February 23, 2010

Working together could be to your advantage

photo by Bassel Safadi

I was at a networking meeting recently, chatting with a book-keeper and a virtual assistant.  I suggested to them that they consider doing some joint marketing as they have the same target market but are in non-competing businesses.  I left them talking together as ideas started coming thick & fast!

Working as part of a ‘Strategic Alliance’ has always been a great way for small businesses to get extra income.  The trouble is that when you’re already busy on your own behalf, looking for partners to work with is just another thing you don’t seem to get around to!

One of the problems faced by many small business owners is the sense of isolation and, if you’re feeling a bit nervous about the future in today’s climate, (let’s be honest, who isn’t?) then perhaps the time has come for you to work with another business owner, or at least to do some joint promotions.  Some of the advantages of this approach could include:

• Sharing the workload or cost of promotion
• Having someone to exchange ideas with
• Being able to tackle projects that are too big for one person
• Increasing the number of people you have to market to
• Having an accountability ‘buddy’ (this was an unexpected bonus for me!)

How could you find a Strategic Alliance for your business?  Start by going through your list of contacts, or business card file and ask yourself these questions:

• Who do you know who shares your target market, but doesn’t directly compete with you?
• Do you get on well enough with them to work together?
• Do they have complementary strengths or skills to you?
• What shared areas of interest or expertise do you have?

Obviously the next step is to contact them, find out if they’re open to the idea of working together, meet for a coffee, and see what ideas you both come up with.  I’m not suggesting that you share everything about your business with each other, but if you take it project by project, working together can be very rewarding.

Have you worked with a Strategic Partner?  What results did you experience? 

Categories: Marketing, Management

« back to newest articles