How do you co-create with partners in your digital ecosystem?

Your business and marketing strategies should be well-aligned and proven to resonate with your target audience before you bring another brand into the mix. Leverage is also crucial; it gives you the upper hand in negotiations and ensures the partnership aligns with your marketing objectives. And always have a contingency plan. Your marketing strategy should always be separate from a partnership; the latter's failure could lead to your business's collapse.

Partnerships are powerful in the modern business's toolkit. Still, they come with their own set of challenges. As business becomes increasingly integrated into the overall business strategy, these partnerships should be approached with the same rigor and strategic alignment as any other marketing initiative. After all, in this new paradigm, we're all marketers, and our partnerships directly reflect our brand. These partnerships are not just a business strategy; they're a marketing strategy, a brand strategy, and a growth strategy all rolled into one.

We’ve been selecting partners to building apps, plugins and integrations with our productivity software products based on an internal Google sheet that analyzes various factors such as: How large is their user base Can they take care of billing for us (which can increase conversion big time) Can partner do market and promotion with us? How easy is to build the integration? How responsive are people at the partner company in replying via email or linkedin? As an example based on some of these questions above we decided to build Calendbok.com app on Wix.com Soon on more platforms like crisp.chat and Shopify.com In 2023 you don’t have to do everything yourself! Partner up! But do think about which partners to choose!

As with our example of Calendbook.com app on wix.com we decided to release quickly an MVP then with data and a better understanding of the platform, we figure out what other areas we had to work on. It’s always better to move step-by-step instead of taking months and years to release a huge monolithic product. Release as quickly as possible, while keeping, good quality, then get more data and act based on that.

I’ve found that creating a shared opportunity space is the most important key to success. This comes in the form of shared benefits rather than shared development. When co-developing innovation realizing the innovation is as important as creating the vision for it. Sharing in the wins mutually helps fuel the partnership, reinvests in the further development, and the shared opportunity space becomes the well you keep coming back to for more. These days most tech is a mashup of existing solutions. Innovation is coming from how we use the tech as much as what it can offer. The opportunity space has changed from who has the customer to who can best influence them. Partnering on innovation is one way to build wins from already proven solutions.

The pitfalls in partnerships should be considered. They can slow you down at a time when agility is your competitive advantage. They can distract you from your core focus - serving your end consumer. And perhaps most critically, they can make you dependent on another entity for your success. This is not just a business concern; it's a marketing concern. Your brand is at stake here. If your partner doesn't prioritize the partnership as you do, it can dilute your brand equity.