Are you looking inward before you get into a business relationship?
We must find creative solutions to pivot to greater heights in our fields and cross over into other sectors.
It has been interesting to see how we as humans have been able to respond to our needs and wants and continue to find ways to expand our experiences. We have done so by using our instinct to find key communication opportunities and build mutually beneficial goals.
In the past decade, we can all testify to witnessing some successful collaborative ideas that have built some of the most groundbreaking partnerships, such as Spotify and Hulu, Northface, and Gucci, and one that has shown the power of teamwork is Uber.
We all remember when Uber was launched; the aim was to get us from one place to another while finding cost-efficient and secure solutions to getting around. It was liberating and met our need as commuters to have a safe, efficient, and costeffective transport system. Today, you can order food and most of your essentials and have them delivered by Uber Eats. The expansion of Uber services to what it is today highlights how a collaborative idea can serve multiple needs and create numerous services for all parties involved.
Collaborations!!
Let Us Look at Google’s definition of the word, ‘A joint effort of multiple individuals or work groups to accomplish a task or project.’ They say it takes a village to raise a child; how true is this sentiment when you have a big dream still in its infancy? We witness the power of collaboration in all spheres of our lives, from parents using each other’s strengths to coparent their kids —to a small village working together to build a school to support their educational needs. We also experience collaboration when we need to work with our colleagues for a greater goal, and most importantly, we use collaboration in our relationships and rely on our common purpose to build acceptance, tolerance, and understanding. Finding ways to collaborate supports us in expanding our experiences, sharing special moments, and creating support structures to have a meaningful life. Teamwork can be a challenge. While we rely on others to build a solid foundation for our business partnership, this process can become more difficult in the initial stages of building your brand. Small business owners across the world depend on collaborations to expand their business. We always find simple and effective ways to meet our business needs, and relying on your ability to produce creative solutions can help you build collaborations aligned with your core values and have more meaning to your brand story. Small business owners need to become mindful of their process of finding partners and creating valuable working relationships. Gone are the days when marketing and PR were the only way to communicate with customers. Today, smart collaborations have become a creative way to expand services and build more prominent brands.
Mindful collaborations allow you to assess each partnership’s value to your business and help you make decisions that align with your brand’s core values. Before you can start looking at who to work with, identifying and unpacking your brand’s communications blueprint will help you articulate and become more creative in finding opportunities. To get to this point, unpacking your SWOT analysis can become a powerful way of addressing your core value as a brand. Knowing what you need to communicate based on this will support your mission to create valuable relationships. In the communication industry, we call this ‘strategic communication.’ It is a mindset to set a positive intent with your conversations and be clear on your longterm vision with your potential collaborators.
Here are some tips on how to start the journey toward identifying your collaborative needs as a small business owner: Strengths: Focus on your strengths to transform your business. Identify three things you think you can expand on or are working on for your business, include them in your business’s essential vision and mission, and find a way to use them to engage and seed collaborative opportunities.
Weaknesses: Be Innovative It can be challenging to sit and look at what needs to be fixed and unblock these critical areas within your business offering. When you identify some areas that are moving slowly or not moving at all, do not dismiss them or see them as something to park and not improve on. Your weaknesses can form part of your mission and become one of your greatest strengths. If you could improve at service delivery, make that a positive mission, find people to engage with, and start working towards improving this part of your business, and form it as part of your communication tactics to highlight your ability to improve.
Opportunities: Find your impact and be inspiring The world is your playground! Think out of the box and allow yourself to see your brand in places that will take it to the next level. Consider looking at the apparent collaborations, some entirely out of your sector but could one day create a new value chain and expand your offerings. Take up that speaking opportunity at a makeup workshop and showcase your boutique shop as a platform to host a beauty event around ‘self-care.’
Threats: Fall Forward Keeping abreast of the areas that could limit your growth and hinder creative opportunities is vital. If you have become aware of a longterm threat, such as finding leads due to a cluttered industry where everyone is doing the same thing, find a new way to ‘crowd-source’ your potential customers. Identify it quickly and start working on finding solutions.
How do you start finding solutions (Do’s and Don’t’s)
• Set up a creativity workshop with your team or as an individual to create a transparent, relaxed, and innovative sharing environment.
• Don’t hold back; come up with as many collaborative ideas as possible, and then use the process of Pros and Cons to reach your final decisions.
These small but practical, mindful solutions to your business growth can change how you see things and start communicating and finding collaborative opportunities for your brand. Looking at it from self-introspection as a brand and doing the inner work, you will find solutions that best suit your business needs. In a short while, you will start to create a brand with a longer value chain; most importantly, you will continue to enhance your brand, remain energized, and be ready to take charge of the direction of your business.
Article by:
Tidimalo Shabalala Founder of Tidi Consulting Limited – Strategic Communication and Brand Enhancement) Email : tidimalo.manamela@gmail.com Tidi is a Communication Specialist with over 12 years of working experience and the Founder of Tidi Consulting Limited based in Hong Kong. Her passion lies in supporting startups and influencers by enhancing their brands using creative ways to expand their share of voice.She has worked for global agencies as a communications manager and lead at TBWA network affiliates Magna Carta, Ogilvy South Africa, and Fleishman Hillard South Africa. In her time, she consulted and executed some of the biggest PR projects for Pan Africa, in her roles as a Public Relations Manager for global brands such as LG South Africa, Samsung Africa, Standard Bank South Africa Sponsorship, and (NFVF)National Film and Video Foundation Her main focus with Tidi Consulting is to educate, consult and assist in executing creative solutions for small business owners who are keen to understand how strategic communication and brand enhancement can assist them with building stronger brands.
