How to Know if You’re Building a Credible Brand Partnership

Brand partnerships are gaining more popularity in recent years as companies work together to achieve their respective business goals. Companies forge partnerships to strengthen their ties, expand their resources, and strike more audience impact as they grow larger in size and number. Many companies have also adapted to the digitalization of commerce, taking stores and countless brands online through different platforms, more commonly known as eCommerce. 

Since users and consumers alike are connected through the fibers of the internet and social media, brands have also transitioned their operations online. Now since brands are working their way through the industry online, competition also rises – which is the perfect opportunity to build partnerships. In this article, you’ll be introduced to the tips that you should know on finding out if a brand is credible enough to work with. You will also learn about the red flags you should avoid when sifting through the companies that want to form partnerships with you. Let’s begin!

Table of Contents

What is Brand Partnership?
Green Flags of Brand Partnerships
Red Flags of Brand Partnerships
How You Can Build Your Credibility
Working on Your Brand Online
The Bottom line

What is Brand Partnership?

A brand partnership establishes a common ground for businesses to exchange for mutual benefits. Brand partnerships may also be created by more than two companies or organizations. Brand partnerships help expand a company’s market exposure, publicity, resources, and audience reach. This form of partnership is not merely the “hand-shake deal” in the business world. It talks about forming future business strategies and marketing techniques that both brands can benefit from. Some brands even combine their products or services to form a more impactful impression on their audiences. Partnerships are strength builders of companies; they help raise the notch of popularity among companies and help them expand their reach. 

Brand partnerships are built on a solid foundation of commonality. This doesn’t mean you forge partnerships with your competitors because both of you are in the same industry, no. This talks about working together with other companies in different industries and finding out a common characteristic in your goals that both of you can work together on. Partnerships are formed to create an improvement, a betterment for the works that you have already laid out. Business partnerships drive companies to seek more improvement internally and externally through the acquisition of input and results from a team’s work. 

Green Flags of Brand Partnerships

When building partnerships or when working with a business partner, you must notify the qualities that your partner company exhibits. Like in personal relationships, there are green flags, and there are red flags that we must look out for. Now, in business, the stakes involve a company’s brand identity, its resources, and sometimes its shares – which is why it is important to understand how a company functions and how well it contributes to your business and vice versa. Here are some of the green flags of good business partners. 

1. You share similar values

This talks about things like achieving good customer service or raising the notch on your customer loyalty. And while all of these are being discussed, you must also know that there is room for both of you to grow. So, as business partners, both parties must be able to communicate each other’s values and needs effectively without calling for a feud with either one. 

2. You have common goals

Set what you want to achieve as business partners. Lay the groundwork on what you want to establish from your partnership and provide a timeline on how you would like to achieve those goals. Your business partner must also do the same, and both of you must talk to each other about how your business goals will be achieved. Some partners work together to create a stronger social media presence, while others work on generating more sales by promoting each other’s companies – these are just a couple of examples that can give you a ballpark idea.

3. Your work ethic compliments each other

Good business partners have a shared work ethic. For example, both of you work with your employees as a team and not as subordinates whom you believe you feed. Some companies look at themselves so highly that their employees feel that they have god syndrome. Some companies have also developed a habit of taking from their employee’s paychecks, making their employees earn less than they deserve. These are some of the real-world events that occur within other companies. To be able to build a good relationship with your business partners, you must first observe how they treat each other, from their employees, and their CEO, to the blue-collar people whom they interact with. Working with a company with a good work ethic is better than working with a luxurious company with zero work ethic. 

4. You are accountable for each of your actions

One of the things that a company must exhibit is accountability. This will mark how well you can work smoothly with the business partner you are working with or eyeing to work with. Accountability comes in many different shapes and sizes. Some forms of accountability may be through the responsibility they present over tasks, some over mistakes they have made, and some are about other things like managing the dispatch of orders and the like. Being accountable also goes both ways. You can’t just expect your business partner to be accountable, and you won’t do the same. What kind of business relationship would that be? So, see to it that your accountability is reciprocated by your business partner.

5. You have a foundation of trust and transparency

It sounds like stating the obvious here, but establishing trust in business isn’t much of a piece of cake. Trusting your business partner entails time. Throughout the entire duration of time that you will be working with your business partner, there must be mutual trust between you. Otherwise, even the customers you serve and the other companies you work together with will feel the discrepancy that there is in your partnership, making your credibility crumble. Hence, you must establish that trust must be one of your top priorities in building a business partnership. 

Red Flags of Brand Partnerships

If there are green flags – the good things that you look forward to in working with a business partner, then there are also red flags – things that you must avoid at all costs. These red flags can be about anything, and they usually tear down and drag people with them. So, when looking for a business partner or working with one, you must always look for these red flags. It may cost your business its sales, audience, and reputation if you wear red-filtered sunglasses and ignore these red flags. 

1. Poor Communication

Nobody wants to work with a company or someone who refuses to communicate. Communication is essential in allowing your business partners to understand your point of view and the information you want to share. Verbal communication is one of the most accurate and quickest ways to share information and discuss matters. So, if a business partner refuses to communicate with you, then imagine how you will be working with that company. How will you be working together to achieve the goals that you will set together? How will you reach the sales figures you hope to achieve as you forge your connection? Business partnerships turn out excellently when they are founded on a well-communicated common ground. 

2. Incompatible Values

Your lack of mutual goals with your business partner or supposed business partner will not make your partnership run smoothly. Imagine if you have decided to work with a company that does not pay its interns or employees. Do you want to be partners with a company that does this type of injustice? Other situations may not even be about business essentially; other businesses could be the top company responsible for illegal mining and deforestation – how could you work with such a heartless company?

Consider the values that your business partner exhibits, and also consider how well they follow through with their commitments to you and to the other people they work with. As you do your research to find out if a company is eligible enough to be a partner, then you must also observe how they interact with society, its people, and the environment. Hey, we only have one globe, so it’s really important that you work with one that does not worsen its condition. 

Not everything can be found in what’s written in black and white. Sometimes companies say things about their vision and mission, but they don’t act on these words. So, as you go through your search to find a good company to partner with, may you also be reminded to set your standards on a high, that not everyone can reach them – only those who deserve to be a partner will. 

3. Bad Public Image

You don’t want to be associated with a company with a bad public image. It’s not that you’re being discriminatory, but think about how this will reflect on your company. For example, if a company you are eyeing to work with has been under investigation for colluding with companies with issues of tax evasion, then do you want to be associated with things like that? 

A company and any person are bound to show their true colors one way or another. Take, for example, the literary work “Love is a Fallacy” by Max Shulman, an American humorist writer. In the literary work, the author described how the “intellectual man” appeared to be a person who had a hidden agenda. Despite teaching the girl all the fallacies he knows, he becomes illogical, creating a bad image for himself. From this literary work of Max Shulman, we’re brought to understand how people’s intentions affect their image. 

Going back to business, working with a company that has a bad reputation in any aspect is just a big protruding “no.” There are countless companies out there for whom you can work; choose the one that doesn’t have a bad reputation. 

4. Inability to work with a compromise

You can’t expect to agree with each other all the time. Disagreements are bound to occur no matter what, so you must be cautious with how your business partner or supposed business partner interacts with you regarding disagreements. Know that your partnership will cease to exist if you don’t achieve a compromise. Some companies fall apart just because one person disagrees, and what more if we’re talking about forming a partnership between two companies. 

If a company is unable to compromise then gauge the situation. Have you given them all the information, suggestions, and effort you can exhaust? If you have and they still won’t adjust to achieving a compromise, then you know it won’t work out. You will not gain anything from a partnership or a company that does not know how to compromise. 

5. Financial Conflicts

This comes in a little bit tricky. Since different companies have different financial capabilities, it is important to identify if you can work feasibly with a company considering their economic situation. How do you do so? You can’t just ask them to list all their assets and liabilities. That’s a big no, in business and anywhere else – unless you’re a lawyer and it’s needed. 

Figuring out how you can get a closer look at your business partner or your supposed business partner’s financial capability involves a lot of research. You must observe how many employees they have, if they own a building or if they rent an office, if they are operating in multiple locations, and notice how they conduct their everyday business. Aside from that, you may also check on the reputation of their leaders. Is the company owned by a multinational corporation, are they partnered with venture capital, and are they funded by the state? You can also do background research on LinkedIn to check if a company’s leaders have a good background. 

How You Can Build Your Credibility

1. Pool your ideas together

If you have an idea that you’re not sure about, then list them together with your team’s ideas and pool them together. Putting your heads together will help generate more ideas in marketing, helping your brand grow more fondly in the eyes of your audiences. As you go about building your credibility, you must also consider the weak points that you have. Ask yourself, as a business, what can you improve on? Is it logistics? Is it customer service? Is it offering more engaging content? Reflecting on yourself as a brand will help you get more creative in building your credibility. 

2. Look for ways to collaborate

It can be through social media collaborations with trusted influencers or celebrities. You can also collaborate with organizations that work for social causes. Think out of the box! Who said collaborations are just for influencers and popular people? Think differently! You can collaborate with local artists who want to sharpen their talents. Collaboration is healthy for your business as it will help others learn about your brand in a non-traditional way. It wouldn’t be through advertisements that your audience will learn about you

3. Research

The skill to create well-advised and strategic decisions is essential in working towards building your credibility. Working on things on a whim will never be beneficial to the reputation you are looking to build. How you envision your brand matters, which is why you must carefully work on building your company’s credibility through the ideas you will bring to the table. 

Draw your team to identify the ways you can pursue to make each step of your work well-designed. Credibility is something that takes years to build, and it can only take seconds to have it destroyed. Hence, you must take caution in your actions as you work on building your brand’s credibility. 

4. Grow professionally

Develop the credibility of your brand by performing excellently. One of the fastest ways of building your brand’s credibility is by observing competency. How you become savvier in your performance will positively reflect your credibility as a whole. 

5. Be present

No matter how tough the sales are or how difficult it may be, keep showing up. Be present when you need to improve on your marketing, be present when you need to meet up with influencers whom you will collaborate with, and be present when your customers are complaining about something. Be present! Be there when the going gets tough! The last thing customers want is a company that bails on them when they want to voice their feedback. You need that feedback. That feedback is yours to learn from. 

Working on Your Brand Online

A successful brand projects growth and improvements, from the moment it sprouts to the moment that it bears fruit. One of the things that you can do for your business is to operate online. Everybody uses the internet to browse different search engines, post their life’s triumphs, mark the important dates they want to remember, watch films, and shop. 

Another outlet you can explore is operating your business online. Since everything is digital now, you can reach more audiences when you work on your business online – specifically; you can work on your business through Shoppable. It’s an eCommerce platform that is designed for sellers like yourself. It has analytics, tools, and features like your own e-wallet, and it’s completely secure because each transaction is encrypted and protected with the highest security. It also has features for marketing that you can utilize to your advantage.

Some of the reasons why you should join Shoppable includes…

• It’s FREE – It’s free to start selling on the Shoppable platform. As long as you’re a legally registered business, you’ll be able to list products for free on Shoppable. You only pay a commission fee if an item sells on the platform, and you get paid. 

• Expand your Customer base – Through Shoppable, you’ll reach thousands of new customers for free. Think of Shoppable as your marketing arm that you only pay when you have a sale. 

• Get your eCommerce Store – Increase sales by digitalizing your product catalog and reaching customers worldwide. Print catalogs are dying, costly, and not environment friendly – digital is the future. Sellers can get their eCommerce store on Shoppable Business which can be given to any client. 

• Procurement Technology – Enable your customers to pay you online through Bank Transfers, Credit Cards, Over-the-Counter Payments, Recurring Payments, and more. Easily track and manage orders, payments, and shipping through the Shoppable platform. 

• Shipping Technology – Shoppable has integrated directly with multiple shipping couriers, enabling you to provide same-day to next-day delivery to your customers.

• Compliance – Sales invoices and 2307’s required? Don’t worry; Shoppable has got you covered! The platform keeps sellers fully compliant, never worrying about missing documents.

• 3PL & Fulfillment Services – Need additional manpower? Shoppable can provide you with warehousing and fulfillment solutions so you can expand your brand to different locations enabling you to get products delivered faster to your customers. 

• Real Sellers, Real Buyers, and Real Products only – We vet and interview sellers that join the platform, so you will be assured that all of the products and transactions are authentic and legitimate.