Build a Stronger Team - You Don't Have to ALWAYS Fly Solo!

Great things in business are never done by one person.
They are done by a team of people.
Steve Jobs

​by Skip Cohen
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​It's Marketing Monday! After writing about business and marketing for the last fourteen years, it's pretty tough to come up with something you haven't heard before. But there are different reasons for becoming more proactive, especially this time of year. For example, I've noticed more and more, there's a business "pandemic" slowing too many people down - stop believing you need to fly solo on everything you do!

Start looking for partners! Even though it's late in the year and fall/holiday seasonality is right around the corner, consider finding a few partners. Partnerships expand your reach, save money, expand awareness, and increase revenue. 

One more challenge in our lives makes the timing for a partnership such an advantage - the noise in everyone's life today. It's getting more and more challenging to reach your target audience. Great partnerships help you get noticed faster, and help you stand out in a very noisy world!
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• Direct mail: Doing a postcard with two other partners reduces your cost to a third of what it would be if you flew solo. It expands your reach and awareness because all three partners combine their databases. Plus, each partner becomes an ambassador for the other two entities involved.
• Soft-sell cross-promoting products and services: All of you who are wedding photographers should be working together with a florist, for example. You should have a link to their site on your website, and they should have one on yours. Portrait photographers could do the same and include a restaurant known for private parties. The holidays are right around the corner, and office parties, local organizations, Chamber of Commerce functions, etc., will be going on everywhere. For example, whose doing couple portraits at this years local Kiwanis or Rotary holiday parties?
• Hard-sell promotions: It's cross-promoting, but this time with discounts on each other's products and services. If you don't want to do a discount, add something of value, like an extra mini-album for Grandma, an oversized print, or canvas wrap - something with perceived value.
• Contest sponsorship: Work with other vendors in the community to create unique events to raise awareness and support for something relevant in the community. I shared a guest post thanks to Bruce Berg over ten years ago about three studios doing a contest together. It might be out of the archives, but there's no expiration date on great ideas. Here's the link.
• Start a newsletter: They're so easy to do nowadays, but somebody has to take the lead. Create a newsletter with gift ideas that tie in photography, flowers, gift certificates to a local restaurant, frames, and other gifts. You've got to plant the seeds for the ideas to create sales.
• Other photographers: I know it's taboo to suggest you work together with another artist when there's barely enough business to keep you going, but together you can play off of each other's strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you're a wedding photographer and don't do maternity, babies, or pets, find yourself a partner whose skill set fills in the holes you have in yours. Then, design a campaign that promotes one-stop shopping.
• Major equipment purchases: Money is tight, but you want to get into large format printing, or there's an exotic lens you know will make your work different - buy what you need together with another artist. This isn't like the stigma of buying a boat with a friend; it'll save you money.
• Share studio space: Tony Corbell is a perfect example - his studio space includes two other artists. They don't compete with each other, and they split the cost three ways. Granted, one of the artists is his wife, Mandy, but this is about each business paying its fair share. Together they've got a terrific location and facility for everybody to benefit from.​
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"But Skip, there's nobody in my area to partner with!"  There's ALWAYS somebody to partner with. 
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• Boudoir Photographers: Lingerie boutiques, spas, makeup artists, salons.
• Pet Photographers: Pet food rep, animal shelters, pet boutiques, veterinarians, and doggy daycare facilities 
• Children's Photographers: Toy stores, summer camps, playgrounds, kids, clothing boutiques, restaurants, pediatricians, or pediatric dentists.
• Family Photographers: Family restaurants, decorators, parks, and special events 
• Wedding Photographers: Florists, wedding planners, bakeries, salons, bridal shops, limo companies, musicians, tux shops, travel agents, and venues

Stop thinking you always have to fly solo. Business has changed dramatically, but along with the frustrations, there are some unique opportunities for creative leadership. You don't need to grow or jumpstart your business alone - think about strategic alliances in your community to build together!

Coming together is a beginning,
staying together is progress,
​and working together is success!
Henry Ford