Name: Bete
Based: Lewes
Website: www.bete.co.uk
Within our business network there are several other small businesses who share distribution agreements from the same principle supplier. These companies operate in other countries but sell the same products as us. We all have limited marketing budgets and struggle with the resources to create great content for our websites and other marketing channels. We all wish we had big creative marketing departments to do this but we don’t.
This year we started an initiative of online collaboration within the group to produce joint marketing content. We have an internet portal for sharing ideas and have used this to scope a series of technical drawings. Once the scope has been agreed, a lead company is nominated and they engage with the necessary freelancers to realise the vision. The drafts are posted for discussion between the group and revisions made. The costs as well as the output is shared.
Part of the scope of any project is that the final design must be available in a fully editable format. This allows the final product to be edited for each market where necessary. For example, labelling on technical drawings can be translated for each European territory.
This way of working allows us to harness technical expertise across multiple companies, share costs, and act as if we all have big creative teams. None of this could be achieved individually, but technology allows us to work together.
Ivan Zytynski is the marketing director of Bete
