When it comes to marketing, do you go it alone? You don’t have to. And you probably shouldn’t.
I’ll explain why in a moment, but first let’s look at the data.
In our 2025 High Growth Study, we asked professional services firms to rank the impact of their marketing techniques. We then isolated the best performing firms from the larger sample. These standout firms grow much faster and are more profitable than average—and achieve spectacular performance year after year.
Out of 32 marketing tactics they assessed, here are the High Growth cohort’s top ten techniques:
Today, we want to focus on the technique in the ninth position: marketing partnerships with other organizations. While partnerships are used by firms of all stripes, High Growth firms rate them as having more impact than their slower-growing peers.
What Are Marketing Partnerships?
Before we continue, let’s make sure you understand what we mean by the term “marketing partnership.” A marketing partnership is a mutually beneficial marketing collaboration between a firm and another organization. That organization could be another firm that doesn’t directly compete with you (for instance, accountants and lawyers work with the same clientele but offer very different services), or it could be a non-commercial third party that serves your target audience, such as a trade association.
The goal of building relationships like these is to reach a new audience with the consent and help of your partner. Usually, engaging a partner’s audience is easier, since they provide a tacit endorsement of your firm.
Partnerships can take any number of forms—and they often include a variety of activities. Here are just a few:
- Co-host webinars
- Publish on each other’s blog
- Send content and offers to each other’s email lists
- Co-present at a conference
- Write an article together for a major media outlet (such as HBR, The Wall Street Journal or a top industry journal)
- Conduct and publish joint research on your common target market
- Write a book together
- Cross promote each other’s events, valuable content, training, courses and other educational offerings
- Refer clients and prospects to each other
Once you are in a partnership arrangement, use your imagination. The opportunities to support each other are endless.
For example, at Hinge over the past decade, we have produced a research report for the Association of Accounting Marketing that they make available to their members. We also help promote these reports. In exchange, we speak at their annual conference and they promote select pieces of Hinge content to their members. Accountants are one of our major audiences, so this relationship connects us to a well respected organization in the industry. Conversely, our research is of great interest to AAM’s members, providing a benefit they can’t get anywhere else. Win–win!
The Start of a Beautiful Friendship
Finding the right partner and establishing the relationship isn’t always easy. For instance, working out an arrangement with a large association can be challenging. Even if you have a champion on your side, you still may have to navigate layers of bureaucracy—a time consuming process. Identifying another firm that serves your audience but doesn’t directly compete with you may be easier in some industries than others.
A partnership should be a tremendous boon for both sides. If there is an imbalance, it won’t work. After all, each side is investing in the other’s success. When you approach a potential partner, consider what irresistible benefit you can offer them. Is it access to your list? Your expertise? Some combination of both? How can you package your offering in an unique and powerful way? At the same time, think about what they can offer you that is of roughly equivalent value. The more creativity you can bring to the table, the greater your chances of success.
A great partnership should last for years. It doesn’t take very many of them to significantly expand your reach and deliver more leads and new business opportunities.
So why do High Growth firms find partnering more valuable than their low-growth competitors? Unfortunately, the data doesn’t answer that question. But based on my experience working with many, many high-performing firms I can think of one big reason. High Growth firms are always looking for efficiencies, especially in their marketing. They don’t mind putting in hard work up front to build a relationship that delivers reliable results over the long term. A partnership provides easy access to new audiences, and as your partner grows so does your potential.
How many strategic marketing partnerships do you have?
