Collaboration is the New Competition: Growing your Business with Partnerships
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The most successful companies these days are ones that understand how to collaborate with other like-minded businesses to leverage their talents and get ahead together. Some of the startup world's best and brightest are expanding their communities faster than ever thanks to brilliant, yet simple partnerships. Discover how collaborating with companies who have similar audiences can move both of your businesses forward faster than you can on your own. A great partnership is something that anyone can build, so long as they know who they are, what they have to offer, and what they'd like in return. Find out how to make collaboration fun, not daunting, with this class taught by Baily Hancock, the woman behind General Assembly's many successful marketing partnerships. You'll come away learning about partnership best practices and incredibly useful tools for identifying and managing partners.
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Collaboration is the New Competition: Growing your Business with Partnerships
- 1. Growingyourbusinesswithpartnerships COLLABORATION IS THE NEW COMPETITION
- 2. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock SOMANYQUESTIONS,LET’SGETSOMEANSWERS ✦ Why should you partner? ✦ Why should they partner with you? ✦ Where do you find partners? ✦ What makes a great partner great? ✦ How do you get to them? (AKA Stalking 101) ✦ What do you say? ✦ How do you keep a partnership alive and well?
- 5. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock WHATDOYOUWANTANDWHY? ✦ Almost all partnerships come down to the desire for one of the following: • Exposure • Perks • Newbusiness • Goodwill ✦ A by-produce of almost all partnerships is brand alignment, so be careful of “who you sit with at the lunch table”
- 6. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock WHATDOYOUWANTANDWHY? ✦ Know your goals • Howwillyoumeasuresuccess? • Whattimeframeareyouworkingwith? ✦ Prioritize • What’sthe#1outcomeyouwantfromapartnership? • Yourtop3desiredoutcomesfromapartnership? ✦ Dream big • Bestcasescenarioor“Unicorn”partnership
- 7. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock SOMETHINGSTOTHINKABOUT ✦ What do you want/need? ✦ How will you measure success? ✦ What is your #1 goal for a partnership? ✦ What’s your best case scenario?
- 9. KNOW YOUR COMPANY INSIDE AND OUT {DrinkyourownKool-Aid}
- 10. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock WHOAREYOU? ✦ Who are you customers/community? ✦ What are you great at? ✦ What’s your brand’s voice? ✦ What’s your online/off-line reach? ✦ Who are you already aligned with?
- 11. PARTNERSHIPS ARE A BARTER SYSTEM {Whatdoyouhavetoswap?}
- 12. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock WHAT’SYOUR“THING”? ✦ What will you trade? • Exposure • Connections • Goods&Services • AVenue ✦ What are you awesome at? • Events • SocialMediaMarketing • Content
- 13. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock SOMETHINGSTOTHINKABOUT ✦ Who are you? ✦ What are you awesome at? ✦ Who are your customers/users/members? ✦ What’s your brand’s voice? ✦ What’s your online/offline reach? ✦ Who are your existing partners? ✦ What do you have to barter?
- 15. BE A KNOW-IT-ALL FOR YOUR INDUSTRY {Theonlytimeit’sokaytobe aknow-it-all}
- 16. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock PARTNERHUNTING ✦ Who is your target market? • Whataresomecomplementarygoods/servicestheyuse • Wheredothe“hangout”(onlineandoffline) ✦ Don’t forget about your secondary target market • Howcouldyoutailoryourmessagetospeakthroughthem? • Wheredothe“hangout”(onlineandoffline) ✦ What is your call to action for each? • “Buymyproduct!” • “Signupformyorganization!”
- 17. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock PARTNERHUNTING ✦ What do you already know? • Whohasalargeonline/offlinereach? • Whohasaloyalfollowing? ✦ Do your homework • Subscribetoindustry&industryadjacentnewsletters • Readonline/offlinepublications • FindTwitterandLinkedInInfluencers • Askaround:Friends,co-workers,yourcurrentcustomers • What’salreadygoingonthatyoucanjumponto?
- 18. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock SOMETHINGSTOTHINKABOUT ✦ What partners fit into the following categories? • ComplementaryProducts/Services • Services/Websitesyourprimarytargetmarketuses • Companies/Organizationsinyourindustrywithalargereach • IndustryLeaders • MembershipOrganizations ✦ What are some existing opportunities you could jump on to? • Conferences • Events • Meetups
- 19. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock SOMETHINGSTOTHINKABOUT ✦ Where do your target customers “hang out”? ✦ Who are the “Connectors” in your circles? ✦ Where will you do your homework? • Blogs/Newsletters • Twitter&LinkedInInfluencers • IndustryMagazines ✦ Who are your top 3 ideal partners?
- 21. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock TRAITSOFAGREATPARTNER ✦ Goal alignment • Ex.)Growth ✦ Complementary skills • Oppositescanattract ✦ Proven track record • Successfulpastpartnerships ✦ The right audience • Doyouevenwanttheirs? ✦ Great people at the helm • Wouldyou{willingly}gotolunchwiththem?
- 23. A LITTLE STALKING NEVER KILLED ANYBODY {Okaysothat’snotentirelytrue,butnot inbusinessdevelopment}
- 24. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock STALKING101 ✦ Choosing who you want to partner with is only the beginning; how do you find the right person to reach out to at the company? • Lookforkeywords:“BusinessDevelopment”,“Partnerships”,“Brand Alignment”,etc. ✦ Stalking -ahem- “Research” Tools: • LinkedIn • Google • AngelList • CrunchBase • BuiltinLA
- 25. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock STALKING101 ✦ Now that you know who to contact, you need to figure out how (aka what’s their email??) ✦ Best case scenario: • It’sunderthecontactinfotabontheirLinkedInprofile ✦ No dice? No worries. • EmailHunter(emailhunter.co) • AnymailFinder(anymailfinder.com) • Rapportive(rapportive.com) ✦ Worst case scenario: • Emailinfo@andasktobeconnectedtothepersonresponsiblefor partnerships • Or…gostraighttothetop
- 26. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock STALKING101 ✦ Next step: Get that intro! • Again,LinkedIn=yourBFF • Askco-workersorfriends ✦ Make it easy • Writetheintroforthem • Givethemcontext • Beappreciative
- 29. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock OHHEY,HELLOTHERE… ✦ You got the email! ✦ It’s go time #1 • Puttogetheratypicalpitchforeachtypeof“ask” • LearntoloveGmail’s“CannedResponses” • Addinwhyyou’rereachingouttothemspecifically • Alwaysbegracious,complimentary,andtothepoint ✦ If no response… • Wait2weeks,thendoafollow-upemail • Bepoliteandaskifthey’retherightpersontospeakwithaboutpartnering • Assumethey’rejustbusy,butwanttohelp
- 30. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock OHHEY,HELLOTHERE… ✦ They responded! ✦ It’s go time #2: • Beclearaboutwho’scallingwhoatwhattimeandnumber • Makeiteasyforthem ✦ On the call: • Begraciousandrespectfuloftheirtime • Givethema30secondsto1-minutecompanyoverview • Showthemthatyouhaveknowledgeoftheircompany/organization,butask themfortheiroverview • Askwhattheirgoalsarefortheshortandlong-term • Don’tfeelpressuretofigureoutyourfirstmoveimmediately,leteachother “noodle”onit
- 31. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock OHHEY,HELLOTHERE… ✦ After the call: ✦ Reviewyournotes,highlightanyactionitemsyoupromised ✦ Giveyourselftimetobrainstormsomeideas ✦ Followupwithin24hoursviaemailthankingthemandlayingoutacoupleof initialideas ✦ Createyournextactionitemanddecideonadatetotakethenextstep (assumingyoubothwanttodoso)
- 34. “Collaboration is the New Competition” | Baily Hancock KEEPITALIVEANDWELL ✦ Do what you said you’d do ✦ Don’t over-promise, under-deliver ✦ Stick to deadlines ✦ Make the intros you said you would ✦ Do regular check-ins ✦ Reach out when you don’t need something ✦ Refer others to them ✦ Be their fan