Submitted by Sabina Hitchen on | 0 Comments
Collaboration is a beautiful thing in business for a multitude of reasons, and during November as the country and your company prepare for the holidays, it can be your ticket to more visibility, fresh ideas, new customers and a bit of weight off your shoulders. In the spirit of collaboration and working together with other entrepreneurs (something we’re big proponents of here at Tin Shingle) we’ve complied a list of strategic suggestions for you to consider adding to your sales and marketing plans this holiday season.
#1 - Create Multi-Brand Social Media Posts
From tips to shopping suggestions, creating promotional graphics, Pinterest boards, tips and lists that feature more than one brand means an instant increase in exposure. We suggest you partner with companies that aren’t identical to yours but do share a similar audience. Heck, they don’t even have to be from the same niche or industry, but they do have to appeal to the same customers and audience. When you do this you’re providing value to your current and potential customer/client base by introducing them to brands and deals that may interest them. This also means you’ll be appearing in front of new feeds and people in a trusted way thanks to your cross-promo partners.
#2 - Encourage Your Customers to Shop (with a Discount) at other Companies:
This strategy is perfect for the Black Friday through Cyber Monday shopping holidays. Whether you’re a brick and mortar shop or an online business, service or product-based, you can share a special offer with your customers and allow them to present a receipt (or gift them with a code upon purchase at your business) that will give them further discounts for a set amount of time at participating partners. For instance, if you’re a product like WiggleTot that makes products that allow for easy and safe diaper changing could partner with a brand like Nomie Baby (removable carseat covers) and My Kids Threads (online children’s consignment) and all three could offer joint discounts over the Black Friday or Christmas holiday shopping seasons. Not only will they increase their chances for sales, but they’ll be getting guaranteed exposure to the audiences of three different brands, which could come from social media, newsletters and the promo codes they receive post-shopping. Talk about a homerun!
#3 - Create Tailored Gift Guides Featuring Partner Businesses
Whether it’s for the sports nut, the foodie, a hostess gift or the lady who has it all it can be tempting to share only your gifts with your audience, hoping to nail that sale. But here’s the thing: if you’re open to sharing multiple suggestions with your customers via cross promotional gift guides, you not only give them an increase in value in terms of your content, but you also ensure that you’ll appear in front of multiple other businesses clients and customers. These gift guides can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, newsletters and more.
BONUS BUZZ ALERT: If you really want to take this strategy to new heights, pitch your gift guide idea to an on-air TV expert who specializes in your niche and they could potentially share your gift guide via TV segment. Sound too good to be true? Don’t forget: the best things come to those who try!
