Collaborations, have any worked for you?

[VanKalkerFarms]

I'm interested in learning about others experiences with business partnerships and collaborations as I wonder if it is a good avenue to explore. Could you share:

1. Details of any strategic partnerships or collaborations your organization has undertaken
2. Key outcomes and measurable successes from these initiatives
3. Challenges encountered and how they were addressed
4. Your perspective on future collaboration opportunities and whether they align with your business strategy

[VanKalkerFarms]

I have toyed with the idea of a food truck, but I don't know that it would actually change any sales and just cause traffic issues in our already packed lot.  Being seasonal we only have less than 3 months of retail so there isn't much room to do partnerships.

[Minion]

I've tried a  collaboration with a buddy of mine who owns a mechanic shop when he was just starting out   It was a pretty simple and straight forward one.  When a customer would purchase an oil Undercoating from me, they would get a free oil change from his shop.  (I'd fork over $15 for each customer)

I wasn't really on the winning end of that one so much, but it was more to help boost attention and bring in clients to him at the time.  Overall though it did what it needed to do.  To this day, we both refer customers to one another still.  

[DinaLRosenberg]

We LOVE collaborating at Amityville Apothecary. Some of our favorite collabs are creating products with a wholesale line that is unique/exclusive to our market.

For example- there is a popular Long Island, NY brand called Locals Only and we did a collab that featured both our brands.

We are upfront with the terms and you need to be clear as to expectations and what each of you brings to the table.

Ideally, it would be an interesting collab if both entities are gaining new customers that weren't aware of the other before.

Just off the cuff, if we were local we could collab on a selection of plants grown for witchy/metaphysical uses.. thinking. cute planter filled with lavender, rosemary, chamomile, patchouli, rue, etc...

Maybe we would hold a class/workshop at your farm showcasing the uses of the herbs...

[RuckusDonuts]

We have had great success collaborating with like minded businesses. Some examples:

- A local microbrewery provided us with some of their stout, from which we made a glaze as well as added to our chocolate brioche donut dough. They took preorders for donuts, which we sold to them at wholesale minus the cost of the stout. We each profit plus gain publicity via shared marketing on social media.

- We do a popup at a cafe located 90 minutes from our shop. We provide a limited menu, from which they presell donuts we will wholesale to them & deliver for free. Aside from both of us making some money we each gain publicity & the cafe increases foot traffic that day, driving spontaneous sales. 

- Our coffee roaster has a cafe. Once a year we do a special donut using their holiday blend. They give us the coffee, we sell them wholesale donuts minus the coffee price. Again increased exposure & foot traffic, plus its great to work with one of our most important vendors. 

I have a 5 word Rule as far as collaborating:

"Cool people doing cool things"

If they fit that, we talk 🙂

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[doc_choc]

We have done a few collaborations over the years with tech companies and food businesses. Its not something we actively seek as they can be time consuming to set up and they do not always yield any tangible benefits. There are of course hidden benefits such as exposure to a new audience which may or may not help you meet your goals. I think partnering with the right businesses can certainly help but it has to be something both businesses are on board with otherwise the effort is one-sided and also set yourself some realistic goals and expectations from the collaboration.