The Top 3 Reasons Why Your Marketing Team Needs Collaboration Now

Collaboration seems to be the buzzword in most industries today, and the e-commerce industry is no exception. Many marketing and advertising specialists are finding that their old strategies are in need of an update in order to remain competitive in the ever-shifting digital commerce environment.

But how does increased collaboration affect your organization’s established workflows? And are there really big enough benefits to offset the time and energy that goes into making marketing efforts more collaborative?

We’ve done the research so that you don’t have to. In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about using collaboration as a marketing tool, including:

• How content collaboration can boost your marketing team’s productivity
• How social collaboration boosts your business’s credibility and exposure
• Why now is the perfect time to make your marketing team and strategies more collaborative

With that, here are the three reasons why you need to consider collaborative marketing:

Content collaboration will make your marketing team’s productivity soar

When you hear people talking about collaborative marketing, they are generally referring to marketing strategies that rely upon other companies marketing campaigns to help get the job done. We’ll get to that but first, let’s tackle the often overlooked benefits of increasing collaboration within your own in-house marketing team.

Collaboration is essential within professional teams for several reasons, including:

It pools your team’s talents and strengths. You didn’t choose the members of your team because each of them has exactly the same skill set. In fact, you probably chose them for the opposite reason! Creating more opportunities for your team to collaborate allows you to take full advantage of the unique talents and strengths each team member brings to the table.

It allows employees to develop new skills. Nobody on your team is an expert in everything. Creating opportunities that allow your employees to work together gives them opportunities to grow. Allow them to learn from one another. Helping your team hone new skills ultimately gives you a more skilled team and gives your team a major morale boost.

It makes problem-solving more efficient. Whether your team takes a divide and conquer approach or prefers to tackle problems as a group, having more eyes on a project can help it get done faster and better than if it were assigned to a single employee.

Plus, with tools such as cloud-based content collaboration platforms, it’s easier than ever for your team to collaborate on shared files and documents. There’s no reason to let this opportunity for improved productivity and creativity go to waste!

Social marketing efforts boost your brand’s credibility and exposure

Mentioning another brand in your content or marketing campaign can’t possibly help your organization, can it?

The answer may surprise you! When your brand shares content that boosts the signal of another brand, you’re doing much more than creating some good karma for yourself.

If you promote other brands alongside your own, you are actually engaging in a social or collaborative marketing strategy. By mentioning other brands, you increase the likelihood that they will mention you back. You can even stack your odds of this happening by tagging the other brand in your post on social media or contacting them directly via email.

Not only does it make your marketing seem more credible because you aren’t promoting your own brand alone, but it also boosts your “cred” with audiences you might not ordinarily reach. Think about it.

Can big brands help small brands? The answer is probably fairly obvious.

Of course, if a small brand is mentioned by a big brand, it will boost the brand's credibility. But what about if a small brand mentions a big brand? Perhaps surprisingly, the answer is still yes!

Smaller, independent companies are typically respected in smaller, niche or community markets that big brands may otherwise have trouble reaching. By teaming up, small brands and big brands can engage in a credibility exchange that benefits both sides by increasing:

• Brand recognition
• Customer value
• Customer retention

Collaboration is the future of digital commerce

It’s no secret that our world is growing more and more connected by the minute, and that includes digital commerce. Every day, there are new mobile, digital, and social tools being designed to connect consumers with products.

In order to survive in a world where users can purchase items directly from their Instagram feed and share products they find in a brand’s app to any social media feed they choose, online retailers must adjust their marketing strategies accordingly.

Today’s consumers are looking for both convenience and collaboration. To remain competitive, your marketing team needs to be prepared to deliver just that.

It seems like everyone is talking about collaboration these days and there are some very good reasons for that. We’ve covered the top 3. How has collaborating- within your team or with other brands- affected your marketing campaigns?

We’d love to hear your stories in the comments section below!

This is a sponsored post for Dropbox. All opinions are my own. Dropbox is not affiliated with nor endorses any other products or services mentioned.