Читать книгу Start & Run a Graphic Design Business - Michael Huggins - Страница 41

No one says that your business has to be a traditional partnership. There is another type of arrangement that could work to your advantage. It’s called a strategic alliance.

Forming a strategic alliance involves approaching other businesses that have complementary services in order to create a mutually beneficial business relationship. For example, if you design corporate communication materials, you might approach a business writer to form an alliance. The writer provides all the content for the designs you create. In return, the writer directs all his or her clients to use your services for design.

You can form this arrangement with printers, copywriters, public relations companies, or marketing firms. In fact, it can work anywhere you have an opportunity to make your service offering stronger. The great thing about these relationships is that there is no legal mumbo jumbo or contracts if you don’t want them. It can be based purely on the merits of your relationship to each other. You can agree to exchange specific services or recommend each other’s businesses exclusively; whatever represents a mutual advantage to you both.

I have been keeping these types of relationships in my business for many years. I have “partners” whose services I exclusively recommend and they do the same for me. In fact, this one strategy alone brought me one of my biggest clients. It was a marketplace I wasn’t able to break into, but my strategic partner was! He positioned my services as an extension of his own, and he got me the work. We work as a team on all projects that require both content and design for this client. I, in turn, bring him new work from all my other client projects.

These relationships can be as rigid or as flexible as you like. The key to making them work is finding mutual benefits. Talk things through in detail. Look at the pros and cons of aligning your businesses. What do you want out of the relationship? What does the other person want? You will need to be open and honest with each other. For your alliance to be successful, the person has to trust you, and you have to trust him or her. Don’t be afraid to test the relationship first. Start with small commitments and work your way up as you see evidence of the benefits.