According to Demand Metric, content marketing costs 62% less than “regular” marketing efforts, and at the same time, generates three times as many leads.
And according to Nielsen, partnering with publishers to distribute content results in 50% higher brand lift.
Publishing blog posts on your own website is important, but generating valuable content partnerships is equally as valuable for your business.
In this article, we will discuss:
- What are content partnerships and what are their benefits
- Content partnership types
- How to find potential partner opportunities
Let’s get into it.
Link building cheat sheet
What is a Content Partnership?
In the simplest terms, a content partnership is an agreement where two or more parties collaborate to develop and share content.
It’s like a symbiotic relationship in the wild—each party brings something unique to the table allowing you to grow together, broaden your audiences, and enrich your content.
It could be as straightforward as a guest blog exchange or as intricate as creating a joint webinar series.
The main goal?
To provide value to your audience while benefitting mutually from increased visibility and audience engagement.
Content Partnership Benefits
Now, let’s get a little bit more in-depth about content partnership benefits.
Backlinks
First up, it’s the backlinks – our favorite SEO tool.
Backlinks placed in high-quality content published on other respected websites in your niche is one of the strongest ways to get to the fabled #1 spot on Google.
And actively sparking up new content partnerships can provide you with a steady stream of them.
Tapping into New Audiences
This one is rather straightforward.
More websites or social media accounts that your content gets published on = more people will see it.
Increases Topical Authority
Topical authority simply means that you’re recognized as an expert in your field.
When your content is only published on your site, it doesn’t provide you with as much of a boost to topical authority and brand awareness as when it is on dozens.
Keep publishing your content on partner’s resources, and sooner or later people will see you as “the link building guy”, or “the sales guy”, or whatever your field of expertise is.
Like Brian Dean from Backlinko, for example.
Affiliate Opportunities
Finally, it’s not uncommon for content partnerships to also grow into affiliate partnerships.
In fact, some websites straight up require you to send an invitation to your affiliate program in order to syndicate your content or publish your guest post.
After all, if you’re going to be publishing each other’s content, why not make some extra revenue by slotting in an affiliate link?
Types of Content Partnerships
Now, let’s talk about some examples of what a content brand partnership could look like.
Content Syndication
Content syndication is all about giving your content a second, third, or even fourth life on other websites or platforms.
Think of it like a rerun of your favorite show on a different channel—it’s still the same great episode, just reaching a whole new audience.
See the note just below the article’s title? This is a tell-tale sign of syndicated content.
This strategy can also help drive more traffic back to your original content and improve your SEO rankings.
Guest Post Exchanges
Guest posting, often also called guest blogging, is the act of writing content for another company’s website.
Generally, guest bloggers write for similar blogs within their industry in order to attract more attention to their own website and improve its SEO positioning.
It’s a win-win situation; the host gets quality content for their readers, and the guest poster boosts their online visibility.
Both guest posting and content syndication can be one-off collaborations or ongoing efforts.
They are also some of the lowest-hanging fruit in terms of content partnerships.
Paid Partnerships
Content and paid partnerships can mean the same thing, but they don’t always.
A “true” content partnership involves both parties creating valuable content.
A paid partnership, on the other hand, can take the form of an influencer endorsement, a relevant advertisement in the beginning of a video, or a sponsorship.
Remember, you’re not just looking to promote yourself, but to deliver valuable and engaging content to your audience.
This differentiates a content partnership from a paid partnership and sets up a unique and relatable approach to market your brand.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a trendy buzzword but it’s simply a modern form of collaboration where businesses partner with individuals who have a strong online reputation and a large, engaged audience.
In essence, these businesses leverage the influencer’s digital charisma to promote their product or service.
This strategy can indeed be a form of content partnership.
In fact, it’s an excellent example. Here, both the brand and the influencer mutually benefit from creating and sharing content.
The brand gets exposure to a wider, possibly more targeted audience and the influencer has captivating, trusted content for their followers – or even a way to prompt the creation of tons of user generated content.
Finding the right influencer for a strategic partnership requires careful selection.
You’ll want someone whose audience aligns with your target market, and who shares values, aesthetics, or aims similar to your brand, ensuring an organic and effective partnership.
Joint Events/Webinars
Joint webinars and events are some of the most demanding types of content partnerships.
They happen when two or more businesses collaborate to organize a webinar or event, usually around a theme that resonates with their mutual target audience.
This is not just having another brand as a guest; it’s about co-creating and co-hosting the event.
Both partners contribute resources, expertise, and networks to create a webinar or event that would be challenging to pull off alone.
This partnership can help businesses reach more people, share expertise, and provide more value to their audience, making it a win-win for everyone.
It’s a great way of leveraging brand partner relationships while also providing unique, engaging content.
How to Find Content Partnership Opportunities
A good way to start finding content partnership prospects is by identifying businesses that are already partnering with other people.
Meaning:
- Sites that are open to syndication
- Websites that accept guest posts
- Relevant bloggers that have content
- Influencers in your niche
To find Influencers, you can start by manually researching your niche or using an audience research tool like SparkToro to quickly get an overview of the groups and channels your target audience spends time on.
In this section, we will be focusing on how to find relevant bloggers with Respona.
In fact, it has built-in campaign templates that speed up the outreach process in several ways:
- Pre-set the search criteria based on your input in the template fields
- Automatically pulling relevant opportunities directly into your outreach campaign
- Forming the basis of your email sequence (again, based on your inputs in the template fields)
- Finding relevant contact information for you, in real-time
It also has separate campaign templates for content syndication and guest posting.
However, the process of preparing and launching each one is nearly identical, so we will just focus on good old blogger outreach.
First, select the template from the list.
Next, fill out the required fields.
In this case, there are only two: your target keyword, and your incentive.
Respna will use the target keywords you enter in the first field to find bloggers who have recently published content on the topics you chose.
And yes – it can run several searches at the same time, speeding up the process even further.
In the incentive field, offer a reason for your prospective partner to collaborate with you.
In our example, the incentive is a link from an upcoming guest article – which is a good way to spark up a link building collaboration.
This is a very generic template for blogger outreach, mainly for getting you in touch with the person.
We will look at some other templates for content syndication and guest posting a little further down in the article.
For now, let’s click “Use this template” and go into the actual campaign editor.
It’s already pre-configured to find blog posts that mention your target keywords.
In the case of the blogger outreach template, it only uses one advanced search operator (inurl:blog) to limit results to blog posts only.
Other, more targeted types of campaign templates use more advanced search operators to narrow down the results further.
Click “Continue” and set additional SEO filters to narrow down the results:
Respona is natively integrated with Moz, so its filters are available to all users – even if you don’t have a Moz subscription.
However, if you do – or use Semrush/Ahrefs, you may choose to connect your account to Respona and use these tools’ filters instead.
After clicking “Run automation” Respona will automatically pull all relevant results to your campaign.
All you have to do is review them:
The next step is to find contact emails to actually reach out to.
Again, Respona automates the process almost entirely.
You just need to tell it how many people within the company to look for, and which job titles/seniority levels they should have:
Click “Find contacts” in the bottom left and Respona will scrape the Internet for your prospects’ contact information (like their marketing team).
Of course, you may also run manual searches by domain or specific name if you need to.
Next up, your email sequence.
It’s already set up since we used a campaign template.
But you’re more than welcome to go in and fine-tune it to your specific needs.
Tip: don’t forget to check your pitch for spam words by clicking on the dot icon in the top right corner of the email editor.
Here are also some outreach template examples for content syndication, guest posting, sponsorship opportunities, and influencer outreach.
Content Syndication Email Template
Hi {first_name},
I’m wondering whether you’re open to syndicating our new [Target keyword1] guide on {Website_name}?
[Content description]
I’m happy to help drive traffic by sharing it on our social channels.
[Signature]
Guest Posting Email Template
Hi {first_name},
Would it be ok to send over a few topic ideas for your blog?
I’d love to do keyword research and find what terms your competitors are ranking for, but {Website_name} isn’t.
No strings attached if you didn’t like the topics.
P.S. Here’s an example of a piece I’ve written recently: [Example content URL]
[Signature]
Sponsorship Email Template
Hey {first_name},
My name is [Name] and I am a [Job Title] at [Company Name] — [something about the company].
I was checking out a few [events/podcasts/projects] you sponsored in the last [Time Period].
We’re looking for brands like yours; ones that want to be a part of interesting projects in [Industry] to partner with.
We’re already working with brands like [Brand A], [Brand B], and [Brand C].
Would you be interested in setting up a call to discuss things further?
Here’s a link to my calendar in case you’re interested:
[Link to Calendar]
Thanks,
[Your Name]
Influencer Outreach email template
Hey {First Name},
[Name] here from [Company Name]. We’re [Description] and [What You Do].
We’ve been monitoring your work and see you’re doing a great job with [Topic of Interest].
Really liked what you said recently on [Channel] about [Topic].
Also, it’s interesting to see that your online audience is growing so fast.
We’re looking for people like you to partner up and help us spread the word about [Company Name].
Is that something you’d be interested in?
Let me know how that sounds and we can jump on a call to discuss things further.
Thanks,
[Name]
Almost done!
The last step before launching your campaign is to personalize each pitch.
And again, Respona’s automation comes to the rescue.
On the right side of the email editor, you will find an AI-powered article summarizer that pulls several important snippets of text that you can copy and paste into your pitch for quick but meaningful personalization.
Once done, launch the campaign and wait for replies!
Speaking of replies, you can manage them in Respona’s shared inbox too – it brings all of your connected email accounts into one place, so you don’t have to jump tabs and juggle accounts.
Now Over to You
So, there you have it.
Now you know what content partnerships are and how to find them.
If you need help finding partners for your own content marketing campaigns, don’t hesitate to start your 14-day trial with Respona to see how much easier your outreach process can be.
Link building cheat sheet
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is a content partnership?
A content partnership is a strategic collaboration between two or more parties in creating and distributing unique content to reach common goals.
It could be between businesses, influencers, content creators or media platforms and involves sharing resources like skills, audiences, or platforms to generate increased visibility and engagement through digital marketing channels.
Why should my business consider a content partnership?
A content partnership can be a powerful tool to expand your audience reach, build your brand authority, and generate more engagement.
It offers the potential for new customer acquisition, sharing of expertise, and collaborative promotion which can lead to improved business growth.
How can I find premium content marketing partners?
Start by identifying potential partners who share a similar target audience but aren’t direct competitors.
Look for businesses or individuals who exhibit high-engagement rates, have a strong online presence, and whose values align with your brand.
Approach them with a well-structured proposal and be ready to show the benefits of a partnership.
How can we make the most of a content partnership?
Ensure both parties are clear about their roles, responsibilities and the expected outcomes. Use each other’s strengths to create compelling content.
Complement this with consistent promotion through various channels to maximize reach and engagement.
What should I do if a content partnership is not working?
If a content partnership is not producing the desired results, it’s important to sit down and discuss the issues.
Figure out if the problem lies in the content, its distribution, or in reaching your target audience.
From there, you can either make adjustments or decide if it’s best to end the partnership. Modifications can involve changing the content strategy or utilizing different promotional channels.
Remember, the key is open communication and flexibility.
