Collaborating with other brands, experts, or products can be highly effective. Partnerships help reach new audiences, enrich your content, and add creativity and trust to your communications. At the same time, they can be complex, involving multiple parties — which increases the risk of mistakes and the need to share responsibility in case of reputational issues.
To make partnerships productive — not stressful — here are a few key things to keep in mind:
1. Partners Can Make Mistakes — And So Can We
Every collaboration carries risk. Before joining forces with someone, do your homework. Once you’ve assessed whether the partnership makes sense in terms of goals, values, audiences, and resources — take the time to run a basic reputation check (due diligence):
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What kind of comments do people leave under their posts?
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Have you noticed emotional or toxic statements from company representatives?
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Has the brand faced any public reputational crises?
These steps help you avoid unpleasant surprises later.
2. Be Clear on the Process — Put Everything in Writing
At the start of the partnership, agree on the key steps: who’s responsible for what, how approvals will happen, and how communication will work. While this won’t guarantee a chaos-free process (especially if one of the partners is inexperienced), documented agreements will help protect your brand and create structure.
Key points to clarify:
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Who publishes what — and when?
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How will materials be approved and edited?
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Are there brandbooks, guidelines, restricted topics, or no-go words to keep in mind?
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Which communication channels will you use?
3. Communication Is Not Just About Messaging — It’s About Responsibility
Sometimes partners may go silent. If deadlines are tight or reporting is involved, it’s important to be proactive — not just wait.
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Gently remind them about upcoming deadlines
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Ask for alternative contacts if needed
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Be clear: what information do you need and by when?
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Double-check before mentioning your partner in any unscheduled posts
No answer is also an answer — and if you’re an agency managing a partnership between two brands, that silence needs to be communicated.
Ideally, you may prefer to control the entire process on your own. But if you’re working with partners — share information openly, pay attention to the details, follow through on agreements, and respect each other’s efforts. Even if something goes off track, you’ll walk away with experience you can use in your next project.
