Author Archive

Christmas seems to start earlier and earlier each year..already there are Christmas parties and functions appearing in the calendar and the Christmas marketing has well and truly started. So here are 5 SMART Tips to help you make the most of the Christmas networking opportunities.

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With all the excitement and very long hours in the Networking World office over the past few weeks getting ready to launch our new Good Karma Alliance.. I have definitely been like the plumber with the leaky tap. No blog posts, no tweets, even my daily Strategic Alliance ideas have fallen by the wayside for the past couple of weeks. So here are ten ideas in one blog post to make up for it. Enjoy!

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Strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures really are the most powerful way for small business owners to grow their list, boost sales, increase credibility and reduce costs.

A good alliance strategy is a WIN for both parties to the alliance and a WIN for their customers or potential customers.  If you can't find those three WINS then you need to reconsider the alliance.. But this week I want to share with you an idea and a case study that you may not have thought of.. I like to call it The Fourth WIN!  

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This morning I lost a couple of hours following an Internet trail that led me somewhere really exciting.. into the world of collaborative consumption.

It all started with a Blog post from one of my favourite marketing Gurus Seth Godin..  Seth was promoting a book called The Mesh  The Mesh outlines how sharing resources and information creates an entirely new class of commerce.  You can read the whole post here  

Well The Mesh seemed in line with the concept of Strategic Alliances and Small Business Owners working together to create WIN WIN outcomes so I decided to go and order a copy and that's where the two hour trail (and the reason for this Blog post) began... 

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First of all what's a Power Team?

Basically 8 – 12 complementary businesses who work together to create a complete interrelated marketing system.

For example in the wedding industry a Power Team could consist of a photographer, a wedding dress designer, a cake shop, a travel agent specialising in honeymoons, a marriage celebrant, a wedding planner, a limousine hire company, a florist and a reception centre.

 The result is synergy on steroids. What is synergy? The definition I like the best is "synergy is when one plus one equals three". In other words, when a team produces more than the sum of each individual's efforts could produce if they worked on their own. So what happens with the POWER of 8 - 12 Business owners?

The members of a Power Team operate three distinct but interrelated marketing systems.
   

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I got the idea for this blog from a lady that I met at a networking event on Tuesday who makes and sells these adorable nappies. Thanks for the lovely email  Tasha.

You said you'd love some strategic alliance ideas for your nappy business.  So here we go with 20 ideas not just for baby products.

First have a think about distributors or channel partners..

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Today's Ask Brenda Question is one that I am asked really often so I thought it was time I put the answer into print.

What's the difference between a Strategic Alliance and a Joint Venture (sometimes referred to as a JV)?    It's a bit like asking what's the difference between a dog, a Pug and a Great Dane. 

Let me explain.

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Need to turn audio recordings into documents?

Today's cool tool is a really useful piece of FREE software that helps you transcribe audio files into documents. 

• Interview someone? – turn the interview into a PDF
• Prefer to talk instead of writing your Blog posts or a chapter of your latest book?
• Make videos and want to provide a written transcript as well?

Express Scribe is free professional audio player software for PC or Mac designed to assist the transcription of audio recordings.

You can install it on your computer and control audio playback using “hot keys” on your keyboard.

You can make it go slow, speed up, repeat bits… just like if you were having a live person read you a document so that you can type as they read.

I know this is still a manual version (i.e. a real person still has to do the typing) but I have used it on a number of occasions, the wonderful Gwenn (my VA) uses it and it really helps.

Want  some other alternatives? 

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When most small business owners and entrepreneurs think of working with other small business owners they think of ways for generating more leads,  typically either through personal referrals or through internet marketing campaigns.  But there are many other ways that small business owners can work together and increasing lead generation is only one of the potential benefits. There are at least four powerful ways that strategic alliances can increase the profits in your business.  And isn’t that what every small business owner wants to do?

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I have had a few requests from bookkeepers lately for some strategic alliance ideas.

Book-keepers I meet typically fall into one of two categories. They are constantly wondering where the next client is coming from or they have so much business they can hardly keep up with it all. 

So for all those bookkeepers who are new in business and looking for clients,  AND for 13 different types of businesses that could have alliance strategies with bookkeepers, here's how one book-keeper teamed up with 13 other types of businesses to generate a constant stream of new clients and additional income for ALL of their businesses.  Are you one of them?

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