Creating Chamber Partnerships: A Case Study
One year ago, Tim Emerson wondered whether the Chamber would be a good fit for Kwan Yin Healing, which helps people break the patterns that feed long-term pain, and decided to give it a shot.
In 2011, in rural Madison County, he opted for a primarily online business, working via Internet and telephone with clients around the globe. Now in Ithaca, he wanted to build more of a local practice. So he started doing what online businesses do – look for partnerships. Now his efforts are bearing fruit.
On July 14 he presented “Self-Healing for the Martial Artist” at Centerline Fitness & Martial Arts. After meeting owner Collin Lieberman at a Networking at Noon event, Tim proposed melding his online self-healing course with his T’ai Chi martial arts background, adding some additional research on marital arts injuries. Tim and Collin both get extra exposure, and Collin’s students get extra value and better injury protection and recovery.
In August (tentatively Aug. 11), Tim will team up with William Garrison of Jolly Buddha massage, which also specializes in clients with long-term pain, to present a joint talk on Overcoming Long-Term Pain at the Tompkins County Public Library. Because Jolly Buddha is downtown in the Clinton House, and because the Library is downtown, Gary Ferguson, Executive Director of the Downtown Ithaca Alliance—another contact Tim met in a Networking at Noon event—has agreed to help promote the event in the Alliance email newsletter.
Tim is looking for further partnerships—he’s been asking around about designing and writing a booklet on overcoming pain tips, with a partner’s branding, as a giveaway to that prospective partner’s clients. Personal injury lawyers? Insurance brokers? Other venues for a joint talk with Jolly Buddha and perhaps others? Medical practitioners helping their clients stuck in chronic pain? Other alternative health practitioners? Corporate health programs? Or something entirely out of the box like a martial arts class? If you’ve got an idea, Tim will certainly want to hear it.
How might your business partner with other Chamber members for mutual benefit and greater customer service? We’re limited only by our imagination.