You’re Not on Your Own
In our previous set of weekly posts, we explored one of a modern entrepreneur’s greatest fears: confronting and managing online criticism and negativity. Very few professionals, even hardened veterans, find dealing with online complaints and criticism to be enjoyable, but confronting online criticism can be especially hard for entrepreneurs. When you have created and developed your own brand and business, and when the viability and future success of your business rests on your shoulders, it can feel as though the complaints and criticisms are directed at you personally. This emotional exposure and vulnerability can point to a deeper challenge faced by many entrepreneurs, and small business managers – the fear that you are ultimately on your own professionally, without the infrastructure and support system that owners, managers and employees of larger businesses may take for granted.
When you’re on your own as a professional, and you’re solely responsible for the success or failure of your business, it’s incredibly important to form friendships, alliances and other forms of positive relationships with other entrepreneurs. It is to everyone’s best interests to allow a free, constructive and mutually-beneficial way to leverage such a relationship by forming a marketing partnership, or profiling each other’s brands and products through content marketing and your social media channels!
Are Your Brands Compatible And Complimentary?
While you may feel obligated to help and form partnerships with your closest professionals, friends and partners, it’s important to understand that forming a marketing partnership should be pursued with the goal of boosting each brand in a mutual fashion. If the brands in question are not compatible and/or complimentary in some way, chances are your online audience and target market won’t be interested in being exposed to the other brand. Forcing the other brand on your social media audience can possibly even damage your own brand’s reputation. If you don’t feel like the two brands are a good match, there are other ways to provide support and assistance without engaging in a potentially disastrous marketing partnership.
Set A Plan And Stick To It
A marketing partnership involves much more than a handshake and an informal agreement to promote each other’s products. Both you and your partnering brand should work out a plan to boost each other’s brands in an equal, equitable and fair manner. If you are personally unfamiliar with your partner’s current marketing efforts, take the time to study their existing content marketing and ensure that the content marketing you prepare for them is in line with that content.
Finally, if you are having difficulty preparing new content marketing for your partner, or if you are unsure whether or not the marketing you have prepared will meet with their approval, consider repurposing material from their existing marketing efforts, as such material has already been approved and published. This can also include reposting their content marketing on a regular basis, although it is also important to add a personal touch.
In our next post, we will discuss the importance of reposting content marketing from friends and partners with a personal touch and your own message for your followers!