|
First
of all, let me start off by explaining what a joint venture
is:
"A
joint venture is a mutually beneficial partnership between two
or more parties with complimentary resources."
There are
several reasons for doing this, but in general a joint venture
is quite literally the most powerful and effective form
of marketing, positioning and client acquisition on earth, without
exception.
Typically,
the most common example of a "JV" (joint venture)
is where a company that has a product, but no customer base,
approaches another company that already has a customer-base
and market share. Both companies will somehow complement
the other (ie. someone selling a new type of CD Burning
software could approach the company that actually makes CD Writers
about co-marketing or integration).
The company
with the product offers a certain commission on each unit sold
to the company with the customer list/database. The other company
(the one with the customer list) will then promote that product
by either endorsing
it to their customers, integrating it with its complimentary
products/services, or referring customers to it in some other
way.
This
type of arrangement will allow a "nobody" company
to reach an enormous amount of customers (and sales!) almost
overnight by leveraging the assets of an established, complimentary
business. Assets that took that company years and years
to build.
Joint ventures
have almost exclusively been responsible for the world's "fastest"
fortunes, and are responsible for literally trillions and trillions
of dollars in the United States alone.
The
Man with the Billion-Dollar JV...
For example,
Bill Gates integrated his original "DOS" program (Microsoft)
with IBM's already huge market share in personal and commercial
computing.
Gates negotiated
a deal where IBM computers would come pre-installed with a Microsoft
Operating system (MS DOS) - but under the condition that Microsoft
would be entitled to lifetime upgrades for its software. This
gave him the positioning he needed when the PC market
was ready to explode...
And it did
explode! When both IBM and the "IBM Clone" companies
(like Compaq) started mass-producing personal computers by the
millions, this single joint-venture (integration) turned
Microsoft from a "small-time vendor" into the world's
largest software corporation.
Microsoft
had the product.
IBM (and
the "clones") already
had the market.
They
partnered out of mutual benefit, and as
a result, Bill Gates became a billionaire before he was 31 years
old.
Yes, this
is an "exceptional" example - but the
principles are exactly the same for any other
business. Whether you're selling hot tubs or gift cards, creating
a partnership with a complimentary business out of mutual
benefit can literally accelerate the success of your own
business at a speed that you could never achieve on your
own.
In
fact, you can even develop partnerships like this with your
competitors. Yes, you read that right. This is called
a "strategic alliance".
One of my
clients is currently in the process of setting up a "strategic
alliance" with one of his competitors.
I suggested that he partner up with another manufacturer and
offer their customers a free trial for our product inside the
box of every product that his competitor sold.
It was important
to reach the competitor's buyers, not prospects, because
that eliminated the competitive element to this partnership
altogether. They would only hear about our product after
our competitor's product had already been purchased (the competing
products are quite different and have different strengths, so
it benefits customers to have both products).
This allowed
us to be able to advertise for "free" to a highly
targeted and pre-qualified market of consumers that had already
purchased a complimentary product in our niche - and we only
paid our partner a commission based on sales made from the arrangement.
It was perfect.
And arrangements like this benefit EVERYONE involved.
Our partner got a very substantial commission per product sold,
and he almost doubled his profits overnight just by sending
out a tiny flyer inside each of his product boxes.
My client's
product sales rapidly exploded.
The
Bottom Line
Joint
Ventures are the fastest way to grow your business, expand your
market share and reach your customers, period.
You don't
need to be a marketing "guru" or be the next "Microsoft"
in order to experience massive benefits of partnering
with another business.
This could
be as simple as cross-promoting
with a complimentary store-front with brochures (if you're a
retailer) - or trading ads in an ezine.
Or it could
be as involved as integrating your products or services with
another company's offering.
Either way,
if you dismiss joint ventures as being too "far fetched"
or complicated (and they're not), then you're missing out on
what could be the single most effective strategy you could ever
employ in your business.
The bottom
line is that reading this article could be the beginning of
an obscenely
profitable future for your business - if you put this
knowledge into action!
"Wealth
is when small efforts produce big results. Poverty is when big
efforts produce small results." - George
David
-
Chris
Rempel, JV-Web.com
|
