At some stage in business you’ll face growth opportunities working with ‘others’ from outside your companies walls. Partners. Collaborators. People that can help push a project forward. People that can give your business a leg-up.
Common examples are recruiting guest writers for your blog, maybe guest speakers at the event you’re hosting. You’re looking to bring in people who can bring a fresh perspective. People, through a collaborative approach, that can offer something beyond what you can provide your audience by yourself.
Collaboration is about working with people who share a similar vision to yourselves. It’s not about the one-off. It’s about working together and seeing what happens. Seeing if there’s a shared feeling that what you’re doing can gain traction.
This is why I rarely recommend to my clients to accept one-off guest posts on their blog. Yes, it may fill a content gap that you’re unable to fill internally. I get that. What does it tell your audience?
Think beyond the guest blog.
If you’ve managed to hook an influencer within your industry how can you involve them further?
Maybe an AMA (Ask Me Anything!) session where you invite questions from your own audience through your Twitter or Facebook channel?
Maybe look at developing a series of blog posts around a particular theme?
Just do something that’s not simply a one-off piece where the contributor’s main goal is to spread their own words.
Collaboration should see both parties on an equal footing. Take my weekly podcast, Marketing Homebrew. Working with a collaborative partner, Mark Masters, has challenged me to up my game. We share common ground in our approach to marketing. We record each week. I can’t let Mark down. I certainly can’t let our audience down. That’s the feeling collaboration should provide you.
Not just joint ownership, but joint responsibility. To each other. To your audience.
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