Collaborative Marketing

What is collaborative marketing? The collaborative marketing isn’t simply a new way of buying or selling: it’s a powerful movement in which people are getting goods and services from each other (what people call the “sharing economy”), or even making them outright (also known as the “maker movement”). Just as social media enabled peer-to-peer sharing of content, the technologies of the collaborative economy now enables peer-to-peer sharing of goods, services, transportation, space and money at a speed and scale that were unimaginable a decade ago.

Companies must be able to understand the customer insight and collaboration skills that they need to develop in order to compete effectively in the collaborative economy for years to come. Working as a team creates a powerful connection, not just as business owners, but as human beings. When people are connected in helping each other succeed they build a referral network that succeeds both online and offline.

We now have research to show that companies need to embrace the core innovations of the collaborative economy if they want to thrive in the era of Kickstarter, Uber and Taskrabbit. Forming strategic marketing collaborations with other businesses is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach new audiences. As customers are now coming forward to contribute their expertise, time, and resources in marketing exchanges in blogs, social media, and many interactive forums, we are witnessing the emergence of collaborative marketing.

Collaborative marketing is now becoming the process of working together with customers to create value in marketing exchanges. Some of the top companies that have used relationship marketing are required to think first about how to relate to their customers. In contrast, with the active customer, collaborative marketing requires companies to think about collaborating with customers, making sure they have an integral part in the company’s marketing activities. In collaborative marketing, the strategy network becomes the enabler of collaborative exchanges and goes way beyond relationship exchanges because companies involve mutual dependence and maximization of shared benefits to their customers.

If established companies want to tap the power of price, convenience and brand as competitive advantages in the era of the collaborative economy, however, they will have to embrace the lessons of sharing startups’ success. Companies that want to compete on price need to launch their own peer-to-peer marketplaces—like Walmart’s aftermarket for used video games—in order to reduce their customers’ total cost of ownership. Companies that want to offer customers the benefit of convenience can provide the ancillary services and products they need—the way Home Depot now lets its customers rent tools and equipment. And companies that want to leverage the power of their existing brand to attract sharing customers need to find ways to offer their traditional products via ownership or access—just as BMW has done, by introducing the DriveNow service that lets people get BMW vehicles when and where they need them.

The biggest challenge for most new brands is lack of awareness — which is why more than 80% of businesses recognise “finding new customers” as one of their biggest challenges to growth. This need, combined with limited budgets, is what drives a number of savvy brands to explore marketing collaborations to fuel their business. But collaboration remains one of the best-kept secrets of the entrepreneurial world.

More than 60% of start-ups and small businesses are working together to find new customers because it can be one of the most effective and cost-efficient ways to grow a business. At one end of the scale, businesses are co-creating completely new products, or running whole marketing campaigns or on-pack promotions together. At the other end of the scale, savvy start-ups get together with other brands to promote each other’s brands and share each other’s products to expand their own reach.

Collaborative Marketing, in a nutshell, is the process of sharing resources to increase leads, brand, and influence. Not surprisingly, the Internet has made the option of collaborative marketing easier than ever. Are we ready for this paradigm shift? The answer to this question must be well thought out and carefully planned before we begin this new collaborative endeavor. If done correctly and utilized properly, this could grow our business exponentially.

Improving Sales - Learning To Fly

The moment when nothing seems to go our way, and no matter what we do, we can't seem to make the numbers budge. We want to improve sales, but it's just not happening. The truth is, we've  all been there, and sometimes it can feel like eternity before we get out of it. It is only during this time, we should keep our hope and faith intact.

Since I am talking here about keeping our hope and faith with us, it is almost like, learning to fly, let us not forget the king of the air- Eagle, and if we have to learn to fly let us take the lessons from the eagle only. As we learn to trust God we are called to live beyond the obvious, beyond our human perspective and limitations. How this compares with the flight of the eagle we will discover soon. First lets try to learn a little more about the eagle. An eagle can grow to be over three feet tall and have a wingspan of 6-7 feet. It builds its nest high in the mountain. The nest is a sizable construction which can weigh over 1000 pounds. It would be big enough for a human being to lay in it.

Before the female eagle lays its eggs the eagle couple makes sure that the nest is prepared with care, is strong, secure, and has the maximum of comfort, when finally the brood of eaglets hatches the eagle parents are ready to provide everything needed for their little offspring. They watch day and night and feed them with timely precision. The routine for the eaglets is rather simple at first: sleep, open the beak to be fed, and sleep again. Life couldn’t be better. After weeks of sleeping and eating in the cozy nest, the eaglet must learn the first lesson, namely to stand on its feet.

Actually they are forced to get up. At one point mother eagle takes out of the nest all the comfort, the plumage and brings little branches and thorns instead. She even shakes the nest and forces those eaglets to stand up. It is very important that the muscles of the eaglet’s feet develop early. The eagle’s claws are very essential for its survival and need to be powerful. The next step in this learning process is an even greater surprise for these little, but growing, bundles of feathers. The eaglets need to learn how to fly.

This process now includes not only discomfort but even harshness and shock therapy. Mama eagle suddenly grabs one of her brood and soars to great heights. There she releases the eaglet on a horrendous free-fall. First paralyzed by fear the little ball of feathers goes down like a stone and would certainly dash against the rocks if father eagle wouldn’t be there flying underneath to provide a save landing on his powerful wings. Then he carries the eaglet back to the nest. Those who have studied closely the life of the eagles say that this exercise is repeated up to sixteen times until the little eagle realizes that it is created to fly and learns to use its own wings. Eaglets have no other option. They must learn how to fly.

What a tremendous spiritual lesson! Similarly God our eternal father uses in our life the discomfort and even the horrors of being thrown out of our nest and security in order to teach us to trust Him and to use our wings.

God is interested that his children learn to believe, to soar on the current of His Spirit. We can remember personally times of crisis in our life when God takes away all our securities and we feel like being on a free-fall and frankly crying in despair. Praise God that, as father eagle He is watchful, when mama eagle lets go of the little eaglet father eagle picks it up before it dashes against the rocks, similarly God comes to our rescue. God is faithful and carries us through out-most difficult times.

It is comforting to know that the shock the eaglets go through when they suddenly find themselves on a free-fall from a couple of thousand of feet is only part of the process for them to grow up.

We seem to have a choice to just stay in the comfort zone of the nest, avoiding growing up, instead of accepting God’s flying lessons. But if we desire to grow spiritually, God answers our prayers and treats us like the eagle. His purpose is not to make us feel good or comfortable, rather to make us grow and know Him better.

This truly means that our difficulties and even trials and tribulations are not necessarily something to fear and shy away from, but rather to accept as opportunities to develop trust? Yes, this is exactly right. Let us consider it pure joy, whenever we face trials of any kinds, because the testing of our faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

The key for someone to be able to have the right attitude and focus in such a situation is his/her trust in God’s wise and loving intention. It is this trust, or faith, that will enable the believer to experience God’s faithfulness and to learn to live by His power in the realm of the supernatural. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. They would be the one who would know how to fly in the difficult times.

Manifest Positive Thoughts

Many times when we think now we have become very learned and experienced after gaining so much knowledge, we start judging our present with the past experience of ours. Wearing those glasses, whatever we perceive, we think is right and best option for that situation, while we completely ignore the other possibilities which can be generated by some one else in the same situation, who would not judge the situation with our experienced parameters or glasses. We operate in the limited capacity of past experiences, knowledge of what has been. If we really want to feel as though our potential is limitless, which it is, move out of the limited past and get in touch with the Authentic self, which has solutions for any situation at the present moment. One feels less resistance, and more freedom.

Living in the Now allows us to believe in the limitless possibilities of our achievements. When we let the fear, disappointment, or negative experiences we've had in the past live in our conscious minds, we resist the abundance that we can access at any time. We have two choices when we experience disappointment: we can choose to adopt a state of struggle and victim hood, or we can release the negative emotions related to the experience and create a different future with our intentions and our focus.

It has been said that our greatest victory comes not in ever falling, but in rising each time we fall. If we don't consciously choose to release our past experiences then we end up manifesting similar experiences over and over.

We are all beings of energy, and the Universe is made up of energy packets, we are connected and our thoughts and actions create a ripple effect. It all contributes to the collective consciousness. Discover exactly HOW to create a human experience that truly reflects the divinely abundant nature of our Soul! Maybe we need to do some minor tuning to find the right frequency. The energy we send into the Universe finds a similar channel and plugs into it, like a radio receiver. To find the right channel or frequency, we have to put off vibrations that match the vibrations of our true desires.

One way to get rid of the static and find the channel we want is thinking and feeling high energy emotions like gratitude, abundance, joy. The high energy vibrations automatically plug into a frequency of the same energy level, and we begin to manifest, create, and enjoy the high energy experiences we are now able to receive.

Our past rich experience should be used to make progress in life, leading happier and more prosperous life, and in case it creates doubts or comes in the way of our happiness and progress, then we really need to stop and check. This is a very deep spiritual question related to how we interpret our experiences and how we take life's challenges and transform them into blessings. I believe this is the true meaning of alchemy; instead of turning lead into gold, however, we're turning so-called negatives into positives.

Thinking positively is simply a matter of looking for blessings and finding them, even when they're in disguise. If we pretend to be a "positive person" whether we feel positive or not, eventually, we will become a positive person. The more we can express gratitude for life, God and the people we meet, the more gratitude will become a part of our nature, and gratitude is the emotion of the highest vibration. It is synonymous with "pure, positive energy."

In every recession or depression or messed up state of affairs, while the majority is struggling and floundering, there are some who prosper. These are the positively focused individuals who are always on a hunt for blessings in disguise. It applies not only to business and economics, but to every aspect of our lives: where there is a problem, there is an opportunity. Instead of being a "problem-solver" (which is exhausting), study those people, and become an opportunity finder/creator.

Thought is the most powerful influence in our life. Life is thought, and as a man thinks, so he becomes." When we watch our thoughts closely we can see that we are making things happen. Choose happiness and love and we cannot go wrong! It is very simple, whenever encountered with a negative thought, instead of trying to fight it, simply "turn on the light," and it will vanish. Shadows can't exist in the presence of light. It means show it the truth, peace and happiness, replace the lines with more positive words.

Our attitude will not change overnight. We will have to learn to read a lot about positive thinking type books and be persistent to change how we think. Remember the ways we think did not just happen; we were conditioned to this way of thinking. We were not born with a bad attitude and self defeating thoughts.

Manifesting is the development of our souls and into a divine being which we were all born to be able to do. It is our birthright. When we were children we would daydream about whatever we wanted in our lives. As time went on we were told by our parents or society that we can not do this or that and we began to believe this and it is now a reality. We need to learn and teach ourselves how to manifest our lives all over again just like a child would daydream. This is done through positive thinking, faith and a great attitude about our life.

Like every day is fresh day, we should create fresh thoughts for these new situations, thoughts from the past are stale, they cannot bring new, fresh and better results, see good in every situation and create a better future by manifesting the right positive thoughts in the present. Combining inspired action with right thoughts allows us to make miracles happen. Happy Manifesting!

Outweigh Fears

Fear of failure is one of the greatest fears people have. Fear of failure is closely related to fear of criticism and fear of rejection. Successful people overcome their fear of failure. Fear incapacitates unsuccessful people. Most people self-limit themselves. Most people do not achieve a fraction of what they are capable of achieving because they are afraid to try because they are afraid they will fail. Take steps to outweigh fear and move forward to getting the desired result.

Faith is a very important ingredient in our life and the best method to outweigh any type of fear. Now, the humanistic view is to have faith in our self. The providential view is to have faith in circumstances. The brotherhood view is to have faith in our fellowman. The problem is that all of these will sooner or later fail. However, there is a type of faith that never fails because it is based upon someone who never fails. And that is God himself, and when we have that undying faith in Him, it brings security and prosperity. It enables us to work the works of God. The faith that proceeds from God causes God to intervene in our lives in a supernatural way as we receive it and act upon it.

Fill the mind with such a large quantity of faith that fears will actually be flooded away. By this method God’s power does for us, what we cannot do for our self. Our part is simply to believe, trust and surrender to this power. Let His tremendous strength lift us above fear. You are not alone for He is with you. Your friend, your support, He is always with you. No fear on earth is greater than this fact. Use the power of prayer to heal fear. When we really pray with powerful intensity of belief and earnestness, we can turn out our insecurity and fear gaining new confidence. When an individual is close to God, in harmony with God, then his weakness, his self doubts and his fears disintegrate.

Fear is like a devil inside, it is our enemy and still we give space to this enemy and at times welcome it in our thoughts. And in the process become a victim of doubt and fear. Immediately command them to leave and the soul shall be flooded with joy and peace. Get the power and authority over fear. Here are few Action Steps:

It may not be possible at first go, but let us use the displacement and substitutionary method of eliminating it. Accentuate the positive. To turn the mind away from fear, enlist pleasant thoughts and memories. When tempted to start dwelling on something negative, replace it with something that's good and true.

Take action. Face fear head on. Action gives the power to change the circumstances. Overcome the inertia by doing something. A fear faced is often a fear defeated. An old saying goes, "Boats are safe anchored in the harbor, but that's not what boats are made for. One might be fearful but take action anyways. DO SOMETHING NOW.

Persist. Successful people just don’t give up. They keep trying different approaches to achieve their outcomes until they finally get the results they want. Unsuccessful people try one thing that doesn’t work and then give up.

Failure is not personal. Failure is about behavior, outcomes, and results. Failure is not a personality characteristic. Because you made a mistake, doesn’t mean that you are a failure. Making mistakes is healthy, it gives an opportunity to learn and be better. Go ahead and make mistakes this is the formula for success, learn from them and move again.

Although we all make mistakes, fear of failure doesn’t have to cripple you. Fear is a reality of life. It is true for believers and anyone else. However, those who are grounded in faith and spirituality, find that they have God to lean back on when the going gets tough. We don't have to let fear defeat us. We can triumph over it and feel safe. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Do things differently. There is an old saying, “if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you always got.” If you’re not getting the results you want, then you must do something different.

Faith and fear both come from our believing. Wrong believing brings fear. Right believing brings faith. Keep spirituality strong. Pay attention to spiritual life. It will help tide over the difficult times. Keep up regularly on prayer, worship, fellowship, and service.

Fear is inversely proportional to faith. The more faith one has less fear would exist, and even vice verse. If one gets disturbed and bothered by small things, (small and big is individual perception to it) means the faith in Lord is less. Increase your faith in God and keep on increasing till the fear vanishes.

A lot of our insecurities come from an unspoken awareness that we've veered off the path from God or from our inner fear that we're not living as we're called to live. So if one has to be scared or fearful, fear your own bad deeds, your own negative thoughts. Avoid these and become spiritually strong, being strong spiritually, means that we feel that we are walking where we are meant to walk, and that we are being watched and protected by God. There's enormous security in that feeling and it shall outweigh any fear.

Conditioning To Success

People create their own good or bad luck by their own thoughts. Conditioning to success is nothing else but conditioning our thoughts to success. We have to stop creating our own failure, we have to stop being afraid of success. One of the greatest facts in this world is that when a man changes and really changes in the God- centered way, everything changes for good. Here I am referring to just the change of thought from negative to positive if you want success, otherwise vice verse option is always there.

Our conditioning controls us, and thus, the actions, results and consequences of our life. You are where you are today as a result of your conditioning. It controls our emotions, feelings, actions and decisions. It is OUR central programming. We should really understand our “conditioning?” And, why is it so important?

First, let me assure that the state of conditioning is absolutely critical to the state of our life and it is the most important factor – out of the many factors and elements – in whether or not we will achieve the life that we Desire. No matter how much or what one study’s, or what actions one takes (or fail to take), if the conditioning is “faulty,” one shall not achieve the Desired Results. Indeed, the Law of Attraction – as well as the other Universal Laws – is absolutely useless if one has, and engages in, faulty conditioning.

Conditioning – Regardless of the kind and regardless to what extent we are actively involved as to the nature, level and extent of the content – takes place all day long, each day. We continue to condition ourselves, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not.

And, the worst part about it is that 99% of the input data is NOT TRUE. Yes, that’s right – it’s NOT TRUE! We make it up, assign meaning to it, and then live by it. Nothing is really “true” unless we say it is!

There are two kinds of people tough minded and tender minded. Tender minded are the one’s who under obstacles and difficulties are influenced by criticism and lose heart easily. They whine and fail. While tough minded are the people from all walks of life, who have a strong element of toughness built into them, with the help of Almighty God. They have the inner power to stand up to any difficulty; they have what it takes to take it. All their actions indicate as if it is impossible to fail. Help from Him is necessary.

First step to conditioning of success is to never give up- never give in; stand up to it- fight it through with the aid from the God thus becoming a strong person, well able to bear the weight of life most successfully.

Conditioning to success is to condition yourself on day to day jobs, by conditioning and reconditioning the thoughts, and creating thoughts of success, good and winning. The thought is the ancestor of the deed, if the mind is conditioned with the thoughts of success; the deeds of success naturally tend to follow. But notice that an important ingredient of this pattern is to ask for God’s help.

Clearly define what success means to you. And if that is in harmony with God’s desire for you than you shall receive it. But if your defined success is just superficial wealth or material success than it might not be in harmony with His plan. Because His desire is to give us real riches, successful in all aspects economic, social, spiritual, intellectual, and physical. Don’t underestimate the good things that God wants for us and shall give us, if and only if we shall learn to receive.

The quality of our life is the quality of the questions we ask our self every day. The questions should be designed in such a way to cause an experience of more happiness, excitement, pride, gratitude, joy, commitment, and love every day in all aspects of life. That is how day to day conditioning for success can be worked out. On the other side if you are asking yourself how can I be successful? Pay attention to mental block or doubt you encounter on a daily basis. We all experience these feelings. How many times have you allowed these thoughts or feelings to consume you and affect your productivity? If negative thoughts in your sub-conscious control your conscious feelings than how can you succeed.

If we want to succeed in anything in this world we need to do the things that make the difference to whether we succeed or not because there are no in-between measures for the winners. The biggest obstacle we face in reaching our goals is ourselves. The understanding and controlling of our mental conditioning is critical to our success.

One can do and achieve any amount of success, if first you can believe that you can. Believing opens the channels of creative and dynamic good. It sets power flowing in even the most difficult circumstances. In the worst moment of defeat look for victory. Think Big, pray Big, Believe Big, Act Big and you shall become Big.