For small businesses establishing their name in the industry can be very difficult. With higher financial power and human resources, big brands often take the leverage of ruling the market.
However, it does not mean that small businesses cannot grow. Collaborative marketing is highly beneficial for small businesses to instantly give the business a boost and grow mutually. Not only collaboration is beneficial for small businesses but also for bigger businesses and therefore, you can see a lot of collaborative marketing in the current age.
Why should small businesses collaborate with other businesses?
A collaborative market can immediately increase your reach and help the small business reach its potential client, considering the fact that the target audience aligns with the value of your brand. Collaboration also provides the opportunity to cross-promote the brand. For instance, imagine that you have developed TapTap. In this scenario, it is ideal for you to collaborate with someone who deals with casual games to reach your potential clients. With collaborative marketing, the small businesses have a better opportunity to reach a greater audience and this, in turn, will increase the revenue of the business.
The collaboration further helps one to increase the network. Ask any entrepreneur, and they will explain to you the importance of networking. Collaborating with other brands helps you to network and broaden your list of contacts. This will always help you in the long run, especially if you work in the same industry. In addition to that, collaboration is highly educational, and you can use it to learn new elements of the business. When two brands collaborate, they bring different sets of professional skills along with them. In addition to that, one also has the option of collaborating with influencers too. You can collaborate on products like Auto Clicker with gamers who love streaming. Even in this scenario, it is a win-win situation for both. Along with the combined expertise of the brand, collaborative marketing also splits the costs of marketing between the two which drastically reduces the costs.
Most importantly, small businesses should go for collaborative marketing because it can increase their brand credibility and help them to gain recognition in the industry.
How can small businesses engage in collaborative marketing?
The easiest way of collaborating is through cross-promoting on social media platforms. Many small businesses have benefited from such cross-promotions. According to reports, owners of small businesses have accepted that such social media marketing has increased their business exposure. Giving giveaways is another super-easy way of engaging in collaboration where a brand asks the followers to follow all the brands with which they are collaborating, tag friends and comment to win the giveaway. Also, by giving away your best product, you also get the opportunity to showcase your product and services, which can do marketing of your product through word of mouth.
Other ways of collaborative marketing include organizing shared events, working on a product together, video marketing and co-marketing the products and services.
When engaging in collaborative marketing, it is important to connect with like-minded businesses to ensure a higher ROI. The target market should be shared and have similar buyer personas. For instance, if you are a company that is selling jackets, it is not recommended to engage in collaborative marketing with someone who is selling books. The target market needs to be similar. The brand identity should also be complementary to avoid crashes at a later stage. Lastly, the marketing goals should be similar. Once these three checklists are met, you can engage in collaborative marketing with a partner.
There are many forms of collaborative marketing and it is a good idea to consider all the options available to see which strategy is working the best. Is a shout-out sufficient or do you need to give the customers a giveaway for a better ROI? This is something that can only be understood through experimentation. You can go ahead with collaborative marketing through partnership marketing, retail partnership, cooperative advertising, Instagram collaboration, referral marketing, brand partnership and joint ads.
If you are a small business interested in collaborative marketing with other brands, you need to start sending your proposal to the brand or business with whom you are interested in collaboration. You can start the proposal by telling the business about your business and then tell the brand why you want to collaborate with them. Finally, jot down your request with a clear action item.
