It’s always good business practice to keep an eye on your competitors. It will make you a better business and help you if you learn from their mistakes. Few businesses realize the value in building relationships other businesses. As long as they are not direct competitors, there is opportunity to use each other to easily increase credibility and revenue. Lets take a look at how you can be friends with your neighbors.
Social media makes relationships once strained by distance a little more intimate. See if you can incorporate any of these tactics into your retail business.
1. Guest blogging is a sure way to create a social identity for your retail business, and give you free publicity to boot. The business you blog for also gains from the gesture because they bring in an expert to talk about something relevant to them. Looks like a win win situation for both parties.
2. Drive business to other companies and ask them to do the same. For example, if another business deals in something similar to yours, you most likely have the same target customer base. Use this to your advantage by cross promoting each others products.
3.Lastly, give credit when credits due. If another business in the same field succeeds at something, write a small blurb about it on your page. Customers will see that you aren’t selfish and will give your business instant credibility.
It’s never to late to start building these strategic partnerships. Give it a shot and see how it can help you build your invoices vertically!