Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating relationships and raising a toast to love. But what if the thrill is gone after things have been just so-so for a long time? After all, lots of committed partners have to work hard to rekindle the original magic.
The same is true with your partner marketing: perhaps your efforts have paid off over the years, but now the bloom is off the rose. Maybe the old programs continue to get results, continue to drive volume, but they’re not bringing in the sort of high-value customers you’re hoping for. There are too many coupons, deals and loyalty points, but not enough out-of-the-box promotional ideas. Or you want to be more engaged, but there aren’t enough hours in the day to give each partner the attention they deserve.
So how do you get the spark back into your long-term relationships? How do you recreate that old partner passion? Here are some love-boosting tips:
1. Offer incentives for partners to do their best and stay loyal
The old relationship rules don’t apply to today’s partnerships. Want your significant others to do their best and stay loyal? Make sure you offer the right incentives that get them revved up. Perhaps you need to offer one partner a higher rate for purchases by new customers, for example, and a second one a lower default rate with bonus payouts for high order values. The right platform reporting puts these decisions into practice quickly and easily, so it’s a win-win for both sides of the partnership.
2. Build your relationship on trust and collaboration
Successful, long-lasting relationships are built on trust and collaboration, not doubt and power plays that include ordering your partners around. That means your partnership program should revolve around clear understanding on both sides about the terms and conditions of the relationship, from fair payments to simple metrics. That way, all types of partners — from affiliates to influencers to B2B partnerships — will feel like they are an integral part of a transparent process that leads to sweet success.
3. Get creative to keep things fresh
Sometimes you need to try something out-of-the-box to keep your relationships feeling fresh. That’s why getting creative with your partnership program is so powerful. The right flexibility in working with your partners is key: with the right management tools, you can handle non-traditional partnerships — such as athletes, social influencers, nonprofits and travel aggregators, as well as other brands — just as easily and seamlessly as traditional affiliates.
4. Get to know your partners deeply
Want a mature relationship with your partners? A good way to develop and grow together is if you deeply understand them. That means consistently gathering the right data about traffic and conversion rates, purchase behavior and customer value. That way, you’ll be able to leverage the best information to glean insights that drive great decision-making. You can share that information with your partners so you both can see how much long-term value they provide.
5. Tend and nurture your partnerships with the right technology
You don’t need to send flowers or chocolate, but there’s no point in recruiting partners if you don’t engage with them or optimize the connection. However, you’ll have trouble scaling those efforts manually. The right technology platform can help you go to the next level of love by managing and automating your partner relationships: You can send triggered messages once partners hit certain milestones, for example (such as making their first sale or hitting quarterly numbers) and personalize communication depending on your partner’s strengths and your business goals.
Remember, Valentine’s Day is all about connecting with the one you love. Want all the feels when it comes to your partnerships? No need to share sweet nothings or go out to a fancy dinner. Instead, use a simplified, scalable, efficient, and effective platform and tools that take your partner relationships from good to great.
