Even straggling Friendster here in San Francisco finally gets a big financial boost today, (benefiting from the members it has attracted). Google will become the online social network’s exclusive search and ad provider – thus monetizing the site in a big way.
That’s a SmartPartnership, and a loss for Yahoo, noted Mashable earlier and today - as did Reuters.
What can we all learn from the growing number of profitable partnerships?
Well, consider what companies serve your kind of client, customer or cause. How could you advertise or, better yet, offer customer-attracting tips at each other’s online or physical location? Pamela Slim of Escape From Cubicle Nation dubs this the "lichen as business strategy.
You don’t have to be a big company like google to attract more customers while spending less. You just have to find non-competitive organizations and find a way to co-brand, cross-promote, create a “sell the situation” bundle of combined products or services, provide your product as a gift to your partner’s biggest spending clients (as your partners will do for you) – and more.
