Yesterday, I saw what I thought was a good example of working with a strategic partner. I say “thought”, because on further review, it appears that the tactic of teaming with a strategic partner is not supported by any underlying marketing strategy.
As I was leaving my local pizza shop, I noticed some coupons for a nearby ice cream parlor. This seemed to have the earmarks of a strategic partner joint marketing campaign. The two stores serve the same target market. Their products complement one another. Who doesn’t like pizza and ice cream?
There was one thing that bothered me. The ice cream coupons were stuck in the window sill, in the back of the shop, by the door. I barely noticed them. I am a frequent patron and this is the first time that I noticed them. My guess is that the ice cream store has a similar pile of coupons tucked out of the way in their store.
Teaming with a strategic partner is a powerful tactic. However, employing tactics without first defining an underlying strategy is an expensive and frustrating approach to marketing.
In this case, it was clear that there was no strategy behind the idea. Nothing ties it to the pizza shop. Not even a “thanks for coming in, have an ice cream on us”. It is a classic example of trying the “marketing idea of the week” – trying ideas that others have reported as successful without any unifying strategy to tie it to business goals.
How could this have been done differently? That answer depends largely on the goals and strategy of the business owners. If their strategy is to help families celebrate special events, then perhaps the pizza store could also deliver ice cream along with pizzas. Or serve the other store’s ice cream in their store. An ice cream store with the same strategy that sold ice cream cakes could offer discounts on pizza. What if you called the ice cream store and they offered to arrange to have the ice cream and pizzas delivered to your door? Would that differentiate them from, say, the local Dairy Queen?
Most small business owners don’t take the time to develop a marketing strategy. By default, the strategy becomes “throw a bunch of stuff at the wall and see what sticks”. This is an expensive and frustrating approach to trying to grow your business.
Make your marketing more effective by developing your strategy first and then select tactics that support your strategy.
