Businesses connect to offer more value
Connecting with other businesses that complement your offering to expand your reach.
Similar businesses working together can provide a consumer or client with a richer product or service under one central point and means the client spends less time and money researching individual businesses and then having to liaise between them.
Working on the ‘This is Haslemere’ website as volunteers, has helped me and two other digital businesses to identify strengths in each other and discuss how we could all add value to each other’s clients.
Most businesses, however small or large, will at some point need essential business support services to present a professional image and reach their customers or clients. These services are likely to include a website, branding and marketing support. Check out our stories below and discover how you could connect with complimentary businesses.
Connecting Website Development (PM Getting It Done) with Graphic Design (My Teal Giraffe)
When we started to develop the ‘This is Haslemere’ website at the end of 2020, I worked alongside Caroline at
My Teal Giraffe to create logos and branding. Although we weren’t consciously doing it at the time, this enabled us both to explore what the other could offer and has led to us recommending each other on Facebook community boards as well as to existing and prospective clients.
Connecting Website Development (PM Getting It Done) with Digital Marketing (Start Up Marketeer)
We also worked with Emilie at Start Up Marketeer for the initial content on the Business & Enterprise section. A high-quality, affordable marketing business could add a great deal of value to my clients so I took the initiative to contact Emilie from Start Up Marketeer to discuss how we could collaborate. We both agreed that we had similar client needs and offered complimentary services, so it made sense to work together in the future.
We have since embraced the opportunity to offer packaged services to clients - Emilie is now able to offer website development as part of her solutions and I can recommend Emilie and her team in future proposals for social media and marketing advice. We have already worked on several clients together and look forward to more to come.
As well as Emilie’s core team she also collaborates with Charlotte Cullinan, a freelance copyrighter which will bring even more to the table when we are offering solutions to our clients. Charlotte specialises in SEO-friendly web copy and blogs for small businesses, using her background in journalism and PR to help boost clients' profiles.
Emilie also organised a photoshoot with the team by supporting another local business -
Vicki Knights Photography, so we could present a uniform look on the Start Up Marketeer website. Vicki has some great tips on how to prepare and relax for a photoshoot
here.
Summary
People often see similar businesses as competition instead of discovering the possibilities and benefits that working together can bring such as:
- It is essentially a way to expand your businesses offering without directly hiring the skillset or purchasing the products and maintaining a network or supplier that can be called upon when needed.
- You have more people advertising your offering through recommendations and referrals.
- You reach more potential customers or clients than you would have on your own.
- You can provide a one-stop shop solution which saves your customers or clients time and money.
- You know the quality you will get from your business network rather than working with external businesses.
- A fantastic opportunity to learn from each other’s experiences and brainstorm.
- You’re supporting a local economy by recommending local businesses.
- You are adding value to the community.
- Volunteering leads to connecting with lots of different people you may not have had the chance to meet and can eventually lead to paid work.
So go ahead and connect with other businesses or suppliers and explore a whole new way of working.
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BRINGING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER THROUGH THE STRENGTH AND POWER OF VOLUNTEERING
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