Paid marketing can sometimes feel like throwing money into a digital abyss – over and over.
Fortunately, targeted brand partnerships are a proven solution to break that expensive cycle.
Disco is a network for brands banding together to combat rising acquisition costs and profitably convert new customers. A crucial part of our solution is helping brands easily identify novel partnerships with other merchants to increase audience reach and drive high-intent traffic.
Our team sat down with founders, operators, and investors at Everlane, Storetasker, and Morning Brew to learn how their marketing teams optimize partnerships for maximum retention and profits.
We’ll cover must-have components of a successful brand partnership, as well as how Disco streamlines the search for brand partners with high-intent audience overlap. Let’s get started!
Common Traits of a Successful Brand Partnership
There is indeed a right way to approach brand partnerships, especially since there are so many pitfalls to avoid. You want a risk-free, scalable, high-ROI brand partner. But that’s a tall order.
Michael Preysman, Founder & Executive Chair at Everlane, learned a thing or two on the topic in 10+ years of growing the brand into the eCom giant it is today.
He highlights how difficult it is to navigate the competitive waters of digital commerce and thinks partnerships are a great move — but only when executed to perfection.
Based on his guidance, Everlane continues to prioritize two key principles on partnerships.
1. Potential for a Long-Term Relationship
The partnership growth channel in eCom is typically associated with shorter-term opportunities, such as co-branded giveaways, email swaps, or content collaborations.
In contrast, Michael advises prioritizing partnerships that will last forever while generating the greatest long-term ROI.
To build these types of long-term relationships, you’ll have to put in the time and research to ensure your audiences and ICPs overlap.
While a hastily co-branded giveaway on Instagram may yield a small bump in acquisitions, it doesn’t ensure the protection of brand equity and sustainable growth curves.
2. Do the Upfront Due Diligence
According to Michael, the more due diligence you perform upfront, the longer your partnership will stick — whether it’s with another brand, a tech vendor, or a creative acquisition channel.
As new brands and enablement tools continue to inundate the DTC space, due diligence efforts are critical to avoid wasted and costly partnership efforts.
For example, when it comes to tech partnerships at Everlane, Michael always touches base with his CTO, whose role entails constantly scoping out new tooling partners.
As Everlane continues to experiment with partnerships across the board to expand their customer base and target high-intent shoppers in new audience segments.