How Collaborative Marketing Boosts Your Small Business

by | May 30, 2022 | Business Building Musts, Marketing Strategies, Small Business Help

Something I get asked often by clients and those attending my workshops, are ways to market business that is low cost.

And one of the BEST ways I recommend to people is COLLABORATIVE MARKETING!

Ok, so you might be asking me “Jenn, just what exactly IS collaborative marketing?”

Quite simply, it’s teaming up with like-minded, similar but non-competing businesses and pooling financial and time resources to create more buzz and interest than you could likely generate on your own.

Some collaborative marketing ventures are a one-time event and other ventures are like-minded businesses teaming up for a longer period of time.

As most small business owners know, there is never enough money in the budget for marketing and it can be expensive. Enter collaborative marketing ventures.

It can be very low cost and sometimes even FREE (and who doesn’t like free marketing!)

When small business owners come together with a common audience, or goal, or a common mission or interest, they can band together in any number of ways to create an influence and a presence that is greater than they could simply do themselves.

Sharing of resources, databases and marketing expenses are just a few of the wins that collaborative marketing can have.

Now, this concept is not new and has existed for a long time in marketing.

There are many examples of amazing success stories when it comes to collaboration marketing – one that comes to mind is Go Pro® and Red Bull®.

It’s like a match made in heaven.  Crazy Red Bull® adventure lifestylers recording their adventures!   They creatively tapped into each other’s audiences and engaged a new audience to reach new potential customers.

On a smaller scale, retailers do collaboration well, especially independents.

Hosting VIP shopping evenings with similar but non-competing businesses, sharing time, resources, and marketing budget.  They reach a wider audience, get the opportunity to market their brand to new potential customers and engage with them as they shop.

It’s mutually beneficial and win/win whilst leveraging each other’s assets (their database and/or audience).

WHERE TO START?

As Stephen R Covey so famously wrote in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, start with the end in mind!

Think about your end goal.

What do you want?

  • More reach
  • To grow your database
  • To grow your social followings
  • To tap into a new market
  • Engage the audience you already have

REMEMBER – it MUST be a valuable to you.

Collaborating marketing will only be successful if you have a goal to measure it against and you can see the value to you and your business in both the short and long term.

Be tactical when selecting a collaborator that also reaches your TARGET MARKET.

Who has your target market (potential customers) you want to get in front of or the channels you want to get exposure through, that is a non-competing business?

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COLLABORATIVE MARKETING AND INFLUENCER COLLABORATION?

With collaborative marketing, you are leveraging your skills set, your community, your time instead of money.  You are leveraging each other’s assets – it’s not a financial transaction between two businesses.

Influencers collaboration is different because there you are paying for content creation and/or placement.  The exchange is financial gain for one party and exposure of the other party.

Influencer collaboration is a very effective marketing tool, but not the exchange of community, time and skills, we are talking about when talking collaborative marketing.

Both do, however, have their place in small business’ marketing strategies today.

THE PITFALLS TO COLLABORATIVE MARKETING

Unfortunately, with all the good intentions from both parties, I have seen collaborative marketing go sour.

The 3 biggest pitfalls that can ruin a fabulous collaborative marketing strategy are

  1. The parties had mismatched expectations,
  2. One party is doing all the work to get the collaboration up and running or keep running, and
  3. One party (not always the one doing all the work!) is getting all the rewards.

All these pitfalls could have been and can be avoided if you go into an agreement understanding each other’s expectations and target audiences!

DO YOU NEED AN AGREEMENT BETWEEN PARTIES WITH COLLABORATING?

The answer to that question is both Yes and No!

Depending on the complexity of the arrangement, the expectations of both parties and the resources (time, energy and sometimes marketing budget) that needs to be into it, is an indicator that you may or may not need an agreement between the parties.

Having a simple MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) which details in dot points what each party is expected to do and the desired outcomes, could be all you need.  A simple one pager.

HOW CAN YOU USE COLLABORATIVE MARKETING IN YOUR BUSINESS?

Collaborative marketing works seamlessly with: –

  • Event partnership
  • Product partnership
  • Brand to brand marketing partnerships
  • Social media partnerships (running competitions or giveaways)
  • Webinars
  • Facebook Lives
  • And many many other ways

Even if you are starting with no list, no social following and no cash – collaborative marketing can work for you.  That’s it’s beauty.

COLLABORATIONS BUILD YOUR AUDIENCE

Collaboration is an incredible tool to tap into new audiences and grow any business by reaching new potential customers.

It also engages your communities on another level with something new and awesome.

One fantastic benefit of collaboration is that you get to grow your own network at the same time – creating new business friendships, new business connections.

MY BIG TIPS FOR COLLABORATION?

  • Start off doing something small, which grows into something very valuable and important in your marketing mix.
  • Identify who has your target audience that you would like an opportunity to tap into.
  • What goal are you looking to achieve? What would your goal be if you were given the opportunity to get in front of that audience?
  • Could you leverage your skills set, your community, your time and your assets with that business to create a win/win collaboration marketing strategy?

I would love to hear your thoughts over in my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group on what collaboration ideas you have, or even your experience in collaborations you’ve already done or are doing right now!

CONTACT JENN:

If you think a marketing collaboration might be something that could work in your business, but would like some guidance in rolling it out, I’d love to chat with you! Simply Book a discovery call with me here!

And remember, my Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group is a great place to get ideas, seek feedback and generally get some awesome support! The business owners in the group are so great with sharing their expertise with others, it’s such a wonderful community of supportive people!

Or you can DM me on Instagram or send me an email jenn@jenndonovan.com.au

I wish to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, the Yorta Yorta People, on which I conduct my business today and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples reading this blog post today.

About the Author:

Jenn Donovan of Social Media & Marketing Australia.  Jenn’s a coach and mentor from rural NSW and is all about empowering business owners to earn what they’re worth so they can make a bigger difference in the world.  The Founder of Buy From a Bush Business, Co-Founder of Spend With Us – Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace and host of the very popular podcast Small Business Made Simple, Jenn is all about community and humans interacting with humans!  H2H Marketing – human to human marketing. Jenn talks the talk but importantly walks the walk! Jenn’s online community is over 320,000 with her famous Facebook Group currently at almost 351,000 members and still growing every day.  She’s the major of her own little online city!

Get in touch – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au

On Instagram – @jenndonovan_

On Facebook – Jenn Donovan

Or on LinkedIn as Jenn Donovan

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Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

 

Brilliant – it’s on its way – thanks!

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