Form strategic business alliances that will help you reach new customers with tips from the article “Boost Your Customer Base & Sales with Business Alliances” from Small Business Computing. With a limited advertising and PR budget, forming a “you-scratch-my-back-I-scratch-yours” style agreement with other local businesses is a great, cost-effective option. Use these three steps to help you create a winning alliance:

1. Consider what your customers need. The first key is to be smart about the businesses with which you choose to align yourself. Select businesses that cater to similar customer bases and offer products and services that complement your offerings.
2. Look for an established partner. Talk to your current clients to find out what other businesses they frequent. If you share some customers with a business, it likely has more customers that would be interested in your services. Plus, having mutual customers gives you a natural icebreaker when you inquire about an alliance.
3. Outline your strategy. The particulars of a partnership will vary from business to business, but regardless of the details, it’s important to have a specific plan of what is expected. How will you drive customers to each other and, almost as importantly, how will you track the results? Having a written agreement will help prevent squabbles and improve the probability of a lengthy, mutually beneficial partnership.

Click here to read the entire article from Small Business Computing.