How SMBs Can Win Big with Collaborative Marketing and Strategic Partnerships

While marketing may feel like a fiercely independent endeavor for every business, this is only half true. Sure, you may not want to promote one of your direct competitors… but why not work with another company, in a different industry, to meet both your goals?

This approach is almost a marketing cheat code, the rising tide that raises all ships. Let’s talk about why such partnerships are so valuable and how to take advantage of the marketing advantages for yourself.

Why are Inter-Industry Marketing Partnerships Worth Pursuing?

There are numerous reasons why joining forces with another business to pursue marketing opportunities is an excellent strategy to follow. For instance:

You Grow Your Audience without Shrinking Your Available Funds
Growing your business is, typically speaking, an expensive endeavor. To effectively publicize your services and attract those who would benefit from them, you need to invest in outreach and lead generation. At least, that’s typically the case.

However, if you form a partnership with another business, you can effectively share these costs and both benefit from building an audience. This also allows you to take on more intensive and costly efforts, splitting the required investment between your two organizations.

You Pool Your Credibility
Ideally, you’ve cultivated a solid reputation for your own business and its services, and the organization you’re considering partnering with has done the same. Both of you can further enhance your reputations by sharing them through association, and as an added benefit, help boost your brand awareness among a wider audience.

You Generate New Ideas that You May Have Missed Otherwise
With two different business perspectives working toward a single goal, it is easier to generate fresh and engaging selling points that address the wants and needs of each of your audiences.

Your goal is effectively to establish a mutually beneficial relationship between your business and another, leveraging each other’s strengths and existing relationships to highlight your successes.

What to Look for in a Marketing Partner

Find Businesses Whose Service Offering Pairs Well with Yours

A business partnership of any degree requires consideration of the optics. Not only does it make little sense to partner with a business that offers exactly what you do—at that point, you’re either merging or competing with one another—but the relationship also needs to make sense. Therefore, you should seek out businesses with services that complement yours to partner with.

Find Businesses Whose Audience Mirrors Yours

On a related note, it will help to identify which businesses aren’t competitors, but work in similar or related functions… an IT service provider focusing on manufacturing companies, for instance, would find it valuable to team up with a distributor, or perhaps one of the vendors that supplies manufacturers with their raw materials or tools. In essence, whatever audience you’re targeting, try to identify and work with businesses with their own reasons to target the same audience. 

Find Businesses Whose Values Match Yours

Likewise, you want to make sure your collaborators reflect well on your business, particularly in terms of workplace culture and ethics. This will help ensure that you are shielded from business scandals and are working with those with similar motivations and a common goal.

Find Businesses Whose Reputation Reflects Well on Yours

Of course, you also don’t want to tie yourself to an organization that is regularly raked across the coals by unhappy customers. Make sure you carefully vet any business you consider partnering with to ensure your association with them won’t reflect poorly on your reputation.

Collaborative Marketing Examples to Consider
There are plenty of opportunities to work with other businesses as part of your marketing efforts, such as:

• Co-hosting webinars and lunch and learns with your associates
• Combining offers and services into collaborative bundles
• Sharing content amongst each other in blog posts, newsletters, or social media
• Referral campaigns between your business and a marketing partner

This is a very brief list for you to consider, too. Plenty of other means of collaborating can and will appear for you to embrace.

How to Cultivate a Collaborative Partnership with Another Business

Prioritize Open Communications and Defined Roles

When you work with an external business partner, it is critical that everyone understands their responsibilities and that lines of communication remain open and honest. This will help keep everyone on the same page and working together.

Ensure Everything is Equal

Naturally, any partnership needs to be built in a balanced and mutually beneficial way, with an equal distribution of responsibilities. Otherwise, it will be a fragile and very temporary relationship.

Schedule Accountability

Holding regular meetings with the businesses you work with will help keep everyone on track and invested in the success of the partnership. How will you scratch your partner’s back, and how will they scratch yours?

Working with Other Businesses is Often the Best Strategy, Regardless of Your Industry

From having access to a wider audience to embracing more diverse business opportunities, there are options all around you to embrace… and this is especially true of managed service providers.

We’re willing to break one of the rules we reviewed here for you.

We operate as an MSP ourselves, putting us in the position to most effectively assist our fellow managed IT providers with their marketing efforts. So, why are we so ready to break our first guideline for who to work with, and encourage MSPs to do the same?

Simple: the more MSPs that we can assist, the better known the managed service industry becomes… and the more prospects seek out assistance from all of us.

Let us help you create the marketing that will attract more businesses to work with you. Reach out to learn more about our marketing services at 888-546-4384, or explore this website to learn more about what we do and get in touch regarding a specific service we can provide!