Collaboration and partner marketing go together like peanut butter and jelly, Hall and Oates or beer and baseball. And when you start listing the benefits of co-creating content with your marketing partners, the list is long. Partnering lets you leverage each other’s strengths AND expand your reach. It also helps you make content that resonates with a broader audience.
Who doesn’t like all that?
There’s a caveat, though. Successful content collaboration does require a few things: careful planning, clear communication and a unified approach, to name three. Below, we’re exploring best practices for co-creating content with marketing partners.
Let’s go!
Why collaboration is essential when working with marketing partners
When marketing partners work together, they bring together all the good things — different perspectives, experiences, and expertise — which all lead to more innovative and compelling content. Collaboration is how your content will reach new audiences to enhance your brand’s credibility and how you (and your partners) will generate fresh ideas.
For partner marketers, content collaboration helps amplify a brand’s message and increases content’s impact. By working closely together, you can make sure that what you create reflects both brands’ values, resonates with your shared audience and achieves your marketing goals.
And let’s not forget that collaboration just feels good! When everyone is included and invested in the outcome, your content is way more likely to be successful.
4 tips for brainstorming sessions
Curious about the foundation of any successful content collaboration? It’s a productive brainstorming session! To get the most out of one, consider the following best practices:
- Set clear objectives. Before any session begins, make sure everyone understands the goals of the collaboration. Are you making content to drive brand awareness, generate leads or educate your audience? Establishing a clear objective helps keep brainstorming focused and productive.
- Encourage participation. Openness can lead to innovative content ideas that might not have emerged otherwise. Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas, no matter how outside of the box they may be.
- Leverage each partner’s expertise. Everyone brings unique strengths to the table. Use differences to your advantage by assigning topics or angles that align with each partner’s expertise. (This can make the content more credible and engaging, yay!).
- Document everything. Make sure no valuable thoughts get lost. Keep a record of all ideas and discussions to serve as a reference point throughout content creation.
How to divide and conquer with marketing partners
Once your brainstorming session is complete, the next step is to divvy up responsibilities. Clear delegation is the magic ticket to help any collaboration run smoothly — and just as importantly, meet all those pesky deadlines!
Consider assigning roles based on strengths. Have each partner take on tasks that align with their skills (and interests). For example, if one partner has a way with words, give them the lead on drafting the content, while another partner with strong execution skills can handle building out the campaign.
A shared content calendar is your best bet for keeping everyone on track. It should include deadlines for each task, milestones for review and the final publication date. Additionally, regular check-ins will work wonders to make sure everyone is adhering to their deadlines. And of course, tools like Google Docs, Slack, Asana, etc., help streamline content creation while promoting real-time collaboration and progress tracking.
And finally, while having a plan is important, it’s also oh so helpful to remain flexible. Remember to be open to making adjustments as needed, whether it’s reassigning tasks or adjusting timelines.
Ways to support a consistent voice
Ask any seasoned marketer what one of their biggest challenges with collaboration is, and they’ll tell you: maintaining a consistent voice throughout the content. When multiple parties are involved, the risk of the content feeling disjointed increases. Luckily, with a little bit of planning, you can create a unified voice that reflects both brands.
This copywriter LOVES a good style guide. When collaborating, a shared style guide is essential for maintaining consistency and serves as a reference for everyone involved in the creation process. Your guide should include
- tone
- language preferences
- formatting
- any other elements that contribute to the content’s voice
Before creating any content, agree on key messages you want to convey throughout so the audience receives a consistent and coherent narrative. After the content is drafted, both partners should review it together. A collaborative review process ensures that it aligns with the agreed-upon voice and messaging and resonates with both audiences.
How to maximize each partner’s strengths
The true power of content collaboration? It’s all about leveraging each partner’s strengths. It’s how you can create content that is not only high-quality but also diverse and impactful.
Our favorite tips for getting the best out of all partners involved:
- Highlight complementary skills. If one partner has deep industry knowledge while the other has a strong creative team, combine your strengths to create content that is both informative (aka educational and correct) and consumable (written and designed well).
- Tap into different networks. Each partner likely has their own audience and distribution channels. By co-creating content, you can expand your reach and increase visibility.
- Cross-promote the content. Once published, both partners should actively promote content across their channels to amplify impact and reach a wider audience.
- Measure success together. Use analytics to track performance and share results with your partner! This way, you can refine future collaborations and improve the quality and effectiveness of your content.
Content collaboration always boils down to getting the best of both worlds, so you both can go out and put your best content into the world. Now say that with your marketing partner 10 times fast!
A marketing partner for the marketing partners
If it seems like we’re having too much fun sharing how collaboration helps you double the fun, it’s because we are! Helping partner marketers get the most out of their partnerships is one of our favorite perks of our content marketing agency job. And, we’d love to be the spaghetti to your meatball to take your partner marketing collaborations even further, just reach out.