When thinking about business marketing, partnering with other companies is not a often discussed marketing tactic. But it should be, because the wins can be incredible! Out of all the different forms of marketing we have tried for our own business, finding and establishing partnerships has delivered the strongest and most enduring results.
An example of this would be if you owned a bridal shop, it could be beneficial linking up with a florist and a wedding car chauffeur and passing them on business. They could provide you with exclusive deals for your brides-to-be and that would make buying a wedding dress from you more appealing for the brides-to-be as they could then access those exclusive deals.
As we have built our business, we have benefited by partnering with other businesses along the way.
Firstly we have Elizabeth, she lives locally and emailed us when she setup her copywriting business, Word Salon. Initially we were feeding work to Elizabeth but once her fledgling business took off, the work began to flow in both directions and we now collaborate on most of our projects.
At a networking event in Epsom, we met Nick who runs an IT consultancy called Apple Wood IT. Nick refers clients to us who need help with their hosting or a revamp of their website. We pass on clients to Nick who need help setting up email accounts or with general IT issues.
Lisa Ghaith runs a Graphic Design consultancy based in Chessington. She does not offer web design so contacted us as a reputable local web design consultancy to referrer her clients to. We have had several good referrals from Lisa including a recent referral for the Rubbing House pub & restaurant on Epsom Downs. In return we give Lisa a cash referral reward for each job she refers.
Our last but not least partnership is with Nigel Stickland owner of Simplicity Digital Marketing. We met Nigel at another networking event in Epsom and he now uses us a preferred partner to build websites for his clients.
So between us we keep the money and work moving round, each benefiting the other. And not just financially, we have had a lots of laughs along the way and strong friendships have been built.
In hind sight, we wish we had started building partnerships much earlier on and we now have eyes wide open for new opportunities with the people we meet and work with.
Is there an opportunity for you to partner with other businesses? You bet ya!! Take a look out there and see who’s around, a chance meeting or a tentative email can be all it takes to kick it off.