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Collaboration is about working together to produce something, but I like to add – working with someone with shared goals or vision to create something for both parties’ benefit.
Collaborating with like-minded brands in your industry is one of the most helpful ways to continue growing your audience and brand. It diversifies your work, increases your network, builds trust, creates social proof, builds credibility, and introduces you to a new community.
Collaboration is serious business. In 2020, on my Instagram, I collaborated with Seth Godin to teach creatives and it impacted my community positively. When you choose a brand to collaborate with, you are saying – I trust this brand enough to present them to my audience, and I can vouch for them. The same thing applies when someone collaborates with you. Their audience has the opportunity to transfer their trust to you. Suppose Forbes featured me in an article (help me make it happen if you can *wink wink*), you’ll unconsciously transfer the trust you have in Forbes to me. This trust-factor makes it delicate, and it is why you need to execute collaboration with intentionality and purpose.
How to Get the Most Out of Collaboration;
1. Define a clear goal and purpose for collaboration. Knowing what you want to accomplish and offer your target audience lays an excellent foundation for a productive partnership. What do you want? Why do you want to collaborate? Why are you embarking on this project? What do you hope to accomplish? What will your audience benefit from it? What will you benefit from it? Ask yourself these questions, write the answers down and make them into a statement. A clear goal and purpose will help you focus, give you direction, and stay accountable.
2. Pick your collaborator very carefully. Pick based on metrics beyond vanity metrics. Don’t pick someone just because of the number of followers they have. Pick someone who you can add value back to and can add value to you. Pick someone with a shared mission, shared vision, shared goal, or shared target audience as you. Think about someone with relevant experience, skills, and complementary perspectives. Ensure this person is someone you can offer value to and get value in return. Ensure this person has the potential to benefit from the collaboration. If it is not symbiotic, it is not a collaboration. It is a leeching exercise. Collaborate based on shared goals, shared vision, mutually beneficial purpose. Always approach collaboration with a win-win mindset. Ask yourself, will I be proud to be associated with this person? Does this person align with my brand?
3. Build a relationship before you need them. Don’t wait until you need someone before you connect with the person. Invest time in building a relationship. Get to know your potential collaborator, sow the seeds and be deliberate. Interact with them online or offline. Take the person out for lunch, send “just because gifts,” comment on their posts, respond to their stories, be friendly. Be equipped with things they’ve done and build familiarity. Add value to them. Engage with their content and work. By sharing and engaging with their work, you can create some form of connection between you and the person. Make valuable contributions to their content, send emails highlighting something they said that you found interesting. Pick an article, book, or work they have shared and ask them questions about it. Tell them precisely what you like about it. If you can quote specific phrases, you earn cool points. Be genuine. People can smell the “fakeness” from a mile away.
4. Don’t be afraid to go outside your niche. It’s true your audience loves your tips and hacks for their life and career. But, let’s face it, they probably have other interests as well. Some of those interests might be only slightly related to your content, or perhaps not related at all. Look out for complementary collaborations, collaborations within your industry or entirely outside your industry that still ties back to your message or goals.
5. Don’t burn bridges. If the person says no today, it doesn’t mean you should cancel them. No doesn’t mean never. Be kind. Keep cultivating the relationship. You never know when it might just pay off.
6. Always review your collaboration activity. What worked? What didn’t work! What did you learn! What were the qualitative and quantitative results?
Who would you like to collaborate with before the end of this year?
Have any questions or challenges you are facing? Please write me an email telling me your story, stating your challenges and asking me your question – question@blessingabeng.com I’ll answer the top 3 every last Monday of the month.
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