Presented by Tipalti
In Tipalti’s recent Illuminate event, industry experts talked about how platforms can deliver best-in-class experiences to their creator partners. Now it’s free to watch on demand. Find out how platforms can perform, including automation and cryptocurrency at the back, better market growth at the front, and more.
Stream this exclusive Illuminate session here.
Be it musicians, influencers or gamers, when creative partners choose a platform, their goal is to launch a thriving career. Most platforms and marketplaces focus on building the best experience for their end users, but often overlook the long-term success of the creative partners who make their business great.
“Platform owners spend a lot of time thinking about the craft they are trying to support, which is the front-end product,” said Paco Suro, GM, Global Partner Payments at Tipalti. “That’s great, and I think you solve a lot of the happiness for those partners. Where it can get bumpy for platforms is that they can grow and scale relatively quickly, so they don’t think about the whole end-to-end partner experience.”
Long-term partners are carefully looking for the back office services that can help them run and grow their business. Of course, they think about the ecosystem that a platform may bring to the table, the audience it can draw from and generate revenue from, but also how they generate revenue on the platform. They are looking for a partner who can make that process seamless and transparent, however it works.
In fact, according to a recent survey conducted by Wakefield Research and Tipalti, 83% of creative partners would prefer their platform to manage administrative tasks on their behalf.
The basis of all this is to get paid, on time and in the desired form of payment. And it all depends on many factors, from the geography in which a maker lives, to the potential lack of traditional bank accounts, necessitating the need for alternative payment methods, to the complexity of taxes and reporting. All of this is critical if creators and marketplace owners alike are to scale.
“Platforms are doing themselves a great service when they can provide a very seamless experience when it comes to many of the mundane tasks associated with building a partner business on the platform,” Suro says. “Monetizing and building brand awareness is the crux of it.”
Building a better backend
Behind the scenes, technology and the evolution of digital payments play a vital role for growing platforms and careers, Suro adds.
First and foremost, automation saves a huge amount of time and money, freeing up platforms to invest front-of-house resources to continue building the ecosystem and experience that draws in audiences and cashes in for everyone’s benefit. On the other hand, automation allows for scaling and growth in the back office without the additional workforce and associated costs. But more importantly, automation expands your coverage area as platforms scale and the size of the partnership grows and multiplies.
Partners want a platform they can rely on to handle the burden of administrative payment tasks, and 72% of creative partners say that automatic payments would help them grow their business significantly. They have to rely on the terms of their contract, from payment options to rock-solid payment times, knowing that there is technology out there to back up those promises.
That also means that a platform has to keep abreast of how the world of money transfers is evolving. This means payment media that work best for their partners, even as new alternatives emerge – including cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, or stablecoins like USDC, which are held entirely in cash and short-term liabilities from the US government.
“The more optionality platforms can come up with to offer their partners, the better positioned they are to succeed,” Suro says. “It’s certainly not easy to get to and it’s an area where it’s going to be important for platforms to consider more and more. How do I distribute income among my partners, instead of just traditional fiat currencies?’
To learn more about what partners look for in a marketplace relationship, how to make both sides of your platform attractive to creators, and more, follow this informative session from Tipalti’s Illuminate event.
Watch on demand now!
You will learn:
- Why global payment methods are crucial to gain competitive advantage
- How a flexible onboarding experience improves relationships and attracts partners
- How compliance and tax audits can relieve administrative work for your partners
- And more
presenters
- Michael S. Chang, bestselling author; Founder and CEO, VGCD GAMEPLAN Academy
- Martin CaplanHead of Blockchain Games Vertical, Amber
- Paco SuroGM, Global Partner Payments, Tipaltia