Practical Ways to Joint Venture

Business owners have to be creative when it comes to cost effective ways to promote a product or service. Advertising has its place, but it is critical that any advertising and marketing efforts have a return on investment. Joint ventures are an extremely effective and low-cost way to market your business and increase profit.

There are many simple ways to step into the joint venture arena. Think about sharing these ideas with a joint venture partner:

• Exchange links on your websites
• Include information in your newsletters about your joint venture partner
• Display information on counter tops
• Place information in shopping bags, billings or other mailings
• Share a booth at a tradeshow or event
• Write articles for each other’s newsletters
• Provide prizes for fundraising events for various organizations
• Become involved with a local non-profit or non-profit event that allows you to be seen as benefactors.

Find businesses and service providers in your industry or a cross-related industry and approach them about with your joint venture idea. Here are some examples of creative joint ventures to get your juices flowing:

• Make up Artist/ Bridal Shop: The make-up artist kept bridal shop and prom information in her kit and passed it to potential clients when she was out on a job. The bridal store displayed the make-up artist’s information on their counter.

• Travel Agent/ Wedding Planner: The wedding planner kept the travel agent information available for her clients to book honeymoons and received a free trip for every so many clients she sent to the agent.

• Real Estate Agent/ Moving Company: The real estate agent negotiated a discounted moving rate within a local area for her clients. The moving company received additional advertising in the agent’s newsletter.

• Small Pet Shop/ Dog Groomer/ Animal Shelter: The pet shop offered the groomer’s services and helped to promote the local animal shelter fundraising events. The groomer offered services to the shelter and the pet shop. The shelter promoted the pet shop and the groomer to people who adopted pets.

• Travel Agent/ Luggage Store/ Non-wrinkle Clothing Line: The travel agent promoted both the luggage store and the non-wrinkle clothing line. The luggage store included the travel agent’s card and information about the non-wrinkle clothing in their luggage and on the counter. The clothing line consultant promoted the luggage store and the travel agent during her consultations.

By thinking of scenarios where both parties benefit, joint venture opportunities abound. Pick a target market that you don’t always reach, but your potential joint venture partner does. Then brainstorm as to the type of cross-promotion you would like to do. Bring that to your potential partner and explain what it is that you envision. Be sure to highlight the benefits to him. Also, make sure that you outline what the responsibilities are for each project you work on together. That way, you’ll avoid misunderstandings.

Use joint ventures to increase exposure and profit. Be creative and have fun!

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing
firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by
creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
Join his JV Wealth e-zine at http://www.christianfea.com/joint-venture-wealth-report/?a=1

Strategic Alliances: Getting Started

Before entering into a strategic alliance, it's a good idea to decide what you hope to see happen as a result of the relationship. Most strategic alliances have one central mission: to increase sales in such a way that both companies benefit. There are many ways to approach a strategic alliance, but there are a few things to consider before you rush headlong into the relationship.

First, outline a business plan specifically for the proposed alliance. It doesn't need to be extremely detailed, but it should clearly outline the functions of each participant, the expected contributions on both sides, and the anticipated benefits both partners should expect to receive. Do some preliminary research to determine if the alliance is actually feasible from a financial standpoint.

Next, learn all you can about the company you plan to approach. It doesn't hurt to have a list of candidate companies for your proposed alliance. Think of this process as interviewing to fill an executive position in your company. You may need to see several candidates before you find the right fit.

Once you've found the right company, initiate contact with the decision maker at the company to whom you wish to present your ideas. Finding the right person within the sales or marketing department will save time and energy.  It can be as simple as picking up the phone and asking: "Who would the decision maker regarding _______." (name whatever your project is.)

After you've located your contact person, submit a concise proposal. Explain exactly how the alliance will benefit both parties and if possible include a financial projection spreadsheet. Companies are always interested in the bottom line, so show them the potential profit and you should be able to gain immediate interest in your proposal.

When you've secured interest, create a simple contract that outlines who does what, how the money flows, and what the disbursement terms will be. Make sure that everyone understands the role that they play so as to eliminate potential surprises. Follow your gut. You may think a company would make a great strategic partner, but if your worldview or business practices are not the same, you could find yourself wishing you'd never joined forces.

Create a clause in your contract that states you are going to start small or for a limited time to test the concept. This way, if personalities don't mesh, each of you is free to go their own way with no harm done. However, if things work well, you have a contract in place that will allow you to move ahead full speed when the time is right.

Creating Profitable Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are a powerful tool to increase your profit, visibility and market share. You can leverage the time and resources of all parties involved and when done properly, bring increased value to the customer base of each business partner within the joint venture.

Successful Joint Ventures Have Several Things in Common:

Understanding a Target Market

A successful joint venture will have an in depth understanding of the target market it is intended to reach. This is important because it will utilize the existing relationships the other company has formed with its customers. If their customers are not your target market, and vice versa, there's no sense in forming a joint venture. On the other hand, if you're both reaching the same market with different products or services, you can create an instant revenue stream if the customer views the product or service you introduce as something of value. Remember, value to a customer doesn't always mean money or savings. Sometimes value can simply be helpful information, times-savings, or value-added services that will enhance their lives.

Enhanced Credibility

Joint ventures that instantly provide you with enhanced credibility are worth their weight in gold. Make sure you choose to partner with a company that has a sterling reputation with its clients and you can immediately increase your opt-in list. People love having the legwork done for them ahead of time and are more likely to use a company that is recommended to them by someone they know and trust. Make sure you guard the reputation of the company who is recommending you by taking the need to service their customers seriously. They've put their reputation on the line for you, and you for them, so make sure you both understand you’re sharing are a valuable asset and treat them accordingly.

New Product or Service Offerings

Another feature of a successful joint venture is the new product or service offerings you can provide to your customer base. This works well because you can offer new products or services to your customers with little or no investment of time and money that they may otherwise not have received. When a customer feels you've taken additional time to find or pass along quality products or services to them, they will begin to develop a sense of loyalty to your company. Building loyalty in your customers is key to any successful business. Keep the customers you have happy, so that you can continue to expand your network via their recommendations. Just be careful that the products or services you are offering via your joint venture agreement are quality products. You don't want your customers to get the feeling that you're trying to make a fast buck. Nothing will give them that feeling faster than shoddy performance from your joint venture partner.

Creating a successful joint venture is worth your time and energy. Do your research, understand your target market, and go out and service them!

Joint Venture Marketing: Capitalizing on the Psychology of Trusting Relationships

Humans by nature are social creatures and they have the ability to greatly influence one another. This influence is not limited solely to a person-to-person basis, as people are just as readily influenced by advertising, reference and recommendations. Suggestions are most powerful when they come from a known and trusted source, but people are almost constantly looking for advice, approval and suggestions on a very psychological level. Expert marketing strategies capitalize on this basic truth of human nature, and the strength of a joint venture marketing partnership creates a space where you and your partners can benefit tremendously from the psychological edge naturally created by your partnership.

The Psychological Edge of a Joint Venture Marketing Partnership

You may not be aware of this psychological philosophy, but just having a joint venture partnership engenders trust among consumers. At its core, a joint venture marketing partnership is a relationship. The stronger your relationship with your partners, the stronger and more successful your venture is likely to be. Relationships are built on trust, and when consumers see that you have partnerships with one or more companies, it demonstrates that you trust one another. This instills a feeling of confidence in the consumer.

Consumers are presented with an endless array of products and companies from which to choose. Depending on the industry, there are usually many companies and websites selling similar, if not identical products or services. In a world of big business and globalization, consumers are increasingly conscientious of the dwindling small business and mom and pop-like stores on which the United States was built. Many consumers, if given a choice, will purchase from a small company rather than a large one, because they believe their purchases are appreciated and make a difference to these smaller companies.

How to Use Consumer Psychology to Your Benefit

If you have a joint venture marketing partnership of two or more small businesses, this immediately plays to this type of consumer psychology. They are more likely to buy from your company, even though you sell the same products or services as a larger corporation because the consumer has a feeling of being personally invested in your company’s survival. On the other hand most people believe a large corporation will survive with or without their purchase.

Being part of a joint venture marketing partnership is an automatic endorsement from your partners, creating a feeling of confidence and trust among your potential customers. If you agree to a partnership, it means you view the company you’re partnering with as a trustworthy source. The reverse also holds true. Your joint venture marketing partners have trust and faith in you and your company. This is demonstrated to consumers simply by the business link that you share.

Consumers recognize these relationships as endorsements and recommendations. Even if the consumer doesn’t know of your company, the fact that you have other professionals and businesses that connect with you is a vote of confidence. One the smartest and most strategic ways you can capitalize on consumer psychology and build customer confidence in your company is to develop a joint venture marketing partnership.

Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing
firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by
creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
Join his JV Wealth e-zine at http://www.christianfea.com/joint-venture-wealth-report/?a=2