We bloggers like to see ourselves as ahead of the curve when it comes to everything from technology to business models to marketing. In some ways, we might be right. In other ways, we’re way behind the times.

One of the gongs bloggers bang over and over again is how, “when one benefits, we all benefit.” Heck, the first time I heard that idea from a blogger, I was enthralled. “How amazingly simple, yet revolutionary!” “This could change the way business works!” The idea that, rather than compete in the marketplace bloggers in a given niche would collaborate to grow the niche, thereby growing everyone’s readership is powerful.

It’s a powerful idea because it’s true.

It is not, however, new.

Farmers have been doing it since the early 20th century. Farming co-operatives work on a similar principle. Heck, collaborative marketing was one of the natural consequences of 1950s Game Theory - the economic principle based the ideas of John Forbes Nash Jr. Even if most of Game Theory was moribund by the 1960s, collaborative marketing stuck around.

Today, even Seth Godin talks about promoting his competition, and why it’s a good thing: in short, Godin argues that promoting books makes more readers, which means everyone sells more books.

So, how to you put the exponential power of collaborative marketing to work for you?

Do it the way grandpa did it on the farm

Farming co-ops got started by word of mouth. One farmer would talk to another, and they would decide to pitch in to create a common marketplace. The same principle applies to blogging. Pick out another blogger in your niche, and figure out ways you can promote one another, growing the overall market. This might be trading guest posts, doing content exchanges, collaborating on a project, or anything else you can think of. Ultimately, though, it has to be the two of you talking to one another, working for each other’s best interests.

Use the power of technology to multiply collaborative marketing results

All of the recent talk about blogging packs at Remarkablogger, Chris Garrett’s blog and Men with Pens relates directly to the question of collaborative marketing. Can collaborative marketing groups be formed on the fly, or do they have to be organic? Whichever direction you want to approach it (I believe organic will have the best long-lasting results), forming a blogging pack allows you to push your collaborative marketing efforts way beyond what the co-op farmers would ever have dreamed was possible, in terms of the number of participants.

Don’t begrudge anyone else a sale. You’ll get yours next time.

Collaborative marketing sometimes means you’ll promote the other guy’s product and he’ll pull ahead of you in sales, subscribers, or whatever it is you’re trying to build. Don’t worry, though; as long as you’ve got a quality product, you’ll be the one that makes the sale at his expense next time. That’s what collaborative marketing is about: helping your peers with no expectation of immediate return.

By leveraging the time-tested power of collaborative marketing, you stand to grow your business exponentially.

This is a guest post by Bob. Bob Younce is a full-time Internet writer and writing mentor living in Linwood, Michigan. He is dedicated to helping Internet writers to achieve their dreams. Visit Bob at The Writing Journey or follow him on Twitter.