Building a Stronger Business in 2022 - Part III Partnerships

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

by Skip Cohen

I love writing posts like this on a Friday and giving you the weekend to think about my suggestions. As I've written so many times before, this might be the slow season, but NOT for you.

This is the perfect time to secure your strategy for the coming year. Now is the time to look for new ways to reach your target audience and do them in more effective and cost-efficient ways. One of the best ways is to find a few partners.

EVERY business is dealing with the same challenges of getting back on its feet. True "normalcy" with any permanence is a ways off, but that doesn't mean you have to wait for clients to be coming to your door. There are dozens of paths you can take to increase awareness, value, and stimulate sales!
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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: For example, all of you who are wedding photographers should be working together with a florist. You should have a link to their site on your website, and they should have one to yours. Portrait photographers could do the same and include a restaurant known for things like a Mother's Day brunch, especially as we get closer to Mother's Day.
• 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, canvas wrap - something with perceived value. Think about working with other vendors and putting together packages.
• Contest sponsorship: Work together with other vendors in the community to put together your own unique events to raise awareness and support for something relevant in the community. Bruce Berg wrote a guest post for me many years ago about an annual contest 30 years in the making. Three competing studios established the Lane County Children's Contest. The post is from 2013, but the concept has no expiration date!
• Start a newsletter: They're so easy to do these days, 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 if you wanted to get into large format printing, for example, 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, and 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, 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.​

I know there are some of you rolling your eyes, either because you've read some of these ideas in my posts in the past, you don't like them, or you don't want to give up control - well, times have changed. The pandemic changed everything in our lives, and while I hate quoting Hillary Clinton, although it's an old African proverb - "It takes a village!"

And for those of you who think there's nobody to partner with because your specialty is so limited, here's a list to work from, and I'm sure there are plenty I've missed because these are all in the portrait/social categories.
 

• Boudoir Photographers: Lingerie boutique, spa, makeup artist, salons.
• Pet Photographers: Pet food reps, 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 have to do everything yourself. Business may have changed dramatically, but along with the frustrations, there are some unique opportunities for creative leadership. You don't need to jumpstart your business alone - think about the strategic alliances in your community to rebuild together!
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