Just like any quest you may have played, read or seen (i.e. Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter), Diane and I had to seek others with similar goals to put a conference together. Although the stakes are not as high, finding people to join a mutual cause is just as hard because it requires building a relationship and trust with almost complete strangers.
What’s a Strategic Partner?
When I was working in private ESL, the term meant another company that could give something for something in return that would mutually help them both. In other words, what free things can I give for free things I need? Yes, sometimes that’s money, but most times it’s services and time.
For example, you have an ESL program with students seeking a four-year degree, if you work with a four year University, then they may offer referrals for students interested in their school.
For conference planning: they are more involved and committed sponsors.
For Diane and myself, we are offering our expertise and design skills for sponsorship deals. I’m proud to say we have one official sponsor “Reverb” and are working on the next.
Why are these Partners so Important?
You can’t have a conference without three types of basic people, practitioners (i.e. creators), vendors, and of course attendees. Sponsors help your conference plan legitimize itself to attract these people and help the local city government you are dealing with realize you are very serious.
However in this sense, since strategic partners are more than just sponsors they should be willing to share resources with you (i.e. facilities, connections, information, etc.). Remember, the keyword is “share”; meaning, if there is nothing you can share, then you cannot develop a strategic partnership.
Also, aside from developing the legal agreements, what you are offering might take more out of you than you were willing to give. Thus, make sure whatever you are sharing doesn’t take too much of your own resources.
Guilt by Public Association
Sigh, the dark side of public association is simply the age-old concept of guilt by association. This is why the most important question I ask first is “how can I help or hurt your brand?” before committing myself to any project.
After I get a “yes”, I access the people in my network and theirs, and then go over how our brands mutually represent each other and if any possible “harm” would happen. This sounds paranoid but think of the risk.
For example, working on the Shaun White Toy project, Diane and I dealt with some of Shaun's negative press. LOL, this shows even if you get access to someone who has connections, their very success could hurt your brand.
This risk alone can hurt people’s image and ultimately cost them financial hurt due to branding issues. In one sense, you could be blacked balled from a support network that can grant you access to new fans or a new niche. Or worse, hurt your own niche market by affiliating with the wrong organization. A hypothetical would be eating a delicious “Jumbo Jack” at a PITA conference; or, a more real world example, Isaac Hayes “Chief” in South Park had to leave the show because of conflicts with the Church of Scientology (BBC,2006).
The moral of the story, analogous to dating, don't bring everyone you date to your parents as you don't publicly tell everyone you hangout with unless you feel they positively represent your brand or the reason for it is just.
3 Base Questions to Consider when Soliciting for Strategic Partners
1.) How can we help each other?
2.) Do we the time to work together?
3.) What are the risk involved?
Theses questions should lead to other questions and answers such as when and what type of legal agreement will happen over time.
Closing
So the brand I’m building with Diane Hyppolite is to help people achieve their goals. We're looking for strategic partners who I can safely say understand, except, and in their ways are actively trying to help others in their own ways in relationship to businesses they run.
@ All the Moms, Happy M-day.
Cheers Zon
References:
BBC News (2006) Retrieved on May 6 2011 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4804334.stm
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