How Can Small Businesses Benefit from B2B Collaborations?

This is a guest post by the wonderful Lucy Rose. Thank you, Lucy for writing this for me.

Influencer marketing — a strategy which 89% of businesses report as potentially better than other marketing strategies — is just one example of how businesses can benefit by working together towards common goals. Regardless of the industry you operate in, B2B collaborations are a key way to add value to your services, extend your client base, and rely on others’ reputations to boost your own in your community. In what ways can your small business benefit from a collaborative B2B approach?

B2B Collaborations and Added Value

Collaborations can benefit you in many ways, enabling you to make significant cost savings. Sharing resources with other companies allows you to work more effectively and share risks, while creating a higher value for your customers. Collaborations can be short and specific, enabling you to test the waters beforehand. Find inspiration in some of the most successful collabs to date — including those by GoPro and Red Bull, who have worked on many unimaginable ‘stunts’ together. If your small business deals in events planning, for instance, why not partner up with leading hotels in your area, dividing profits and agreeing to promote each other to existing clients?

Improving Community Relationships

If you are a small local company, collaborating with local companies is beneficial in many ways. For one, it will improve your reputation for being a company that is committed to improving your community. These days, buying local and supporting other local companies exudes key values such as respect for the environment and an interest in promoting local jobs. Working with people who are close by also allows you to build sustained partnerships and to make new connections that will benefit your business in the long run. Finally, supporting local companies gives each business access to good suppliers, new competitors, and other key players in your industry.

Problem Solving

When you have hit a roadblock, running your problem by collaborators can help define new paths to take. You can agree with the other company to discuss each others’ biggest challenges and to brainstorm possible solutions. Different staff members logically have different knowledge, skills and expertise, and sometimes, one team member from another company will come up with an innovative solution you may not have considered before owing to, for instance, lack of knowledge about a new technology or services available on the market.

Digital Marketing and Social Media Benefits

Today, around 78% of Internet users conduct product searches online and one excellent way to improve your SEO is through collaborative work — including collaborative blogging, link sharing on social media, and shared campaign accounts. Sharing marketing efforts will also expose you to your partner’s audience, potentially increasing your social media following and activity. When two companies are working on one campaign, word-of-mouth is boosted and content has the ability to be far more dynamic and creative — as teams brainstorm and share pertinent strategies and tactics.

Businesses have everything to gain by partnering with other small businesses. From the ability to encounter people with other skills and information to the chance of boosting your digital marketing strategy, there are so many ways you can learn from other teams. Simply working together will also strengthen your position in your local community, especially if both teams also work on projects that can improve the lives of those in the area.

Thank you for reading my stories! 😊

My purpose is to help 1 million people by 2020 to live the lives they desire. To help people find happiness and become better organised and more productive so they can do more of the important things in life.

If you would like to learn more about the work I do, and how I can help you to become better organised and more productive, you can visit my website or you can say hello on Twitter, YouTube or Facebook and subscribe to my weekly newsletter right here.