WANT TO DRUM UP extra business for less? Here’s a marketing strategy that’ll turn even the most independent entrepreneurs into team players.

August is usually the best month for Nancy Schneider, founder of Nancy & Co., a chain of women’s clothing boutiques in the New York City area. But this year, she says, sales are pretty much, well, flat. So Schneider is hosting a "Jean Therapy" promotion at her East Hampton store, throwing trunk shows and special jeans fitting events. She’s publicized the month-long shopping extravaganza in newspaper ads and other marketing vehicles. But her real secret marketing weapon? Fellow small businesses in East Hampton, who have agreed to join in the promotion.

For instance, Exhale, a local spa and gym, is distributing postcards about the "Jean Therapy" event to its customers. (In exchange, Nancy & Co. is passing out coupons for a free Exhale exercise class to its patrons.) And local shoe purveyor Shoe INN is offering a 10% discount to Nancy & Co. customers that spend $300 or more. "It really works well for us," says Schneider, who doesn’t typically sell shoes. "We promote them in our advertisements, and we have their coupons in our stores."

Indeed, says Nancy F. Koehn, an entrepreneurship professor at Harvard Business School, "working strategically with other businesses makes good sense." You’ll be able to promote your company’s products or services to a wider, targeted audience for less than you might pay if you were going it alone. Such a proposition may be particularly rewarding for cash-strapped start-up entrepreneurs, she says.

Here’s how to work with other businesses and get more bang for your marketing bucks:

Complementary Types Attract
When you’re considering potential partners, seeing eye-to-eye is key, says Liz Goodgold, a small-business branding consultant in San Diego and author of "Redfire Branding," an upcoming book about marketing. "Make sure you’re targeting the exact same consumer," she says. You also should both match up on price. For example, she says, companies pitching premium products should align themselves with other premium-product vendors. Lastly and perhaps most importantly, make sure your products or services complement your partner’s.

That’s what Napoleon Barragan, the founder and chief executive of 1800mattress.com, an online retailer of mattresses, had in mind when he recently started partnering with brick-and-mortar furniture and carpet stores. His thought: When people are buying carpets or furniture — to furnish, say, a new apartment — they might also need a new mattress. Plus, people like to "try out" mattresses, something they can’t obviously do through an online shop. Under the arrangement, the local stores get a commission each time they sell one of Barragan’s mattresses. "We help each other because we are in a similar situation," he says. "It’s mutually beneficial."

Working Together

Small businesses that offer related — yet different — services can easily refer customers to one another, says John Jantsch, a Kansas City, Mo.-based marketing coach and author of "Duct Tape Marketing." Photographers, caterers and disc jockeys, for example, might team up and create a referral network. Accountants, bankers, insurance salespeople, attorneys and other consultants might band together to offer full day or half day of workshops. "Each [partner] invites [his or her] own customer base and gets exposure to the collective attendees," he says.

Jeffrey Carr, a marketing professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business adds that the key to a good promotion among smaller players is to spread the word. Be sure to inform people either via advertising in local newspapers or sending out direct mailers. “Show them that there is some reason to come into your store," he says.

It’s also a good idea to offer a discounted rate or coupon, says Goodgold in San Diego "The minute you add an incentive you make it an active referral and that increases the likelihood that a customer will try it," she says.

Getting Big Business

Some businesses are lucky enough to land partnerships with big businesses. Such a matchup can be particularly rewarding for small businesses whose products or services are available nationally, says Carr. "They get access to way more customers than they could ever get on their own."

That’s the thought Kelly Flatley, co-founder of the Norwalk, Conn., granola-maker Bear Naked, had about working with Whole Foods Market in its "Reverse Trick-or-Treat" marketing promotion, which took place this past Halloween. The point of the promotion, notes Flatley, was to get people to trade in their unhealthy Halloween candy for a sample of their products. At a promotional fair in New York, people who dropped off candy got a coupon for a free bag of granola, which they could redeem at a nearby Whole Foods. That promotion, says Flately, "allowed us to create trial and build awareness."

Source: smSmallBiz com

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