Today’s blog article is a guest post courtesy of Jacqueline Ganim-DeFalco, Founder of Marketing Recon. Marketing Recon partners with executive teams, designing custom programs to create stronger strategic linkages between a company, its clients, and its partners and laying the groundwork for new market growth. Jacqueline is a valued member of my inner circle of trusted colleagues.
Let’s face it: With the plethora of online technology, BTB (business-to-business) marketing has gotten very specialized and analytical. But despite all the technology development, the end game — building long-term relationships — hasn’t really changed. So what better way to approach marketing than through collaboration? Collaboration done well can be a differentiating marketing tool in your business growth arsenal.
Partner up
Collaborations touch on the nerve-center of BTB marketing – how to feed relationships in a healthy and meaningful way, even when there is no immediate transaction at hand. Successful collaborations fully leverage business relationships among like-minded companies and individuals.
Business leaders in both profit and non-profit organizations seeking to unlock revenue growth, exert market influence and scale their businesses can capitalize on the power of collaboration as a high potency marketing tool.
A collaboration about collaborating
Through personal experience with both successful “for profit” programs and non-profit engagements, along with input from marketing colleagues, Jacqueline Franklin (Routes2Market) and Nancy Wolff Leary (Online Amplify), Collaboration for Strategic Advantage was born. This eBook shares selected case studies for industry thought leadership programs and marketing engagements and offers instructive explanations and guidance in developing collaborations.
Step back and consider
Ask yourself the following questions to identify collaboration opportunities in your own niche or service sector:
Does my industry or business sector allow for the sharing of best practices, thought leadership, and co-marketing? Or, on the flipside: Are there any laws prohibiting these types of initiatives?
Is there an issue or topic of influence that my organization can “own” and potentially drive forward by taking a lead role in messaging across a sector or industry?
Is there a vendor-neutral organization that can logically take a leadership role in running a collaborative initiative/consortium?
If one or more of these qualifying questions speaks to your organization’s (or industry’s) state of affairs, you likely have a collaborative gem or two that merits a bit of exploration.
Take the next step: download the eBook to get started!
If you prefer to be an expert at your craft and leave the marketing to others, feel free to contact us for help.
