Marketing collaborations are a great way to boost your reach and tap into new markets without spending a huge amount of money. If you can find another business that works in a similar area without being in direct competition with you, you’ll both benefit from a joint marketing campaign. For example, if you’re running a business that sells kitchens, you could do a collaboration with a company that sells cooking equipment. The customers of both companies are going to have similar interests so you’ll both be able to reach new customers that are potentially going to be interested in your products. However, a marketing collaboration is tricky to get right and there are a lot of things that can go wrong along the way. If you think that a marketing collaboration could help you to boost sales, here’s how to do it the right way.
Consult Shareholders First
Marketing collaborations can go wrong and it’s important that you choose the right partners to work with. Once you start a joint marketing campaign, that company reflects on you and any bad PR that they get can impact your business as well, which is why you need to consult the shareholders first. If you don’t and they’re not on board with the idea, you could end up in the middle of a dispute between directors and the shareholders. It’s important that you clear those big decisions with everybody before you move forward.
Have An Airtight Contract
Entering into a collaboration with another business is always a risk, regardless of how trustworthy and legitimate they might seem. That’s why it’s essential that you have an airtight contract from the beginning. Managing contracts is tricky so you should be using good contract management software. If you haven’t got any already, read this contract management buyers guide to help you pick one that works for you. It will help you to manage contracts and keep them updated if there are any changes. If you don’t have a good contract from the start, your collaboration could be disastrous.
It’s absolutely vital that you check the contracts thoroughly and negotiate them properly before you sign anything. You don’t want to enter into a partnership that benefits the other company a lot but doesn’t do anything for you.
Stay True To Your Brand
The whole point of this collaboration is to find new customers, but it’s important that you’re careful not to alienate your existing customers in the process. If you start running marketing campaigns with another company and you take on their brand, and adapt to be more like them, you might start losing your existing customers. That’s why it’s important that you choose a company that has similar branding and ensure that you’re always maintaining your own brand and not watering it down. If you do want to change your brand in some ways, it’s important that you consider your existing customers and take steps to keep them happy during the rebrand.
Marketing collaborations can be incredibly beneficial, but only if you get them right, so make sure that you’re following these rules.