In our 30-Day Content Marketing Challenge, we talked about partnering with other local businesses for mutual promotion. Here, iApotheca's Spencer Turbitt talks about different ways you can establish these partnerships.
Here's Spencer's take on how best to reach out!
There are a number of things you can do to partner with other local business and collaborating on the promotion of your two organizations.
Contests
Think of places that receive a lot of foot traffic like your favourite local café. Put together a gift basket where for one week, each person that purchases a coffee gets to enter their name in a draw for the gift basket that is sponsored by your pharmacy. This is a great win-win as it cements the idea in people’s minds that by getting a drink from this café, they also have the chance to be rewarded in other ways.
For the pharmacy it is key to provide the gift basket to sit in the café so that participants can tangibly see what they are entering a draw for. Provide a sign alongside the gift basket that advertises a few things you believe you offer above others at your local pharmacy. It is important that when the draw occurs, the winner must pick up the gift basket at the pharmacy which will require you to bring it back to the pharmacy from the café. This is because it provides the winner with the experience of coming into the pharmacy to receive their prize and experiencing what the pharmacy has to offer.
How do you Begin to Build a Relationship with Other Local Businesses?
You likely already have an idea of which local businesses get a lot of foot traffic, even during COVID. Consider offering to sell/promote them through your over-the-counter products/offerings. If it’s a local café that makes their own tea, consider selling the tea at your pharmacy.
Perhaps there is a local restaurant you want to build a relationship with. Consider selling gift cards on their behalf and having them advertised at checkout within your pharmacy.
There are a large number of ideas you can test and approaches you can take. It’s important you set aside time to sit down and brainstorm these activities with your team in order to strategize what has the highest chance of success. Not all attempts are going to be successful and therefore it’s crucial to think of them as tests. When you see one become successful, consider using it again later in the year or collaborating with another business in the same way it worked for you.