This is one of the oldest tricks in the book but is also one of the most important.
The first step is to identify similar businesses which share your customer demographic. The trick is to be really clear about who your ideal customers are, where they hang out, what they like to do etc?
Once you know who your ideal customers are you can then identify similar businesses which do not compete with you directly but share the same customers.
Examples that have worked really well for me are:
- Video production companies.
- Business coaches and consultants.
- Training and education businesses.
In some instances I’ve been approached by these businesses looking to share common interests with me, other times I have approached them.
The key is to have something which is mutually beneficial to offer both your clients, that way you get a win/win situation for both your business, their business and all of your clients!
It’s about looking for commonality between businesses and then helping each other.
An example could be that I could approach a video production company and ask them to give me some top tips on how to produce videos for a business website. I could then reciprocate this and write them some top tips on how to market and attract more customers to a business.
We could reciprocate these articles, perhaps on our own blogs.
The video production company gets some excellent content helping their customers with their marketing.
My customers get some excellent content helping them with their video production.
It’s a win/win/win for both companies and all customers.
Working together like this also engenders a sense of friendship, trust and community and I found the building my business based on these values has been both sustainable and beneficial.
Begin working together… Sharing together… And building the rewards together!