Collaborating with brands will benefit you and your content. You’ll be able to learn from each other and gain experience. While also growing a larger following. Both parties should be getting the same benefits out of the collaboration. If not, then you should look elsewhere for a partnership.
1. Open up new opportunities
Collaborating with other brands opens new doors for you. You’ll be placed onto new markets and be advertised to new audiences. Their followers and consumers will be exposed to your company, your products and your values. This is where you could shine. Perhaps you have collaborated with a brand who offer something very different to you. Their customers might end up being your customers too. That’s because you’re both offering different products, but they already have the trust built with the other brand, so they’re likely to trust their opinion on you.
Your target audience doubles. There’s twice as many potential consumers by both of you joining up. It ensures that people who may not have seen your content now get a chance to do just that. You might be able to work with further brands through this collab. Potentially the brand you’re working with have worked with others previously. It could be that for a particular promotion they’re hoping to run they are looking for a new brand. This might be where they then discover you. They’ve worked previously with the brand you are also working with, so they know they can trust their judgement.
2. Show you understand your clients
Display your loyalty and understanding towards your consumers by showing you’re engaging with brands they might be interested in. It’s unlikely you’re going to collab with a company for the sake of it, so you’re likely to plan a collab with a company that suit your consumer base. It will increase your brand value because your followers will see you understand them, and they’ll become more interested in your company.
Typically, there will be an overlap in interests, so you can both gain from this experience. You and the other brand involved are likely to spike interest from each other’s followers. If you were a dairy free milk brand, you’re not really going to partner with a dairy company. However, you might team up with another brand, for example a dairy free cheese brand. This will show your clientele you understand their wants and needs and respect these. Often, you’ll see sporting brands collaborate with sports stars. This is because the face of the celebrity will bring in their own fans and showing that someone with a lot of sports knowledge uses that particular brand suggests it’s worthwhile to consumers.
3. Promote a cause you’re passionate about
An easy way to promote something you’re really passionate about is to join forces with another brand. It will enhance the drive for that particular cause. With more consumers and potential followers being brought your way, there will be many more eyes on your promotions. This gives the opportunity for the other brand’s followers to interact and relate to the cause you are promoting. If it’s a particular charity, or you’re collecting donations for something, you’re far more likely to gain more if another company is promoting you.
Alternatively you might be collaborating with a charity instead of another brand. This could drive their supporters to your social media and then your business because they appreciate the work you’re doing to help a charity they currently support. This in turn might gain you more custom. However, the lighter side of this is that it’s likely your followers who have already built up a trust within you will see you supporting a really worthy cause and go ahead and support it themselves. This will also grow their love for your brand because they can see you truly do care.
4. Learn the latest trends
A collaboration usually isn’t something that lasts forever. So, it can be a time when you both jump on whatever is popular at that current time. It’s a chance to be relevant and involved in the latest trends. They’re typically something that blows up for a month or so and then both brands seem to move on to the next thing. It could be that you’re collabing over something current such as Christmas or another holiday. Obviously once the new year rolls around, you’re not going to be promoting this festive period any more. That’s why you have so much potential to drum up huge amounts of following while heavily promoting your work.
For retailers, it’s very much a collaboration or bust sort of deal. When the brand seems to be dying down or not reaching their full potential for clients, they seem to collaborate. The ones who don’t join up with another company or brand seem to miss out on so many opportunities. Collaborations in themselves are a huge trend so just being involved in one means you’re current and on trend.
5. Gain experiences
You’ll both lean from each other in more ways than you could possibly realise. You can share experiences, things that have gone wrong and things to try in the future. It gives you a chance to warn each other about potential companies or brands to avoid working with. This could be for various reasons, but it’s great to have someone there who essentially has your back and can protect you from getting yourself in these situations. You have two creatives in one place or two teams of creatives. Ideas can be bounced about, and perhaps you can suggest with each other why potential ideas might not work due to past experiences.
Both of you will see what it is like to work with another company if you haven’t already. It’s likely that you’ll be in similar fields but not always the same which means you’ll have different sets of skills you can share between you both. Also, the brands will have been created in different ways. They’ll both have different starting points and past relationships. This is something you can discuss and learn from each other. Collaborations will make both companies stronger and more powerful. Knowledge is power after all.
