How to Confidently Partner with Big Brands as a Small Business

After almost ten years in business at Marigold & Grey, we’ve had the opportunity to form brand partnerships with other companies, some of which have been very large corporations. After solidifying a business-changing partnership with an 18-billion-dollar company, it has me thinking a lot about what it’s been like negotiating with a company so much larger than our own. I’ve come up with a few key points that I’ve made sure to stick to, and I’m excited to share them with you.

I'd like to share my top four tips for how to confidently partner with big brands when you're the small business. 

1. Know Your Worth

Just because your business is smaller, doesn’t mean it’s inferior. It’s just different. There are pros to being a big brand and pros to being a smaller brand. These differences are oftentimes why brand partnerships between large and small brands are complete win-wins for everyone involved.

You must know your worth and feel confident in what your brand brings to the partnership and recognize that what you offer is equally important. You’ll derive confidence from this which will put you in a better position when it comes time to negotiate terms, especially when there are things you disagree with.

Rather than feeling that you’re 100% lucky to be working with them and automatically give in to their requests, you’ll instead take a moment to pause and push back for things you feel strongly about. It will also give you the confidence to walk away if something doesn’t feel right and know that your small business still has a bright future.

2. Define the Win-Win

Understand exactly what each side expects to get out of the partnership. Chances are they are very different things when one business is much larger than the other.

Do not assume that because you are smaller you have more to gain. This is really important because it’s only when you fully understand how the other side stands to benefit that you are in a good place to negotiate and craft a deal that truly works for both sides. The way to achieve this is to do a ton of listening in the early stages.

Don’t jump to the part where you’re telling them all of the million reasons why your small business is great. You want to allow time for them to talk as much as are willing to talk so you can truly understand their pain points. Then craft your offering to not only address what you want out of the relationship but also to address their pain points. 

A win-win for both is the only way.

3. Define Success 

You probably already have an idea of what success looks like to you and what you wish to gain from a partnership. But you also need to understand how the other side defines success, too.

The last thing you want to do is enter into a brand partnership and things are going well, only to find out that they had expectations of much higher revenue or much higher engagement, as example.

Don’t be afraid to come right out and ask:

“How will you define and measure success?”

Do the best you can to have them give you actual goals that are measurable and attainable. Be sure to define your expectations as well so everyone is on the same page.

Rather than feeling that you’re 100% lucky to be working with them and automatically give in to their requests, you’ll instead take a moment to pause and push back for things you feel strongly about.

4. Seek Support

It’s rare for small businesses to have in-house counsel. When partnership opportunities arise, you want to make sure you run these contracts by an attorney who has proper experience with similar transactions. It will be a significant expense, yes. But when working with a much larger company with in-house counsel at the ready, you are at a distinct disadvantage.

You do not want to regret trying to handle a contract on your own without fully knowing what you’re getting yourself into. Invest up front rather than risk a huge loss later.

I can’t wait to share more about the partnership we have in the works. But until then, I hope these tips have been helpful and that you can put them to good use when entertaining future partnership opportunities. 

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Not so much as a dollar amount, but what your business brings to someone else's? Know your value.