Partnerships and the New Normal

One of my favorite things about partner marketing is that you can do it from anywhere. It’s a perk of our industry that I’ve not taken advantage of so far in my career, but I’m more grateful for it every day. Waking up to headlines of unemployment numbers not seen since the Great Depression puts our privilege as marketers into stark contrast with the millions of folks around the world who can’t go to work this month.

In this industry, we at TUNE are doubly lucky in that our product enables not just us to work from home, but also our customers. Partnerships are more important than ever now that we’re isolated from a lot of our normal forms of communication. By its very nature, this form of marketing is more risk-averse than practically any other channel out there. Partner marketing is not just smart in these times, it’s also safer than placing big bets on media buys that may or may not pan out.

So how do we move forward in this new normal? Nothing has changed in our industry, technically speaking. But the world around us has changed. I believe this is where we get to define what partnerships really mean, and not just in the marketing sense. How can you have true partners that stick with you no matter what? 

This is just my opinion, but I think it’s all about the human connection. Reach out to the people you work with every day and even those you only chat with every now and then. See if they’re OK. See how you can help. A true partnership is when both parties help each other, no matter what.

Here are some concrete steps we can all take to ensure our partnerships remain strong:

• Make sure payments are not disrupted. For many folks, this is their livelihood. And even if it’s an additional income stream, that additional income is more crucial now that many primary incomes have been reduced or eliminated.
  
• Over-communicate everything. The signal-to-noise ratio is highly askew at the moment, and who knows if it will ever recover. Make sure to keep the channels of communication open with your partners, and be available for them when questions arise.
  
• Consider a special bonus or payout bump. With margins slimmer than ever, this may seem counterintuitive. But partners won’t forget who took care of them when the going got rough. Set the example amongst your competitors and make a stand.

How we treat each other in times of need can define the relationship for the rest of our lives. Let’s forge partnerships that can overcome any adversity thrown our way. Let’s thrive together.

Author

Josh Todd, TUNE's VP of Product, is an innovative product management leader with 12 years of experience in the partner marketing industry. Prior to TUNE, Josh ran an early mobile-focused affiliate network, wrote a marketing blog, and generated thousands of leads for advertisers via targeted media buys.