You have a Partnership, but do you have ECP?

If your business has Marketing Partners, then ask yourself; Do we have ECP? In personal relationship terms, ECP is the Emotional Connection to another Person. In the world of Partnership Marketing, I like to refer to ECP as the Economic Contract to your Partner.

The terms Emotional or Economic represent the currency that ties us together. How are we helping each other and what makes it rewarding? The Connection or Contract is the tie that binds us and without the 'C', there is no basis for the Partnership, making it volatile and putting it at risk of becoming dormant. The 'P' which stands for the Person or Partner represents the individual or organization that we are working with. Without a great Partner, how great can your Partner Marketing Program become?

Marketing Partnerships are based on Needs that bring companies together in order to satisfy them in the best and most effective possible way. You need products, services, channels, core competencies, technology, strategy and a business model to make it all work, but if you have all that and don't have any ECP, I wish you luck, because you will be needing it.

Should I Partner with a Competitor?

The great Walt Disney once said "I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn't know how to get along without it" which brings me to a question that one of my leading clients asked of me the other day; Should I Partner with a Competitor?

Great question...Yet, like anything asked within the Marketing domain, the answers are complex and unique to each type of situation. For some Executives, such a strategy is one of desperation and the idea of working alongside a competitor is just bad for business. Partnering with the competition? Are you kidding me? Well, I kid you not...there are some instances where it can actually add value to your business. At the end of the day, even the world's largest brands have their shortcomings and are limited to their core competencies, so if you are targeting the same audience as your competitors are, yet hold different market strengths, perhaps a Partnership opportunity is there.

Here is an example:

Borders - Amazon Online Store

Amazon sells books and so does Borders, yet Amazon are experts at selling online and Borders are experts at selling out of a storefront. Given that both brands target the same customers, yet are only great at selling to them via their core sales channel, why not consider working together to offer customers who buy in store an online option? Naturally, there are times when Borders customers (as loyal as they are) do not want to head out to a book store and would rather order their books on the Internet, right?

By partnering with Amazon, Borders can now promote that option to their customers without having to invest in their own online e-commerce platform and infrastructure. They can leave it to Amazon, because they already do a great job of selling online and Borders can benefit from a revenue-sharing relationship that ultimately, keeps their customers loyal, longer.

Sometimes, we are only great at one way of selling a product and can partner with another brand that is great at selling that same product another way. Why re-invent the wheel?

Here is a thought....Think back to the year 2000 for a moment. Did you ever think that you would see the day when a company like Borders would be partnered with the likes of an Amazon? I certainly would have never imagined such a thing. I guess the learning here is that we should all consider the concept of Partnering, even if it's with a competitor.

Yahoo! OneSearch Partners with Telefonica

Yahoo! One Search will now be available to all Telefonica Mobile customers across Europe, including O2 customers in the UK. Interesting stuff, but will this revenue sharing partnership prove it's worth? Search is the number two application on the Internet because we use web search more than anything else on the Internet except for email, but will this be the case when it comes to mobile? I guess it remains to be seen....You can read more here:

Telefonica goes Yahoo! around world