Friend blending is one of my favorite activities. I love to connect people. It’s really one of the reasons I got into the business I’m in. I was already making sure everyone I know knew about the brands and businesses I love, so to become the voice of those brands and use my big mouth to tell the community at large about them? Obviously the right fit for me.
It started back in summer camp for me. That was the first community I was involved with that would allow me to friend blend. Once I joined a youth group, we all started sharing where we went to camp.. and from that conversation we would find out which of our friends were connected to these new friends. and then I sent to college. And college, I thought, was the height of this game (in my community we also call this Jewish Geography.” But then on to work in Chicago and New York and then back home to Louisville and the connections have simply multiplied. When I first got on Facebook I had a hard time remembering which of my pasts I knew connections from… “Did I know her from camp or from my neighborhood in Chicago? I can’t remember.”
As a business owner, you know that I love to network. I’ve been a member of several networking groups over the past decade plus and I love connecting business owners with others. Stay tuned – I plan to join a new one this fall once the kids are off to school and I’m done cleaning out their rooms and crying.
“You’re starting a business? Wait.. I know someone who has been there before, it would be great for her to give you some guidance.”
“Your business does what? Hang on, I know this person who can use you – she JUST posted that she’s looking for this service.”
“Do you know… because I think you and she could collaborate and partner up on something. Hang on, let me just send a text and introduce you both right now before the day gets away from me.”
There are so many reasons and ways to partner up with another business. Just a few we’ve done with clients over the years:
- Instagram collaborations. Remember, there are rules around these though. Sometimes a simple tag is ok too.
- Events – could be a business neighborhood event with several businesses, could be your event in your showroom featuring a local restauranteur or likeminded businesses (we have several clients who have done this.. check out Medical Transformation Center’s 3rd Annual Age Smart Fest coming September 9th – details still forthcoming).
- Do a co-branded coupon. “Visit their business and we’ll give you 10% off our business with your receipt from over there… and vice versa.”
- You can also do a collaborative show special if you exhibit at trade shows.
- Go live or do a recorded conversation with a likeminded business owner. Our client, Blue Birch Consulting, just did this with Adulting 101 Masterclass (who is not a client, just a business I’m personally obsessed with). Suzanne and Heather’s conversation focused on communication in business from the points of view of the constituencies they work with: leaders and Gen Z employees. It’s a great conversation and if you connect with Suzanne on LinkedIn you can watch all of the clips as they roll out.
- Hold raffles at your event. We do this with fundraisers all the time but there’s no reason why your company can’t do it for your event as well. Give some free marketing to another business by having a raffle for an item from THEIR business at your event.
- Do a written interview of another business owner on your blog. This is a great opportunity for backlinks to each other’s businesses, supporting SEO for you both.
- Make a deal to send an email from your list about another business – and ask them to do the same (note: do not share your list, send the list from your company so you stay with the agreement you made with your customers).
- Build rapport online and off. You might notice not everything listed here is about social media – because even though a lot of what we do is online, we still live in the 3D world and believe relationships happen in real life. Go have lunch with a fellow neighborhood business owner. New company popped up around the corner? Pop in and introduce yourself.
The more collaborative partnerships we create for our businesses, the bigger our networks. The bigger our networks, the more business we all create.
by 
