Council Post: 11 Ways To Ensure The Success Of A Collaborative Business Campaign

Partnering with another business in your industry on a campaign or promotion is an effective and mutually beneficial way to market your product or service. Not only does it bring brand awareness for your company, but you’ll also expand your reach by tapping into your partner company’s existing audience.

If you’re gearing up for a collaborative cross-promotion with another company, there are a few steps you’ll need to take in order for the partnership to go well. Below, 11 members of Young Entrepreneur Council each shared one step they recommend you take for a successful collaboration.

1. Set Expectations

You must set up expectations, goals and responsibilities with each party. A short contract and deliverables list should outline your understandings, but have meetings to go over a successful implementation and an unsuccessful one. This will allow everyone to know their expectations. – Peter Boyd, PaperStreet Web Design

2. Gauge The Partnership Before Diving In

Make sure the partnership makes sense before you engage in it. Partnerships that require too much imagination (like a makeup company and a cement mixer fleet) won’t share an audience both partners can benefit from. Make sure the partnership fits like a hand in a glove, and you will be okay. – Tyler Bray, TK Trailer Parts

3. Develop A Project Structure

Define clear goals, a transparent path with milestones, a key person in charge of the project and rules of interaction with your partner team. Setting things up in advance and having a clear conversation that highlights all dependencies and accountability structures can help avoid the noise in advance while working with external teams. – Daria Gonzalez, Wunderdogs

4. Create Shared Goals

Sit down with your partner and create a set of collective goals. After all, your specific goals may be a bit different from the other business’s, so you’ll need to do this in a collaborative fashion. That way, you’ll both be on the same page from the start and things should go much more smoothly. – Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance

5. Articulate Benefits For Each Party

Make sure there are benefits to both partners. Articulate them over and over—in meetings, on notes and materials, when you have discussions. Many partnerships fail because people go in and out of them alongside many other competing projects and priorities. Many times, as they come back into the discussion, the parties forget why the partnership was agreed on in the first place. Over-communicate to succeed. – JT Allen, myFootpath LLC

6. Proactively Mitigate Disagreements

When you’re undertaking a partnership, you need to know how you’re going to come to a decision when both parties disagree with some actions. Do you bring in a third party? Set boundaries in writing? Give one partner more weight in a decision than the other? Figuring out what you’ll do when you have a serious disagreement is critical before you start a campaign together. – Blair Williams, MemberPress

7. Define Boundaries

It’s helpful to have a list of things that are an absolute “no” in the campaign. An example would be if you want to avoid any mention of a competing product or if your partner wants a fixed deadline for the campaign to end. Fleshing out hard boundaries is another way to think that covers all the bases, and you’ll prevent issues and misunderstandings down the line. – Syed Balkhi, WPBeginner

8. Ask Tough Questions

It’s easier to get and maintain partnerships when you have certain questions in your vetting process. What past results do the two companies have in terms of similar promotions, campaigns or projects? Do your two companies stand to gain acceptable benefits from the deal? Do both companies see the deal as fair? Do they share similar values when it comes to ways of doing business? Answer truthfully. – Samuel Thimothy, OneIMS

9. Communicate Clearly

Clear communication about what your goals and expectations are without any fluff is ideal.  Then, putting it in writing—even if it’s a simple email to confirm your understanding of the agreement—leaves little room for gray areas. To avoid fluff and people-pleasing, I like to be direct early on about my goals and concerns. This builds credibility and a reputation for authenticity and integrity. – Givelle Lamano, Lamano Law Office

10. Consider Your Target Audiences

Before partnering with another business, the first thing we check is whether their brand meshes well with ours. Ask yourself questions like: Do our target audiences share similar goals and pain points? How can our customers benefit from using our partner’s product? Are there opportunities for future collaborations? These questions are essential to finding and maintaining strong partnerships. – Chris Christoff, MonsterInsights

11. Set Weekly Meetings

I believe the key to building strong partnerships is to communicate every step of the way. When we partner with other businesses, we meet up weekly to discuss the results and make changes as necessary. I’ve found that keeping everyone on the same page ensures that our arrangement is beneficial to everyone involved. – John Brackett, Smash Balloon LLC

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

SpiceJet to operate flights between India and UK from...

New Delhi: Budget carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday said that it has secured slots at...

Former Oasis Frontman Liam Gallagher Scores His Third Solo...

MILAN, ITALY - FEBRUARY 16: Liam Gallagher performs at...

How A High School Four-Putt Planted The Seed For...

Dustin Johnson hits a putt on Perfect Practice's Perfect...