Investing in your brand story can make all the difference in your business. Brand is so powerful that even average products that are well-branded have a higher chance of being purchased than excellent products with weak branding.
Along with investing in brand comes the opportunity of co-branding with another business for added impact. B2B partnerships are on an upward trend, and data shows that co-branding yields results. According to PartnerPath, more than two-thirds of consumers have an easier time making buying decisions after seeing a co-branded campaign. But the stronger your own brand, the more success you’ll see in co-branding.
I lead the marketing team for Channel Partnerships at Wix, a company that knows the value of brand. With a reputation as the number one website builder overall for small businesses, Wix knows how to build a connection with its customers. Just a glimpse of the Wix logo or a mention of its name evokes thoughts of beautiful design and online business success.
Let’s talk about branding and what we can learn from it.
Servicing SMBs? Show them how to build a brand around their business.
Why invest in brand
Back in college for my Marketing Communications degree, one of the first things we learned about was customer attachment to brands—and for good reason. Brands are associated with emotions and can influence actions.
This is explored in The Science of Loyalty, a 2024 report by Intuit Mailchimp. The report shares that when brands and marketers build strong relationships with existing customers, those customers are much more likely to purchase from the brand again. The report identifies several levels of loyalty, starting with inert (convenience) loyalty, followed by habitual (routine) loyalty, then dedicated (emotional) loyalty and, finally—fandom, the pinnacle of loyalty.
And loyalty means higher ROI for the brand. Loyal customers spend 43% more money at businesses to which they are loyal.
Moreover, the first product you try is usually the brand you stick with—so that initial branding is key. For example, when I was a kid, Adidas' ads and brilliant storytelling made me think of it as the brand for stylish athletes (though I was no athlete at all). I got my first pair of Adidas sneakers at age 14, and to this day, it's my go-to brand for fitness. Not to start a brand battle, but there has been talk of Nike reinvesting in “bigger, bolder brand storytelling” following a dip in product sales. It’s said that, despite the quality of their products, Nike’s decision to focus less on branding has literally cost them. So, it’s time to go back to basics.
Branding is about relationships. You’ve got to represent something the customer loves or wants to be in order to stand out and become recognizable. In this sense, the marketing strategy is just as important as the product itself.
More Wix resources for your SMB customers:
How Wix looks at brand
Ease of use. Web design. Small business. These are terms that come to mind when thinking of the Wix brand.
For nearly two decades, Wix has built strong relationships with 250M+ users around the world. Wix gives people the confidence to launch online and inspires them to bring their dreams to life. Even the name of the company feels user-friendly, like a buddy rather than a brand or product. Wix also gained brand recognition via campaigns like the Super Bowl ad starring model Karlie Kloss. Ads like this allowed the “personality” of our brand shine through.
Wix was originally founded to make it easier for people, especially SMBs, to create their own website. That dedication to user needs has remained central to the company’s mission and brand story.
One of Wix’s original innovations was the drag-and-drop editor, which allows users to design their site without code. This disruptive tech changed the face of website building. More recently, Wix has addressed users’ need for stronger SEO solutions by offering a suite of built-in SEO tools. Wix is now ranked best SEO performer among CMSes according to Web Almanac, exceeding brands like WordPress and Squarespace.
So as the brand strengthens, the product does along with it, and vice versa. Wix built its brand while honing its product offering and technology, releasing new features, enhancements and breakthroughs in AI on a consistent basis. As a platform, Wix is always evolving. But its brand values have never changed.
Marketing considerations for a co-branded initiative
Once you know your brand and the value you communicate to customers, you can consider magnifying that power through a strategic, co-branded partnership.
In terms of the overall partnership, there are fundamental questions like: Is there a business case for added value to customers? Is there a product fit?
But in terms of marketing, what should you consider before launching a co-branded initiative?
How does the brand personality of the business partner match up with yours?
Do the corporate values and mission of your two companies align?
Does the business partner have the dedicated marketing resources in place to promote and drive traffic to this initiative?
Brand fit and marketing efforts are an essential part of strategic partnerships. The co-branded initiative won’t be effective if the brand pairing doesn't make sense. Like a couple of friends (think Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked), the two brands don't necessarily need to be very similar or a logical pair. Rather, they should share some of the same values and complement one another in a way that makes the pair stronger.
For example, while Wix is a global SaaS website builder platform and Moneris is a Canadian fintech company and payment processor, they both aim to uplift and empower small merchants. They’re also both leaders in their respective markets. Matt Crawford, SVP Partnerships at Moneris, says of the partnership: “We're taking the strong Moneris brand and layering the strong Wix brand on top. It really does become ‘1+1=3’. The power of these two brands together brings something new and impactful to the table.”
Once the partnership is launched and it’s time to promote it, you’ll want to be on the same page with your business partner. What are the expectations from each side? What is the key value proposition (KVP) and messaging for this partnership and related campaigns? How do we drive traffic, and then optimize post-launch? Is there potential to collaborate on co-branded content for further promotion and added value to customers?
Each company should have a marketing team ready to collaborate for the partnership. Each team knows their customer bases best and can contribute to developing the KVP and go-to market strategy (GTM) as needed. Marketers with the right experience and resources will be able to optimize the launch and performance of the partnership.
At Wix Channels, we offer marketing expertise as part of our full funnel partnership strategy. We leverage our teams across marketing, solutions, success management and more to develop tailored platform integrations, and then analyze for continuous optimization.
Conclusion
Branding is worth the investment, and co-branding can open up new opportunities for both your company and your customers. There is so much power behind brand to cultivate a connection—and eventually, loyalty—with your audience.
Each brand has its own truth and knows its audience. But a strategic co-branded initiative can be even more convincing to customers than a usual campaign or offer.
Once you match up with another company and find the key to your partnership—that’s when added value is created.
Learn how a channel partnership with Wix can drive growth for your business and your SMB customers.