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When we think about public relations our minds go straight to networking, media connections and publicity in traditional media like TV and radio, but how much has PR evolved in the last 10 years?
We sat down with Marketing expert Tatiana Canessa, who specializes in partnerships. She gave us a great scoop on how the industry has become more partnership conscious and how this shifted the dynamic when improving the exposure of an organization.
Tatiana has worked in Marketing and Public Relations throughout her career, moving from content focused and social media roles for companies such as Eme de Mujer, E! Entertainment Latino, The World Health Organization and Yandy among others, into influencer marketing and partnerships. She’s a professional originally from Uruguay, based in New York City, with vast experience working for brands in Latin America, Europe and the US.
What are partnerships exactly and how can these take a company to the next level?
“When we talk about partnerships there are a few different routes we can take, as an overview, these are long lasting business relations we create with another company, media outlets or individuals that can potentially help boost the exposure a company gets, improve sales and overall branding.
Finding the right partners to work with is key, once you know what the main focus of the company is, the following step is to find that perfect addition to work with. Some companies will be better to collaborate in an editorial capacity which will help with exposure and branding, other companies can be perfect complements to the services or products your company offers and this can lead to an integration in-between brands, which is the ultimate form of partnership in order to have a meaningful impact on the growth of the company.
The idea behind this is to create the perfect win-win situation with your partners, that’s why we talk about long lasting relations, we want both companies to do well and help support one another. This type of dynamic is missing in traditional public relations which has a more selfish aspect to it, making it seem less authentic in the eyes of your audience.”
How important is to find the right partners?
“Strategic partnerships definitely have a huge impact on the organization and its reputation. A good partnership can have an extremely positive effect on how a company is perceived by association. While partnering with a company that has a bad reputation or is linked to controversial issues can tarnish and deeply damage your brand publicly.
Overall, the key to finding the right partner is the same logic one would apply when fostering a friendship: the essence and core values of both parties have to be aligned, as well as being compatible with both of them views.”
What’s a key advice for approaching partners?
“I would say that not being afraid or shy about approaching companies or individuals you want to partner with is the best way to get started.
Sometimes big companies are looking to collaborate with startups or take part in unique projects that can provide them what other big companies can’t. From the startup side, they can immensely benefit from the exposure that a big player can give them but also there’s a great opportunity when collaborating with another startup and that’s help support each other and grow together.
Another important factor is to use every opportunity wisely when meeting people. Talking about your company and being eager to collaborate and create partnerships can lead to new unexpected connections.”
Tatiana’s expertise raised a handful of interesting insights on ways to approach partnerships and the new form of public relations. Her overall message is to choose wisely who you want to partner with and go for it!
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