How collaborations work… and what is a collaboration?

I believe collaborations can be HUGE for business. But just to be clear and help you push forward with your own collab, I thought I’d address how collaborations work. But not before addressing what a collaboration is.

What is a collaboration?

A collaboration is when two or more people or companies work together to produce something. This dictionary definition puts it a little more eloquently. You hear of celebrities collaborating with brands, bloggers collaborating with each other, influencers working with companies, and brands working with other brands. It really is as simple as that. Sometimes companies pay for celebrities and influencers to work with them, and sometimes it’s free. It depends very much on what the collaboration entails. What is key, well, in my mind at least, is that EVERYONE wins from the collaboration. Everyone’s efforts are rewarded. Everyone’s time is repaid. And everyone works together to make it a success. Collaborations are great. They allow you as a brand or influencer to spread your reach and be introduced to other people who might be interested in you, your products and what you have to say. Well. This is if you choose well. But that’s a whole different topic.

How do collaborations work?

I’m confident in saying that there is no one size fits all. I see collaborations popping up all the time in various different forms. David Beckham collaborated with H&M on a collection and the relationship grew from there. Youtubers regularly collaborate by appearing on other Youtubers’ channels – such as Tanya Burr and Zoella – yep – they’re pals, but they collaborate on the platform – actually, Zoella has a whole section dedicated to collabs here. Ed Sheeran (ohhh… I love Ed) collaborated with Rudimental on Lay It All On Me, and because I really do love Ed Sheeran, I’m also going to mention when he collaborated with Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) on the video for Lego House. So, both parties win. Both parties get exposure to a different audience.

These are slightly random examples, I’ll give you that, but it’s to illustrate the diversity and the scope. But you know what else you could do? You could guest blog for someone and let them guest blog for you. You could organise a competition with another brand and you could both ‘donate’ prizes and promote to both of your fan groups. You could work with an influencer or blogger on a product that you’d maybe share the profit from. See. The options are nearly endless. And in all cases pretty exciting.

So, are collaborations easy?

They can be, or they can take blood, sweat and tears to set up. Even when they’re ‘easy’ there’s often a lot of leg work involved… but does that mean they’re not work it? God no. If both parties are pulling in the same direction and both enthused about it, it can be HUGELY rewarding and deliver exceptional return on investment…