Introduction

As an entrepreneur, running a startup and building a loyal customers base is usually one of the most difficult aspect of your business. The competition in almost all sectors is tough and fighting off the strong influence of established businesses is not always going to be easy. Extensive marketing campaigns may be helpful but expensive. So a business owner who has just started must figure out other genius ways to reach out and attract potential customers. One effective way to do this is by partnering complementary businesses. What is that?

What is a complementary business?

A complementary business sells products or offers services related in some way to yours. Complementary businesses are not competing with you because you deal on entirely different things. However, a complementary business is one whose customers might need products or services. For example, if you sell footwear, then businesses that sell jewelry, cloths, bags, makeup accesories, etc are complementary business because their customers will likely need to buy shoes to match their new purchases. If you are into interior decoration, then businesses like real estate, builders, property agents, ect are complementary businesses. If someone got a new home through a property agent, they will likely need interior decoration before they move in. What these examples, I believe you now understand fully what complementary businesses are. So why is partnering with them a good business move for a startup? For at least 3 reasons.

3 Reasons to partner a complementary business

1. They have your customers: Yes. Complementary business clearly have the customers you are struggling to get elsewhere. So if you can strike a deal with one or more businesses like that, you can tap into that valuable crown and showcase your goods or services to them.

2. Its Inexpensive marketing: Paying to run ads on Television and online is naturally expensive. Although commercial marketing cannot be ruled out completely, partnerships with complementary businesses are some of the cheapest ways to get customers. You are almost sure that those people you are getting are more potential customers than when you speak into the air in commercials. The audience is more targeted and its easier to make conversions from their. So this type of marketing bring more results and you may not end up paying expensive bills.

3. Brand awareness: Partnering complementary business is a nice way to create more awareness about you business. Imagine when you have 10 complementary business partners and you multiply that by the number of customers they have. That is a really large of potential customers that will get to know your business through your partners.

Builds trust: Complementary businesses help your potential customers to develop some confidence in your business even when they have not patronized you. There is a sort of trust carry over. If the other business trusts you enough to recommend your goods or services to their customers, then will likely view your business as credible. Trust as an important factor for business growth. If people cannot be sure of the quality of your services, they wont find the motivation to do business with you. So this crucial trust is established very early if you partner and get referals from complementary businesses.

Conclusion

Marketing is tough stuff for any business owner - especially a startup. It can be expensive and fruitless too. But making good partnership deals with local complementary businesses is a smart way to widen your reach and get the customers you need for business growth.