How To Choose Brand Collab Partners Strategically

Collab Partner Choice

It goes without saying that in a collaboration, your choice of partner is paramount to your success. Finding the right partner once is one thing, but if you want to be a collaboration superstar like Adidas, you’ll need a plan that helps you do it over and over again.

The good news is that there’s no shortage of potential collaborators. The bad news is that the limitless array of options can feel overwhelming. That’s why we’ve outlined the four key steps to finding and selecting ideal partners for your current and subsequent collaborations.. 

Step 1: Set Up A Google Alert For “Brand Collabs” (And Variations Thereof)

The goal of your initial search is to discover a universe for potential partners. Keeping up with new collabs is the best way to get a sense of the types of partnerships that are possible and popular in your niche.

But at the rate that collabs are happening these days, it’s best to let Google do your heavy lifting. Setting up Alerts for “brand collab” lets you see the full landscape of collab opportunities and identify patterns within that landscape that are most relevant to your brand. Here at Covalent we have a number of these set up so we don’t miss a thing. We see at least one and often many new collabs daily, and this tells us…and will tell you who is in the game and what shape collabs are taking. Trust us, you’ll find this inspiring at a minimum and idea-provoking.

Also reading through the articles will also help you determine the people within organizations that create and publicize collaborations. That allows you to identify the roles and titles you need to search for when you begin your outreach.

Step 2: Build A Database Of Brands

As you read notifications, keep track of potential brands you might like to collaborate with in a database. As you go through your database, add contacts you may have at each brand.

The key here is to stay organized. Building a clean database will help you figure out which potential partners to prioritize and which to save for future collaborations. 

Step 3: Narrow Your Prospects 

You have built a miniature universe of potential partners. Now your job is to make decisions about the fit of your potential partners in the context of your collaboration.

Here at Covalent we use data extensively to help us pare down choices and decisions for clients, using our 5 C’s of Successful Collab Partners. (You can read more about this in our dedicated post)

1. Company Goals

2. Customer Overlap

3. Category Compatibility

4. Complementary Communities 

5. Collaborative Readiness

Use your assessments to narrow down to a comprehensive list of potential partners.

Step 4: Plan Your Outreach

Your outreach strategy will be determined by the level of contact you have with your prospective partner: 

• Level 1 contacts are your own; you know someone who works there. 
• Level 2 contacts are secondary contacts, meaning you know someone who knows someone who works there. 
• Level 3 contacts are LinkedIn contacts—you're connected in some way.

For each potential partner, identify whether you have a level 1, level 2, or level 3 contact. If you have a level 1 or 2 contact, use a warm introduction whenever possible. For level 3 contacts, use direct cold outreach or hire a third party agency. 

Having found an exciting partner match you need to reach out to them and sell them on the idea of a partnership with you. Contact scott@covalentco.com to help you get started!