consists of all companies involved in the effort to promote one another's brands, products, services, or content through a variety of channels available to each company. Some channels that might be used include social media platforms, email marketing, and live or online events.

• Referral marketing

Referral marketing sees one or more companies involved in a partner marketing effort incentivizing their customer bases to refer new customers to a partner company in trade for a specific reward.