You can make your newsletter a forum for professionals in fields that are related to yours. Many business people shy away from referring their clients to someone else because they're afraid they'll lose business. But it can work just the other way around.

For example, let's say you're an interior decorator. You send a quarterly newsletter to your clients. Each issue is stuffed with great advice about how to maximize space or create the season's latest looks. Tucked away on the inside of your newsletter is a spotlight on a painter that you've worked with. Because your readers know and trust you, they check out this painter. He's thrilled with the honor. Do you think he's going to become a walking commercial for you and your business. You bet! He's going to tell everyone from his clients to his suppliers about you. He's even going to suggest the two of you team up on a few projects.

You might arrange a special with another professional or groups of professionals to provide a complete coverage package. An excellent example of this is an accountant that I work with. He's developed a "partnership" with a lawyer and a financial planner. When one of them has a client that they think could benefit from the services of one of the others, they refer them on. This results in their sharing many of the same clients. Since they each are familiar with the client's needs, they can work together to put together a much more helpful client package. This is of great benefit to the client. Plus each member of the partnership benefits from the additional income with very little additional work. You can be sure that they do case studies of these situations in their newsletters which they send out to their separate readers. The readers then express interest in such a package.

The key to partnerships, as with any newsletter, is to put yourself in your clients shoes. What would benefit them? How can you make things easier for them? Then set up a partnership or package that meets those needs. The three guys above realized in their independent practices that their clients would ask questions relating to their partner's field. By teaming up, they each get work they wouldn't have considered before. They're broadening their sphere of marketing. The true magical thing about partnering is that once you've created the relationship with your partner, that's really all the work you need to do.

Your newsletter is the perfect place to present your partners. For example, let's say your lead article this month is on refinancing your home. This would be the perfect place to have a sidebar. That's a small mini-article off to the side, usually contained in a colored box. Perhaps your sidebar could talk about putting some of the money you get from refinancing into an investment. Here's where you refer your readers to the great financial planner that you're partnering with. Your partner is doing the same with his newsletter, referring his readers on to you.

This can be a win-win situation for everyone involved. Just remember that it's all about relationships. Honor your relationship with your partner and your readers. Think of how you can meet their needs and you'll also be taking care of your own. Now that's magic - right?