The Collaborative Business Ecosystem-A Paradigm for Success

What Is The Definition of Insanity? | To Keep Doing the Same Thing And Expect A Different Result

Joe Nortrup

5/8/202415 min read

You're Frustrated With B2B and B2C-Traditional Tactics Don't Seem To Work Anymore | Here Is Your Solution

To simply say that the business world has been turned on its head post pandemic as relates the tumultuous seas that are marketing and sales would be a gross understatement.

While doing research for this book it has become clear to me that you have to practice discernment when considering the data and its interpretation by so called industry experts.

What I have found seems to be conflicting data in the form of survey results coupled with opinion pieces essentially touting the return of traditional marketing while at the same time exclaiming “the jig is up” when referring to digital marketing.

One article from a renowned business review stated with glee that marketers were returning to traditional marketing methods after coming to the conclusion that digital marketing had essentially run its course and was being resoundingly rejected by the consumer for its intrusive attributes, one opinion piece even labelling digital ads as “misinformation”, I think I smell an alternative agenda there tied up in such a ridiculous assertion.

What I gleaned from this article in my attempt to ferret out the truth was that just as I have stated and will continue to state, is that traditional marketing is in decline, and not making a comeback as some have claimed in the recent past.

Was there a resurgence in traditional marketing post pandemic, yes in some sectors but not across the board and it was not taken into consideration that the pendulum would and should naturally swing back the other way after the pandemic all but shut down the economy.

That being said, although marketing budgets saw increases of nearly eight percent on average, traditional marketing ads saw a decrease of nearly two percent per annum on average. The ad spend numbers for 2023 bear this out in that traditional ad spend was at 234 Billion for the year, while digital ad spend was recorded at 389 Billion for the year accounting for sixty-eight percent of the total ad spend for 2023.

Certainly not the comeback that was being predicted in 2022 by the so called experts and brings us back to an important point I brought out early on in this book and in earlier articles I have published on LinkedIn, that being, simply adding digital ads to traditional frameworks of marketing does not work, in fact probably does more damage to a brand than good.

Why is this the case? Digital alone is not the answer because it isn’t necessarily the method or medium through which the message is delivered, it is the message itself that matters most. Digital advertising on a traditional framework is still just top-down, intrusive, even inconsiderate, traditional marketing that demonstrates no love for the targeted customer. Our digital age consumers see right through this and are turned off as fast as you can hit the “skip ad” button.

The beauty of the program presented in “How To Win The Big Game” is that it will show you step-by-step how to take your existing business and transform it from a traditionally structured, top-down business to a Collaborative Business Ecosystem that is sustainable, scalable, and wildly profitable.

You will learn how to utilize content that can be posted on the internet and social media at no cost to you other than the time and personnel to create it. This can sharply reduce ad cost and free up resources to be used in ways that increase ROI not just burn revenue in a “throw paint at the wall to see what sticks” form of marketing.

CBE is a fresh approach to marketing and sales that makes obsolete the old method of broadcasting messaging at consumers to becoming co-creators with stakeholders of valuable content that enhances the experience around the consumers use of products and services. CBE’s two-trac system will quickly help you start heading in the right direction.

First, the Essential Networking System will neutralize the silo effect currently at work in your organization and help you begin to dismantle silos you encounter in your industry. Secondly, the Collaborative Consumer Engagement trac will turn you and your organization into a content creating community building brand that will garner customer feedback, support, and loyalty. Now let’s drill in a little deeper in our comparison of traditional marketing and sales with the Collaborative Business Ecosystem framework.

The Traditional Framework | Time For An Overhaul

The traditional framework of marketing has been around a very long time taking on its first iteration with the emergence of the printing press sometime in the 1400s. Originally created for the production of books it wasn’t long before some savvy and innovative salesman sent old Gutenberg a carrier pigeon with an order for his own press and boom, print ads became a thing.

Eventually, by the 1950s we had what is essentially the same framework for marketing and sales that exists today, of course nuanced but basically the same. The use of print, radio, and T.V., what we call corporate media, is still thought of by many in the advertising industry as the cornerstone of marketing and sales but as we talked about briefly in the introduction to this chapter major changes are on the horizon for marketing and sales.

If we take just a minute to really think about this huge megalith that has been the advertising industry, the only major shift it has seen in the last one hundred years has been going from local market advertising to global market advertising.

Meanwhile seismic shifts have been booming under foot with little to no note taken by industry leaders, that is until recently, and based on the limited response it is clear that there has not been a consensus on a strategy that can “right the ship” while at the same time preserve the entities that comprised the cornerstone, change on this scale isn’t just difficult, it’s terrifying. This shift is fundamental, elemental, and consequential.

Trads Core -Weaknesses

Every industry experiences a “Golden Era” and if an industry can remain relevant, they may experience more than one through iteration, the problem with the current framework of marketing and sales is that it experienced its “Golden Era” in part because of the stranglehold it had on mass media.

This absolute control by a few made it easy for the industry to look at marketing and sales from the perspective of the seller and not the consumer. To quote Lord Acton, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

This isn’t to say that the industry at large was, is corrupt, but the principle of having total control not being a positive thing rings true when it comes to what has happened to the advertising and marketing industry.

The absolute control over the narrative in advertising led to a culture of ads that seemed to in one way, or another, softly and sometimes not so softly manipulate the consumer rather than consider their needs or any feedback contrary to the narrative. In short there was no desire or effort put forth to engage with the consumer in a useful way and once the internet became available and information began to flow freely the consumer grew tired of this form of marketing.

As the market grew and evolved, becoming more sophisticated, the return on investment for mass media marketing began its decline and continues still. The industry’s first response to the “writing on the wall” was to add digital advertising to the mix but again when applied to this old top-down framework their efforts fell flat.

In addition to their tactics being ill conceived agencies were focused on the end results of short-term gains, i.e., sales. This has proven to be a big mistake as well because of the countless missed opportunities to build brand loyalty which is one of the “new cornerstones” of digital marketing. Brand loyalty is what produces long-term growth and increased market share.

The scenario just described here is clearly not sustainable, change is needed and it’s long overdue. Imagine spending millions of dollars for a short ad to run during the Superbowl and seeing no measurable bump in sales. This is where the traditional advertising and marketing industries are at currently.

There are literally unknown teenagers building brands in their bedrooms on YouTube that are outperforming ads run by major marketers. The question is how can a major brand that has been practicing top-down marketing methods make the transition and emulate what these solopreneurs are creating? The answer is through building a Collaborative Business Ecosystem. It can be done and “How To Win The Big Game” will show you how.

How CBE Works and Why It Is Superior to Trad Marketing

The contrast between the traditional framework of marketing and sales and the framework of the Collaborative Business Ecosystem program is dramatic. For example, in traditional marketing brands compete in a dog-eat-dog fashion whereas in collaborative brand building, (CBE), brands not only collaborate with their customer base they look for opportunities to build strategic partnerships with other brands.

Many times, these would be brands that in the traditional framework would be a fierce competitor but through the application of critical thinking and innovation brands can find countless ways they can merge ideas to not only create great offers for consumers but grow one another’s market share. I know the term “a win – win” is overused but in this regard, it is a multi-faceted legit claim, collaboration will trump competition every time.

How do we know this to be true? Because to win at a competitive endeavor is often times an anomaly and can not be repeated with certainty, but collaboration on the other hand can be repeated time and again with similar, more predictable outcomes. If that isn’t superior to the old way of doing things I have not done my job of explaining this comparison effectively thus far.

This idea of cultivating opportunities for shared purpose and being actively involved in the entire marketing and sales process builds an enormous bank of trust with complimentary brands, and even more so with the consumer. Collaboration demonstrates to the market that a brand has integrity and is authentic in its pursuit of serving the customer’s needs.

This collaborative mindset is at the heart of CBE, it is the difference between having a predator-prey type of approach to marketing where one party is looking to benefit at the expense of the other at all cost, as opposed to an ecosystem mindset where every participant in the ecosystem is important and realizes the desired benefit from the collaboration.

The consumer is assured of getting the actual good or service they think they are getting and the producer of the good or service has the benefit of a well-served consumer that will recommend them to others that enter the ecosystem and return again and again due to their high level of satisfaction.

An Overview Of CBE’s Two-Track Program

Our Core Philosophy: From Silos to Synergy | From Transactions to Transformations

ENS: Removes internal and external barriers and fosters collaboration among teams, and complimentary businesses, building and ensuring a cohesive strategy.

CCE: Extends the synergy outward, creating meaningful consumer engagement and brand loyalty.

THE VALUE PROPOSITION: By aligning internal and external networks (ENS) with external consumer collaboration (CCE), businesses can maximize both operational efficiency and market impact.

Track 1 | Essential Networking System

Essential Networking has to begin within an organization before the principles can be applied externally. As we discussed early on, a siloed business environment had developed through a series of external events that fed into the human nature to take the path of least resistance and avoid rejection and confrontation.

This tendency to isolate manifests itself internally in an organization first and then becomes a form of outward expression towards other businesses and the consumer, producing negative effects and causing loss of opportunity on a massive scale.

So, the point of ENS is to first extract teams from their current silos and begin the process of making team members aware of the indicators of working in isolation and how to work against the ability for silos to form barriers in the workplace.

This training will resolve the numerous misalignments that can plague a business’ productivity and ability to impact the marketplace. Team alignment facilitates their ability to then become collaborative not only with one another but with other complimentary businesses that can become strategic partners.

This results in internal team alignment and external strategic partner alignment, and it is this ability to collaborate and align their purpose and efforts that creates the “ecosystem.” To sum up ENS in an overview here are three touchstones that exemplify the ENS program.

1. Ecosystems Facilitated by Integration and Alignment:

Ø Cross-functional alignment ensures that marketing and sales, and operations are working towards the same objective.

Ø Businesses are able to build deeper, more strategic partnerships with complimentary companies and become co-creators of highly valued products and services.

2. Partnerships Based On Relationships:

Ø ENS prioritizes relationships between businesses that extend far beyond just a single transaction. ENS emphasizes the opportunity for shared benefits and positive outcomes that build trust between brands.

Ø These collaborative efforts open up new opportunities formerly unseen or obtainable without a strategic partnership and it builds in resilience against fluctuating markets and fosters unimagined innovation.

3. Collaboration That Facilitates Scalability and Growth:

Ø Strategic partnerships focus on a collective growth opportunity rather than face-to-face competition where winner takes all.

Ø When businesses partner under the ENS program they are able to tackle shared challenges together like sustainability and the growth of the market.

As you can see based on just these briefly explained three touchstones, ENS has the potential to revolutionize the marketing and sales game.

Because of the focus on collaboration each business effectively expands their resources and capabilities when they form strategic and collaborative partnerships. This program when applied could very likely blow up your business and scale it directly through its current glass ceiling.

Through just the application of this trac (ENS) of the CBE program I was able to form strategic partnerships with two companies from different but industry related services that resulted in millions of added revenues for our company and no doubt for theirs as well.

Neither of these businesses had ever imagined proactively attempting to be collaborative with companies such as the one I was associated with.

When I first approached them, I could tell that although they were polite, they failed to see any value in the effort or time spent and of course time is money so I would say less than enthusiastic.

But in both instances, as is often the case in life, shortly after my making contact with them opportunities presented themselves and of course we jumped at them and were richly rewarded for our efforts.

What was the cost to procure these leads? A couple stops and a couple five minute conversations. If you divide the revenue generated by the actual time I spent and the cost associated with that time spent my few minutes would be worth hundreds of thousands each, not a bad ROI, all due to ENS and our attempt to collaborate instead of compete.

Now let’s look briefly at trac two (CCE) of the CBE program, or the second rail, whatever you prefer and see how we can actually 10x or multiply our ENS efforts by applying this second trac of the CBE program.

Track 2 | Collaborative Consumer Engagement

While Trac 1 focuses on eliminating silos with a view to developing strategic and collaborative partnerships with complimentary businesses, Trac 2 the Collaborative Consumer Engagement program focuses on building meaningful relationships with consumers which result in trust and brand loyalty.

The philosophy behind CCE is the idea that rather than looking at the consumer as a “thing” to be had, people needing to be compelled to buy a product or service, instead looking at them as a potential long-term collaborator in your business.

Regardless of the societal manipulation we see that is intended to divide humanity on any level possible, the “reality” is that human beings crave connection and community and a sense of purpose all of which can be facilitated through the Collaborative Consumer Engagement program.

A Brand can and should be so much more than just a faceless company looking to tap into the consumer’s pocketbook. Brands can and should be a place of collaboration, community and even through co-creation and use of User Generated Content or UGC, become a place where the consumer finds purpose because even a small “purpose” can aggregate and become meaningful to consumers.

This is what the market is telling those of us in business that it wants and if we opt out of engaging in this new paradigm, we should expect declining ROI’s going forward. Now let’s look at three touchstones that sum up the gist of the Collaborative Consumer Engagement program.

1.Consumer Empowerment:

Ø Smart brands engage consumers as collaborators, finding creative opportunities to allow customers to help shape products and services as well as the campaigns used to market them.

Ø Feedback loops are established to make sure that consumer voices are heard and responded to appropriately.

2. Engagement Through Valuable Content:

Ø CCE turns marketing into an educational experience for the consumer that is also many times interactive. This approach builds deeper connections with consumers.

Ø When businesses inform consumers through this type of content it builds immense trust and brand loyalty.

3. Forming Communities:

Ø CCE emphasizes community building which makes consumers feel connected with the brand and due to the effort to build community, consumers feel valued.

Ø When brands and consumers share values and purpose, brands experience customer advocacy and benefit from co-creative efforts by customers.

There are the two-tracks of the CBE program from a bird’s eye perspective. Of course, there is a lot more details left to explain which I will do when we delve into the two separate tracs in their perspective chapters. For now, though, you should be able to grasp the thoroughness and overall scope of the Collaborative Business Ecosystem program.

Although very simple and straightforward, this program if employed as directed will ignite both your team and your customer base when they begin to experience your brands enhanced consumer engagement. So now let’s touch on how these two tracks are integrated simultaneously to transform any business that uses the program.

How To Integrate ENS and CCE | Two Rails One Purpose

CBE’s two-trac program works because there are no smoke and mirrors, no fanciful business theories being purported, no philosophical mumbo-jumbo, just straightforward application of fundamental business practices applied with common sense and a sincere consideration for the needs of the consumer. This is why it’s application translates as authentic, sincere, honest, and sustainable in that the consumer gets a sense that they can rely on the brand being around tomorrow.

This is the power of not just claiming you give a care about your customer, but actually demonstrating that you do. Ironically, it takes less energy, and less revenue to do the right thing and provide real value, than to go to great lengths to manipulate a targeted demographic as your market.

Sure, there will always be those that seemingly prefer the manipulation and lack of engagement of top-down marketing and sales, it feels familiar and produces a feeling of nostalgia. All that being said that market is shrinking exponentially along with the boomer generation.

Three Rocks To Integration

Rock #1: A Shared Vision-Alignment of Both Internal and External Strategies

Ø ENS Action: Eliminate silos within the company and between strategic partners to facilitate a unified purpose and message across departments.

Ø CCE Action: Translate the unified vision and purpose into consumer-engaging campaigns that encourage participation and partnership.

Example: Your company is launching a sustainable product line and uses ENS to align critical departments like R&D, marketing, and supply chain and logistics teams. Then, CCE sets out to educate the consumer about the sustainability aspects and involves them in the co-creation of eco-friendly solutions.

Action Step: Create a CCE Alignment Team drawn from the ENS cross-functional network to oversee the consumer engagement initiatives.

Rock #2: Strategic Networks-Internal Alignment and Strength Supports External Growth

Ø ENS Action: Deploy B2B networking to form strategic partnerships with complimentary companies that support consumer collaboration goals.

Ø CCE Action: Integrate these partnerships into offerings for consumers that create a value-rich collaborative business ecosystem.

Example: A fitness brand partner with local gyms through the ENS networking program. CCE then launches initiatives to engage consumers by offering joint memberships, co-hosted events, and shared wellness education.

Action Step: Form and incorporate partnership goals as part of the ENS networking strategy, while focusing on those partnerships that enhance your CCE initiatives.

Rock #3: Feedback Loops-Make the Connection Between Internal Teams and Consumer Insights

Ø ENS Action: Create the necessary channels for teams to be able to share and analyze consumer feedback received as a result of CCE initiatives.

Ø CCE Action: Design systems for collecting actionable consumer feedback, like User Generated Content (UGC), Q&A sessions, surveys, etc. and share this data with the ENS networks associated with the offering.

Example: A SaaS company utilizes ENS to centralize and align their customer support efforts, their product development, and marketing. CCE then gathers real-time feedback from consumers through hosted forums and then uses that feedback to develop its product updates. ENS ensures that the feedback reaches the right team.

Action Step: Develop an Insights Hub so consumer data collected via CCE is organized and distributed within the ENS framework.

From Integration to Deployment-5 Steps

1. Audit and Map Out Points for Integration:

Ø Use ENS principles to map inter-departmental roles that can influence the consumer experience.

Ø Use CCE to identify important consumer touchpoints that require cross-functional support.

2. Unified Training Programs:

Ø Train employees in collaborative consumer engagement using ENS frameworks.

Ø Include creative modules like co-creation strategies, feedback loop curation, and brand storytelling.

3. Pilot Cross-Functional Teams:

Ø Form teams with members from both ENS (internal networkers), and CCE (consumer engagement strategists)

Ø Pilot initiatives like consumer co-creation campaigns & partnership launches.

4. Launch & Scale Collaborative Campaigns:

Ø Use ENS connections to streamline execution and CCE methods to maximize consumer involvement.

Ø Example: Launch a campaign that invites consumers to design products and use ENS to connect relevant teams.

5. Iterate and Refine:

Ø Continuously improve integration by analyzing both internal (ENS) and external (CCE) feedback.

Ø Hold quarterly collaboration summits to align ENS and CCE strategies.

A Framework You Can Build A Brand On

As you can see, just from a thorough overview of the Collaborative Business Ecosystem program it becomes clear that this is a transformational program that answers the seismic shift in consumers moving away from traditional top-down marketing and sales. This is how brands should be built going forward in the digital economy.

This program will not only win you consumer loyalty for your brand it will invigorate your team as they will finally be able to merge creativity with measurable and repeatable processes that produce results. CBE just feels right and is fun to implement. Not only do consumers get behind authentic brands, so do employees.

As we move forward now, we will get into the nuts and bolts of both the Essential Networking System (ENS) and the Collaborative Consumer Engagement (CCE) program. These two tracks that formulate the Collaborative Business Ecosystem are powerful in and of themselves but when combined create a collaborative powerhouse.

Note To Reader:

This article is an excerpt from Joe's forthcoming book "How To Win the Big Game" now in BETA. The information in this article alone can transform your business trajectory if you were to employ it in your day-to day operations.

If you value this types of actionable content please like it and subscribe or follow and please repost it. For more information and to request your Collaboration Readiness Assessment Guide and Scorecard at no cost to you go to www.thereelmba.com and submit the request.

Thanks for reading,

Joe