Building Successful Partnerships Through Promotions

Successful promotions build upon the strengths of each of the partners involved to create a situation in which the goals of all of the participants are met. The primary goal of the Bristol Motor Speedway is to sell more tickets to upcoming events. The primary goal of a retail or corporate partner is to sell more of their particular product. If a media third party is involved, their primary goal is to incrementally increase listenership/viewership through the promotional period. The creation of a successful promotion increases in difficulty as more participants get involved, but the potential rewards for all the parties increases as well.

A two-party promotion, involving BMS and one partner, is the easiest to set up. This kind of promotion only works however if the partner involved has an established retail presence. Even then, the promotion only reaches those customers who already frequent that particular retail outlet.

A promotion involving only BMS and a bank, for example, will most likely not be a success because there is no vehicle driving new customers to the bank, unless the BMS indirectly involves the media by adding tags to event advertising. A bank has no competing products within its walls, so the promotion will not cause a customer to pick one product over another.

A two-party promotion can work without media involvement in a place where customer choices between competing products are made inside the store, as opposed to a bank where the choice of product is made outside. 

Three Party Promotions (Media Third Party)

A three-party promotion, involving as an additional partner a radio or television station, raises the chances of success for all parties involved by informing potential customers, who might not already be patrons of the retail or corporate partner, about the promotion. In order to make this a success for the media partner, something must drive listeners (or viewers, depending on the partner) to the station.

Three Party Promotions (No Media Partner)

Adding a non-media third party to a promotion can also be successful. Success is built by having each partner gain something from the transaction. 

Multi-Partner Promotions

Adding additional partners to a promotion adds to the difficulty in getting the promotion off the ground, but also adds to the potential rewards. A way has to be found for all partners to benefit, which becomes more difficult as more partners are added. The best solution is to add partners with non-competing (and, ideally, complementary) products into a promotion that will generate incremental sales for all the partners, incremental listeners/viewers to the media partner, and increased ticket sales for the Speedway.

Clearly, the complexities mount as more partners become involved, but the potential reach to consumers is also increased as each partner brings its customers to the table. By partnering with companies that provide complementing product lines, everyone wins.

The Bottom Line