How can you collaborate with external partners without compromising your corporate identity?

Collaborating with external partners can be a great way to expand your reach, leverage new skills, and create innovative content. However, it can also pose some challenges when it comes to maintaining your corporate identity and ensuring consistency across your content channels. How can you collaborate with external partners without compromising your brand voice, values, and standards? Here are some tips to help you achieve a successful and harmonious content partnership.

1 Define your goals and expectations

Before you start working with an external partner, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you want to measure it. What are the objectives of your content collaboration? What are the deliverables, deadlines, and budgets? How will you communicate and coordinate with your partner? How will you provide and receive feedback? Having a clear and detailed agreement with your partner will help you avoid misunderstandings, conflicts, and disappointments later on.

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Susan Ola-Joseph

Empowering you with the mindset and skills to lead, succeed, and stay balanced | Brand Strategist| Public Speaker
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I believe you control your field by putting appropriate structures in check. Take for instance an approval structure Putting a structure for approval gives you the edge in keeping your brand identity Submission: Your external partners submit their work for your review and approval. Review: Your internal team assess it against your brand's established guidelines Feedback: If the submitted materials need adjustments to better match your brand identity, Final Approval:, you give the final approval for the materials to be used or published. The approval process ensures that all materials produced by external partners meet your brand standards and maintain consistency in the messaging and visual representation of your brand.

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2 Share your brand guidelines and resources

One of the most important aspects of your corporate identity is your brand voice. Your brand voice reflects your personality, values, and tone, and it helps you connect with your audience and differentiate yourself from your competitors. To ensure that your external partner can create content that aligns with your brand voice, you need to share your brand guidelines and resources with them. Your brand guidelines should include information such as your mission, vision, values, target audience, tone, style, keywords, and examples of your content. Your resources should include any tools, templates, platforms, or assets that your partner can use to create and distribute your content.

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3 Establish a review and approval process

Another way to ensure that your content collaboration is consistent and coherent is to establish a review and approval process with your external partner. This process should define who is responsible for creating, editing, reviewing, approving, and publishing the content, as well as how and when they will do it. You should also agree on how you will handle revisions, feedback, and quality assurance. Having a clear and efficient review and approval process will help you avoid delays, errors, and duplication of work.

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4 Respect your partner's expertise and creativity

While you want to ensure that your external partner follows your brand guidelines and expectations, you also want to respect their expertise and creativity. Remember that you hired them for a reason: they have skills, knowledge, and experience that you can benefit from. Therefore, you should trust them to do their job well and give them some flexibility and autonomy to create content that meets your goals and engages your audience. You should also appreciate their input and suggestions, and be open to learning from them.

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5 Communicate regularly and transparently

Communication is key to any successful collaboration, especially when it involves external partners. You need to communicate regularly and transparently with your partner to ensure that you are on the same page, that you are aware of any issues or changes, and that you are aligned with your goals and expectations. You should also use communication tools and channels that suit your needs and preferences, such as email, phone, video call, chat, or project management software. Moreover, you should communicate respectfully and professionally, and acknowledge your partner's contributions and achievements.

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Susan Ola-Joseph

Empowering you with the mindset and skills to lead, succeed, and stay balanced | Brand Strategist| Public Speaker
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In my experience for communication with clients I pride myself In two major communication fields Regular Check-Ins: Schedule periodic meetings or check-ins with your external partners to discuss the status of ongoing projects. These meetings offer the opportunity to address any concerns, provide feedback, and ensure alignment with your brand identity. Quality Control: Continuously assess the quality of the work being delivered. Ensure that it meets the established brand standards, and intervene if inconsistencies are identified. Keep a clear communication for maximum output and safeguarding of your brand identity

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6 Evaluate and celebrate your results

Finally, you should evaluate and celebrate your results with your external partner. You should measure the performance of your content collaboration against the objectives and metrics that you agreed on, and analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of your partnership. You should also share your feedback and insights with your partner, and thank them for their work and cooperation. Additionally, you should celebrate your successes and achievements, and recognize the value and impact of your content collaboration.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Jason Patterson

Founder of Jewel Content Marketing Agency | Truths & Memes | Content Strategy, Thought Leadership, Copywriting, Social Media 'n' Stuff for B2B & Tech
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Working and communicating with external content creators can be real cat herding. You might be paying these people, but that doesn't mean they really work for you. To make sure your brand values and messaging don't get lost or contradicted, your best bet is to find external creators or influencers who are already close to where you are in terms of what you say and do, because it's very hard to make a creator who isn't do what you want.

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Pratyush Panda

Senior Unit Manager - COE @ Bajaj Finance Limited | Ex-founder @Woomie | Crazy about Startups and Entrepreneurship 🚀 | #Saas #Blockchain #Fintech #Marktech #web3.0
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Collaborating with external partners while staying true to your corporate identity is like a delicate dance. It begins with setting clear boundaries and communicating what makes your brand unique. Think of it as creating a playbook, a set of guidelines that partners should follow, aligning with your brand's values and tone. Consistent communication is vital - make sure everyone involved understands your brand's vision. It's a bit like nurturing a garden; regular attention and quality control help your partnership bloom without losing the essence of who you are.

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How can you collaborate with external partners without compromising your corporate identity?

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1 Define your goals and expectations

2 Share your brand guidelines and resources

3 Establish a review and approval process

4 Respect your partner's expertise and creativity

5 Communicate regularly and transparently

6 Evaluate and celebrate your results

7 Here’s what else to consider

Content Strategy

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How can you collaborate with external partners without compromising your corporate identity?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Define your goals and expectations

2 Share your brand guidelines and resources

3 Establish a review and approval process

4 Respect your partner's expertise and creativity

5 Communicate regularly and transparently

6 Evaluate and celebrate your results

7 Here’s what else to consider

Content Strategy

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