As app developers and brands strive to stand out in the mobile marketplace, the role of cohesive partnerships cannot be overstated. A harmonious relationship between brands and their creative agencies and performance marketing partners is the linchpin of successful mobile marketing growth campaigns.
Here’s a closer look at how to build cohesive partnerships with your marketing partners for sustained growth and business success.
The Importance of Agency Partnerships for Brands
The revenue impact of successful partnerships between a brand and their agency partners is significant.
According to Impact.com, brands that invested in partnerships during the pandemic, from 2020 to 2022, saw a 29% boost in revenue per year. Similarly, Forbes highlights the positive impact of partnerships on business growth, with companies with longtime partnerships achieving double the revenue growth of those without. On average, these mature partnerships were responsible for 28% of a company’s overall revenue.
These figures demonstrate how successful partnerships between brands and their agency partners can significantly impact revenue growth, leading to increased sales, access to new markets, and enhanced brand credibility.
How to Make the Most of Your Agency Partnerships
At the heart of any successful marketing campaign is cohesive collaboration between brands, their creative agencies, and performance marketing teams. Brands bring the vision and objectives; creative agencies translate this vision into compelling narratives and designs; and, performance marketers ensure these creative assets reach the right audience effectively.
Establish Clear Communication Channels
Open and ongoing communication is the foundation of any strong partnership. Establishing regular check-ins, clear points of contact, and transparent processes ensures that stakeholders across organizations are on the same page. Utilizing project management tools can help keep communication streamlined and accessible to all parties involved.
Define Roles, Expectations, and KPIs
Clarity in roles and expectations prevents overlap and ensures that each entity can focus on its strengths. Clearly outline what is expected from each partner in terms of deliverables, timelines, and key performance indicators (KPIs). This clarity optimizes workflow and fosters accountability.
The Importance of KPIs
To get the most out of your relationship with any partner, determining your KPIs is crucial — because in order to reach your goals, you have to determine what they are.
For example for mobile games, KPIs that track ad spend like ROAS (return on ad spend) are typical. ROAS goals can help evaluate the overall relative value of a player more precisely than tracking one-off purchases via CPA goals might.
Determining your KPIs sets up your partnerships for maximum success by identifying the goals you care most about. This helps align expectations between you and your partner. It also helps them build off your goals and find additional opportunities to scale up your campaigns.
Foster Collaboration from the Start
Involve your creative and performance marketing teams early in the campaign planning process. This early collaboration ensures that creative strategies align with performance goals and that the marketing strategy is woven into the creative narrative from the outset.
Leverage Data and Insights
Data should be the common language that informs all aspects of your partnership. Share insights across teams to refine ad design, targeting strategies, creative messaging, and overall campaign performance. Continuous learning and iteration based on data will drive better outcomes.
Celebrate Successes and Learn from Setbacks
Recognize and celebrate the wins, no matter how small, to keep morale high and reinforce the value of the partnership. Equally important is to constructively review any setbacks. Every partner you work with should be consistently testing your campaign assets and results! As we’ve written before, A/B testing your creatives can vastly enhance your conversions and revenue.
On the performance marketing side, incrementality testing can help your team measure the true impact of your marketing campaigns. Like an A/B test, incrementality testing can help you evaluate whether your optimizations have an incremental lift on your goals. For example, if you have ROAS goals, then you should test the incremental lift of overall revenue as a result of your ad designs or targeting parameters.
Adopting an "Always Be Testing" (ABT) mindset fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation that can help your brand stay ahead in the dynamic digital marketplace.
Maintain Flexibility
The digital marketing landscape is constantly evolving. Maintaining flexibility in processes and strategies allows teams to adapt quickly to new trends, technologies, and consumer behaviors. This agility can be a significant competitive advantage.
Ensure Transparency in Performance Metrics
Transparency in sharing performance metrics and results allows all parties to understand the impact of their work. This visibility enables teams to optimize strategies in real-time and align efforts towards common goals.
Key Takeaways: Building Strong Relationships for Marketing Success
- Strategic Partnership Impact: Brands that foster strong partnerships with creative and performance marketing agencies see significant revenue boosts, demonstrating the critical role of cohesive collaboration in achieving business growth.
- Clear Communication: Establishing open channels for regular updates and feedback ensures that all partners are aligned, fostering a seamless workflow and shared understanding of campaign objectives.
- Defined Roles and KPIs: Setting clear expectations, deliverables, and performance indicators for each partner maximizes efficiency, accountability, and campaign effectiveness, with KPIs like ROAS guiding the evaluation of marketing investments.
- Early and Ongoing Collaboration: Involving creative and performance teams from the campaign's inception ensures that marketing strategies and creative narratives are cohesively integrated, enhancing campaign resonance and impact.
- Data-Driven Insights: Sharing and acting on data insights across teams allows for the refinement of strategies, targeting, and creative execution, driving continuous improvement and better campaign outcomes.
- Adaptability and Transparency: Embracing flexibility and maintaining openness about performance metrics enables quick adaptation to market changes and aligns all parties towards achieving common objectives.
- Test and Learn Culture: Adopting an "Always Be Testing" approach encourages ongoing experimentation and learning, helping brands and their partners innovate and stay competitive in the fast-evolving digital landscape.
Collaborate and Win Creatively with CRAFTSMAN+
Ready to elevate your mobile marketing campaigns with a partnership that bridges creativity with performance? Discover how CRAFTSMAN+ can be the catalyst for your brand's growth by requesting a demo today.