In the Fintech space, building a strong partner network is just as important as direct customer marketing.
The partner marketing channel needs more attention than others as it relies on striking a balance of relationship building, affiliations and dual-promotion. The range of partners in this space is vast and varied; navigating the field and categorising the ‘types of partner’ is the first step in building a strategy that will work.
Partners in the Fintech space include:
1. Industry bodies
Maintaining relationships with industry regulators, schemes and financial institutions is vital. FinTechs need to follow certain standards set by these bodies to operate in their sector. Build out relationships here to give your business credibility and use this to help enhance your marketing strategy and build your brand.
2. Resellers
Growing your range of partners that can sell your products is a really important channel. Make sure you develop relationships with e-commerce platform providers, software companies and others who can use your product to enhance their own proposition. Often this opens doors to opportunities that are difficult to nab. A customer is more likely to take the word of a partner they already trust – leveraging this trust can get you sales!
3. Third party providers
Another type of partnership relationship that you need to nurture is third-party providers. Keep your proposition fresh by teaming up with other companies who can make your product offering even more appealing to the end customer. Whether you offer their third-party service as a stand alone, or you white-label it – the fact that you are offering something extra can make you stand out from the crowd.Separating out these different types of partners, and understanding their purpose will get you on track.
What’s the secret to getting this complex yet lucrative channel working seamlessly for you?
1. Share your proposition with partners, and make it compelling
This might seem obvious, but often companies in the Fintech space fail to educate potential partners about what their products do. With such a complicated, and diverse range of offerings – your partners can only bring you business if they understand your product. Make sure you provide a vast range of marketing resources so your partner can educate their internal teams and share important benefits with their customers to get you more sales. Hold webinars, internal training days and Q&A sessions with your partner sales teams to keep them up to speed. Leave them with brochures, FAQ documents and a list of strong USPs so when they speak to your prospective customers, they know your proposition as though it was their own.
2. Get the technical details sorted and offer after-sales support
Enabling your partners to market your products or joint-offering is just one aspect of getting the sale. You need to make technical documentation clear, concise and easy to absorb – and if your partner or customer has any questions, make it simple for them to reach out to you. Create a hub where you store technical documents that can be shared externally – and for any confidential information, have a clear post-sales support strategy.
3. Nurture existing relationships, and build new ones
Build a map of all partners that would benefit your business sales strategy and start feeding the lead funnel. Nurture them with content that is relevant, interesting and make sure they are aware of your proposition. For existing partners, nurturing them with relevant marketing content is important, but its far more than that. Existing relationships rely on both parties keeping in touch about projects and this relationship thrives with a more direct approach. Creating co-branded content, promotion via joint webinars and setting up events that benefit both businesses is a great way to market to customers – but it’s also a good way to build on relationships. Existing relationships must benefit you and your partner, treat this like a customer relationship and you will do great!
4. Keep your Sales & Partnership team in sync
Another important aspect of acing this channel is making sure that the partnership marketing team is working in tandem with Sales. Ensuring the Sales team are aware of new and existing partners, and the functionality you can offer as a result of the relationship can be a unique selling point. Your Sales team can only sell what they know so this link can be vital to success! Provide in-depth presentation decks, guides and training to keep them in the loop at all times.
5. Invest in the right partners
Maintaining relationships with multiple partners can be time-consuming and difficult without a solid strategy. Research your field of partners, keep a close on your competitors, and the relationships they are building, and invest in partners that can help you close those deals by getting your products showcased to their database.
About Prism Create
Here At Prism Create, we work with a wide range of Fintech companies – helping them to reach their customers directly, and indirectly with effective partner marketing strategies that make all the difference.
Get in touch with us for creative and effective ways to market to, and with your partners.
