1095 - Partnership-Driven Growth with Hawke Media's Ashley Scorpio

Mar 4, 2022

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In this episode of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur, your host Josh Elledge talks to the VP of Partnerships at Hawke Media and an advisor to Partnerhub, Ashley Scorpio.

Ashley’s work revolves around business partnerships. She shares that not all industries have established ‘partnerships’ as a common business function. Ashley would love to see a variety of verticals adopt smart partnerships more broadly. Partnerships offer unique opportunities in the way of scaling. Hawke Media, the company Ashley works for, has over 1,200 partners over several different categories. Not only can partnerships be beneficial in the way of scaling, they’re also lucrative.

Ashley shares that at the end of the day, business is relationships. Partnerships are dedicated relationships in business; make smart partnership choices and you’ll experience unprecedented growth and success. A partner leader can even become the face of your business if that’s what you need to generate revenue. A combined effort can make all the difference when trying to become more profitable.

In the B2B world, if you and someone you know resonate and there is target audience overlap, why not collaborate? You don’t have to compete with those in adjacent niches. Collaboration should be the first thing you think of when networking, not competing.

Josh and Ashley explore what partnerships look like today. Josh shares his philosophy in that he likes to be authentic and share his real experience in a partnership rather than just blast his email list with information about someone else. You know your audience better than anyone, Ashley shares, and co-marketing should be tackled strategically. There are all types of partnerships, but you have to go about them in the structure that makes the most sense for your audience.

Ashley shares that you need to discover what it is your company’s marketing needs in relation to working with a partner, and then choose a partner that resonates with that need. Partnerships shouldn’t be embarked upon lightly, remember that you don’t want to rush into these types of relationships. They should build up organically over time, and both companies should resonate with each other’s missions.

Ashley also shares that there are community building opportunities in the partnership co-marketing space. There are community-wide events across different partnerships that simply exist to help everyone in the community. This sense of giving and assisting with co-marketing is one amazing way to not only be a part of a community of partnerships, but also helps you discover new partnership opportunities to build upon.

Want to learn more? Check out Hawke Media’s website at https://hawkemedia.com/.

Check out Partnerhub at https://www.partnerhub.app/.

Check out Hawke Media on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/hawkemedia/.

Check out Ashley Scorpio on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyscorpio/.

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