This transcript has been lightly edited by AI
Sean: How does your team work with the commercial partnerships team to ensure they're getting the desired results? What's the process to achieve a win-win outcome for everyone?
Andi: We've recently made changes to improve this process. This off-season, we formed a small group from our new media marketing, partnership sales, and partnership marketing teams to create a more beneficial plan for everyone.
In the past, contracts were vague, like “You'll get five Facebook posts and five tweets.” We realized this wasn't a content plan, just a platform specification. We then moved to “mutually agreed upon social media features,” but that was still unclear.
Now, we're in a much better place. Our partnership sales team consults with us before selling anything digital. We receive requests through our task management system for new or renewed partnerships. We've established a minimum investment for partners to be featured on our social platforms.
We've also implemented a survey for partners to specify their campaign objectives. We ask for primary and secondary objectives because “brand awareness” was too vague. Now, partners can select specific goals like increasing foot traffic, getting retweets, or generating leads. This allows us to create more targeted content based on their needs.
Although this process takes longer initially, it significantly reduces back-and-forth communication later.
Sean: That's crucial. I call it the Spice Girls strategy – asking them what they want, what they really, really want. Without clear objectives, it's an impossible brief. You might get likes and comments, but if it doesn't drive foot traffic or sales, it hasn't succeeded. So, do you then develop campaign ideas, perhaps using tools like Tradable Bits, and create content series that fit their demographic?
Andi: Yes, that's pretty much how it works. Partners might provide additional information or request adjustments. We usually present a couple of ideas, complete with demos or examples of similar content, and estimates of how it might perform.
Sean: Excellent.
