Exploring Strategic Partnerships for Marketing

By Al Alegre, Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA)
May 2001

The situation most CSOs are faced with is that marketing is usually not in the usual order of business—either there is a lack of resources to do it or a lack of expertise. One way in which CSOs can resolve this problem is through strategic partnerships. Usually these partnerships are defined in your institution's overall strategic plan, or even in its communications plans. But we can mention some of these things in the context of "marketing" and promotions.

1. Partnerships with the private sector

Corporate Social Responsibility. Though there is still some residual hesitation to deal with the private business sector within some sections of civil society, this is starting to change. Much more creative collaborations are being forged between CSOs and private corporations, especially with those adopting "corporate social responsibility" (CSR) practices. These types of organizations see the value of "giving back" to the community/society by channeling resources to socially relevant projects and/or institutions.

There are usually business associations in your country that represent such corporations seeking to promote the concept and praxis of CSR, and they may be interested in exploring partnerships with you, especially for Internet-related projects which are an "in" thing for many. We can take advantage of these potential relationships as they can give a lot of "value-added" services and resources.

Possibilities. Remember that corporations are really market-driven. This means that corporations usually have a significant media/promotions budget that they can use for their initiatives. In addition, they probably have marketing staff who do this type of work full time. They can do any number of things for you:

• provide services or consultants to help with your marketing plan;
• mainstream some of your stuff into their own regular promotions plan (your organization is featured in their advertising spots on print or TV);
• actually contribute some money to your Web project in exchange for exposure;
• contribute other resources not related to your Web product (e.g., Internet hosting services, financial planning consultancy, etc.)

It is usually advantageous (and therefore desirable) for corporations to link up with non-profit organizations and "co-brand" some products (Web or otherwise) with CSOs that do good work. It does "enhance" their image as a company (and probably provides some tax credits, too!). The services or resources you receive from your corporate partner can and do return significant benefits to your partner. You should always put into writing the exact nature of the partnership: for example, in return for their financial support, you will put their logo on your Web site with a link to their Web site.

Limits. Some words should be said about potential pitfalls about partnering with private corporations. The basic issue is the care needed in picking your partners. Here, you are managing sensibilities with regards to working with for-profit companies, usually within your own organizations. You are also carefully screening a possible shortlist of corporations that jibes with your organization's image and values (e.g., in terms of corporate image or actual corporate practices).

On the other hand, you may be faced with the simple reality that there are only a few corporations that meet your criteria (i.e., responsible corporate citizenship—labour and employment policy, environmental practices, etc.). However, being less critical may rebound to a loss of respectability for your organization, a situation that we would want to avoid at all costs.

Even as you decide on whom to partner with, the negotiations don't really end. Expect some differences of opinion when you talk about marketing, simply because there are two different organizational cultures and value sets at play. These may range from minor debates or may involve more paradigm-specific issues. It is important to keep in mind your institution's bottom-lines which define the boundaries that your CSO will not cross, even at the risk of losing the partnership.

Each organization has to carefully assess the overall context within each country (or even internationally with global corporations) with regards to the image, practice and political implications of partnering with particular companies.

2. Partnerships with academic institutions

There are also important reasons for systematically dealing with academic institutions:

• as knowledge centres, schools can help in developing your Web site content in terms of state of the art content or teaching materials;
• they have "captive audiences" of students—who are by nature idealistic and who represent the age group which has assimilated the culture of the Web—which is a strategic market;
• they are recognized by other sectors of society as important cultural institutions, and they imbibe a sense of "legitimacy" to their partners;
• they have inherent research capacities that could be accessed by CSOs in developing their Web products (e.g., market research, communications planning, etc.)

Possibilities. Partnerships with academic institutions could involve marketing tie-ups based on Web site content (i.e., thematic, such as a gender site with gender studies departments); it could also be made on the basis of Web management capacities (i.e., with communications departments of universities which now have faculty teaching Web-related subjects); or it could be on the level of administrative/management concerns (e.g., business schools and faculty helping in market studies).

3. Partnerships with government

Again, this raises a few flags for CSOs, depending on the nature of their governments, and their degree of openness, transparency and democratic character.

On the positive side, one could think of the possible resources that could be accessed (public funds for public good projects, or even foreign official development assistance (ODA)—e.g., UNDP or World Bank project funds—which are accessible through governments). One could also think of Local Government Units (LGUs) that can be partnered with for local (i.e., community-based) Internet projects.

As with private sector organizations, partnerships should be clarified in writing. In partnering with governments, CSOs should be alert to issues of ownership of intellectual property, censorship, privacy, and independence of research and opinion.