The Mutual Benefits of Joint Venture Marketing

Joint ventures can be a great way to introduce your business to the general public or take your sales to the next level through increased exposure and endorsement. But how does your JV agreement benefit your bigger and more established partner?

The truth is that JV marketing is mutually beneficial to both parties, but in different ways. It is important to understand the benefits a potential partner will receive from a JV partnership with you before you go out on the hunt for JV affiliates. We will show you how both the endorser and the endorsee benefit from a JV partnership.

The Endorser

This is the partner who is willing to share your information with his customers in order to help you build your business. What’s in it for him? First and foremost, money. In most cases, the endorser receives a portion of your sales to keep your name associated with his business. While it may seem like you are giving a lot to get a little at the beginning, most endorsees find that the ultimate benefits of a JV marketing partnership are well worth the costs at the beginning of the process.

Beyond the profit-sharing benefit, there are other advantages of a JV partnership to an endorser. First, they can build their own customer base by recommending related products of other businesses. This simple endorsement is much less costly than developing and marketing new products of their own, but they still reap rewards in building customer trust and loyalty. The endorser also gets the advantage of seeing whether their current customers will bite at your products, giving them an indication of the types of products their customers might like in the future.

The Endorsee

As the endorsee, there are plenty of reasons to consider a JV marketing partnership or two when you are establishing your business. First, you get to link your business name to another business that is bigger and more experienced. Those customers are more likely to take your offerings seriously because they are endorsed by a business they already know and trust. You can compete with bigger companies because you are riding the coattails of another “Big Boy” in your sector.

Another major advantage to the endorsee is traffic. While you might be able to use search engine optimization tactics effectively to drive traffic to your website, it won’t be anywhere near the amount of customers you can reach through linking to a larger business. The traffic that is generated is also high quality traffic, since the customers on your JV affiliate are more likely to be interested in your goods and services as well.

While you may already be familiar with the advantages you reap from a JV marketing partnership, your endorser gets some benefits as well. It is important to identify those benefits before you meet with a potential partner, so you can present your case from their perspective as well as your own. A good JV marketing agreement should be seen as a mutually effective approach to selling a business and building a bottom line.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

The Psychological Impact of Pricing

Once you have your joint venture established, your thoughts must turn to the most effective ways to market your product or service within your JV partnership. A key component to successful marketing is the way in which you price your goods or services. Sometimes the smallest tweak to your pricing structure will make a big difference in your bottom line. We have four tips to help you motivate buyers by simply setting your price just right.

Price for “Savings”

Customers like savings, even if the savings are merely psychological. For example, you will see many more items on the market priced at $9.99 than an even $10.00. Why? Customers will see the product priced below the $10 threshold. In a customer’s subconscious, there is a big difference between those two numbers.

On larger ticket items, the psychological savings perception might even be greater. Try pricing a $400 product at $395 and see if your sales increase. If you use the perception of savings effectively in your JV marketing venture, you are sure to get much more value from your agreement.

Price for Affordability

Many companies find that when they have a large ticket item or service to sell, customers are much more likely to pull out their wallets if they break the full price down into affordable increments. You might see companies advertise the goods for “just $1 a day,” so customers don’t get overwhelmed with a yearly bill of more than $350. The customer will be more likely to bite because they won’t feel like they are getting more than they can chew all at once.

Price for Value

Another good marketing strategy is to bundle products into a single purchase so customers perceive they are getting more value for the money. A popular approach is to throw a freebie or two in with the regular purchase. You might advertise your special as a “buy one, get two free” deal. Customers love the idea of getting more for less, and they may be more likely to snatch up your offer if you toss a few extras in for good measure. You can even add free sample of complementary products that may boost your sales the next time that customer heads to your website.

Price for Bulk

Package deals also work well in the JV marketing realm if you price your products in groups or sets for a single low price. While one product may sell well at $20 a pop, you may find that three items selling for $50 a set sells even better. In this case, your customers believe they are getting the bargains they want, and you are boosting your sales by encouraging customers to purchase more than one product at a time.

Once you have your JV agreement in place, it’s time to make the most of your marketing approach by throwing in a few pricing strategies that have been proven to boost sales. These simple pricing tips are not hard to implement, and they may reap big rewards in terms of higher customer retention and larger sales overall.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

4 Ways to Find Partners in Joint Venture Marketing

You may already know that joint venture marketing is a good way to drive traffic to your website and build a healthy customer base. But how do you start? The first step is to find companies that you are interested in partnering with to build up your business. There are plenty of ways to search out JV partners and a few of them are listed right here.

Search Engines

One way to find JV marketing partners is by searching them out for on your own. Use keywords that match your business to find related companies that may be more established. Once you find a company that looks like a good prospect, join their forum and participate in their message boards to find out what type of client base they attract.

Newsletters

If you receive newsletters from various companies, consider those businesses as potential JV partners. You can research them using the same methods you used to learn about the companies you found through search engines. Study the newsletter to determine whether the company’s products and philosophies are compatible with yours. Go to the company website and join the forums and message boards there to determine the type of community the business attracts.

Trade Shows

Seminars, conferences and trade shows are all excellent vehicles for networking with others in your field or complementary industries. This is the perfect place to meet potential JV partners who share your desire to build their businesses. However, simply attending the event may not be enough to get you noticed by the larger companies that would really be able to give you a helping hand in the marketing department. If you rent a booth at the event, you will automatically give yourself credibility in your industry. This status will allow you to network with other attendees, as well as the speakers of the events.

Membership Websites

There are also websites designed to help businesses match up with JV marketing partners. Subscribers usually pay a fee to join the service, and they are allowed to post their joint venture proposal and information about the company. The proposal is sent to all the members who have expressed an interest in the particular industry. You may receive responses back relatively quickly, especially compared to the time it would take you to search out and research companies on your own. If you decide to join one of these networks, thoroughly research the website and read reviews to ensure you get a good value for your subscription rate.

Joint venture marketing begins with finding partners that will be effective in helping your business grow. By using these four methods effectively, you will be on your way to a joint venture experience that will attract more customers to your company and increase your bottom line.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Five Ways Joint Venture Marketing Can Build Your Business

Joint venture marketing is a relatively easy way to build your customer base without exorbitant advertising costs. This marketing approach takes full advantage of the experience and reputation of a company in a related field to help you find new clients and get your company name noticed by the people who matter.

There are many ways that joint venture marketing can improve your bottom line, and five of them are listed here.

Reputation

When you are new to your industry, it may be hard to convince potential clients that you have what it takes to keep them happy. However, when your name is associated with another established company within your sector, it automatically gives you credibility in the eyes of clients.  With your name linked to another company, it is much easier to get out and network with other professionals in your field, which will build a positive relationship with the general public and your specific industry even further.

Cost Effectiveness

Some small business owners shy away from “playing with the big boys” because they fear that they don’t have the cash to ante up. However, joint venture marketing is a relatively cheap way to get your business noticed because there is rarely cash to put up front at the beginning. Instead, a company works with you for a share of your profits. While the share might be large at first, the customer base you build will be well worth the investment. Because there is no need for capital at the beginning of the venture, you can start your JV marketing adventure any time.

More Exposure

Exposure is essential if you want to attract more customers to your business, and what better way to expose yourself than with the help of a bigger, more established company in your sector? While your website might see relatively few hits each day, your JV partner may see tens of thousands of hits regularly, and all of those potential clients will find your business name as well. That is an abundance of advertising for very little cash, which is why most small businesses would benefit from this type of arrangement.

Better Competitive Edge

If you want to compete with the bigger companies, you have to get your name out where customers are looking for them. Smaller businesses have serious challenges in showing that they are capable of providing the same goods and service as larger competitors. However, when your name is associated with those larger companies, customers automatically link your business to bigger ones. This gives you a competitive edge, because your company is weighed with the rest of the “big boys” when the customer is ready to spend.

Profits

The bottom line is the bottom line, after all. Some businesses are skeptical of their ability to turn a serious profit through joint venture marketing, since they are offering a lot of their profits to their partner in the beginning. However, the success of this marketing method proves that the ability to attract a multitude of new clients and build a serious reputation in your industry far outweighs the initial costs of a JV 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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

How Joint Venture Marketing Increases Consumer Confidence

Online businesses abound today, allowing business owners to attract a global market no matter how large or small their company might be. However, online marketing provides its own unique set of challenges, particularly in the area of consumer confidence.

While a brick and mortar store can create an environment that attracts customers quite easily, it is not so simple to provide the same type of environment in a virtual store. One way to build this consumer confidence is through joint venture marketing, where you can capitalize on the reputation and popularity of a more established business as you are building your own.

Why Consumers Spend

To understand how JV marketing plays into consumer confidence, it is important to explain why consumers spend their hard-earned dollars in the first place. Psychology plays a key role in getting customers to open up their wallets. Many studies have found that people are willing to purchase products that are effectively advertised, whether they “need” the products or not.

The key to building your business is to find those effective advertisements that will inspire consumers in this fashion. Joint venture marketing falls into this category perfectly because customers who like one company’s products are also more likely to want the products offered by businesses associated with that company.

What’s in a Name?

Plenty, when it comes to corporate branding! Corporate branding is the process of helping customers identify your products and company apart from the competition. Branding sends a strong, consistent message to your customers every time they see your company name or logo. It builds customer loyalty and as a result – profits.

However, when you are a new business, it can be hard to establish your branding with the general public. One way to get customers to recognize you quickly is to associate your business with another company that is already established with the customer base you are trying to attract. While customers may see you in the shadow of the larger company at first, you can eventually build your own corporate branding so customers begin to recognize your name apart from your JV partner.

Reputation

Reputation certainly builds consumer confidence, but it is hard to establish a positive reputation when you are a relative newbie to your industry. By riding in on the coat tails of an established company, you can create a reputation for your business much more quickly. When customers associate you with a business they already trust, they will be more likely to trust you as well. If you provide consistent quality in products and service, it won’t be long before that reputation will transfer from your JV partner to you.

Joint venture marketing is about more than business; it is about understanding your customers’ needs and motivations. When you partner with another company in your industry, you can speed the process of building your reputation and consumer confidence. While potential customers may initially associate you with your JV partner, they will eventually see you as a separate entity that can successfully meet their needs. The process is expedited through the JV approach, so you see a rise in your bottom line and customer base much more quickly and effectively.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

How the Dog Whisperer Can Help Your Joint Venture Relationship

Forming a joint venture can be wildly successful, and it can also become a headache. Joint venture partners come in all shapes and sizes. And though most entrepreneurs and business owners are professional in their conduct, many are still difficult to deal with, and personality conflicts can arise. So what can you do to help assure a sound relationship with your JV partner?

Take heed of advice from Cesar Millan, also known as the “Dog Whisperer”. Cesar has become the leading expert in dog psychology and dog rehabilitation. Although his strategies are aimed at canine “pack” instincts, his psychology can work well for joint venture partners as well. Here are some examples:

Calm-Assertive Energy

Cesar advocates that all dog owners display calm-assertive energy. An owner should show a dog that he or she is the pack leader using compassionate and calm methods. Yelling, nervousness, and anxiety are not good qualities of a good calm-assertive leader.

This tip doesn’t mean you have to set yourself apart from your JV partner as the “pack leader”.  Nor does it mean one of you must become the “calm-submissive” type that will obey the commands of the leader.

How this can benefit you and your JV partner is that you both display assertive behavior without becoming emotional. Energy is calm, and both are in control of all communications and tasks.

Set Rules, Boundaries, and Limitations

Cesar teaches that dogs must have rules, boundaries, and limitations to know how to respond to different situations. Your JV is just the same. Both you and your JV partner must set rules, boundaries, and limitations so you both are clear on your roles and responsibilities.

For instance, can you contact your JV partner any time of day? Do you have permission to access your JV partner’s facilities? And likewise, does your JV partner have permission to utilize your equipment? All this and more need to be pre-determined before the JV goes into effect. Your rules, boundaries, and limitations will help you and your JV partner know exactly what to expect from each other.

Clarify “Issues”

An unstable dog is unclear about its role. This causes anxiety, aggression and fear. Cesar Millan teaches that a dog must trust his owner to be a pack leader and know its role in the pack.

Likewise, you and your JV partner must know your roles. Who will perform the marketing? Who will keep the books? Who’s in charge of production? Clarify all these types of issues and you will have a more successful JV “pack”.

Achieve Balance

Ultimately, you want to achieve balance with your JV. Much like Cesar advocates for dog owners, balance creates a harmonic, productive, and happy life. Set and know your limitations and boundaries. Set up roles for you and your JV partner. Let Cesar Millan’s experience with canine psychology teach you similar lessons in JV psychology. All elements should be balanced so both parties are happy with the effort, as well as the outcome.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

How To Double Your Profits With a Joint Venture

How can you double your profits with a joint venture? Just ask Watsco, Inc.! In July of 2009, the company completed a joint venture transaction, and by the end of the year, their 4th quarter net income doubled from the previous year. The earnings information was just released in February 2010 and has sent the company stock soaring.

How Watsco Doubled Earnings

What did Watsco do to provide such a jump in their revenue? The company capitalized upon the demand for more efficient air conditioning and heating in the U.S.

Watsco is a Florida-based company that specializes in the distribution of heating and cooling products and equipment. A joint venture was formed in 2009 with Carrier Corporation, a leading manufacturer of air conditioners and furnaces. The JV was intended to increase the market position and add new product lines.

They succeeded.

How the Joint Venture Worked

Watsco determined that there was a need and potential demand for replacement cooling and heating systems, especially in the Sunbelt region of the U.S. Thanks to U.S. government tax incentives for installing more energy-efficient appliances, homeowners started demanding these products be installed before the tax incentives expired. Watsco heard the call and responded.

The joint venture allowed Watsco to expand their distribution across the country, as well as expand their market base from mainly contractors to general retail outlet stores. It also provided working capital to expand its business and develop new products to fit the needs of the market.

The End Result of the Joint Venture

The result was extraordinary. By operating from 505 stores in 34 states and serving over 50,000 contractor customers with over 4,500 employees, Watsco’s new Carrier Enterprises LLC trumped the competition.

However, the new LLC doesn’t just sell the Carrier brand appliances. Thanks to the Watsco distribution contacts, it also built a strong product line up of premium HVAC products, all of which are built with the latest energy efficient technology.

This synergistic approach to market demand was successful. By taking a keen eye to potential market demand, Watsco’s strategic alliance with the Carrier brand and outlet stores filled a niche. Just in the 3-month period from October to December 2009, the joint venture saw an 82% increase in sales of energy-efficient products. Total Q3 revenue for Watsco increased 68% to $563.6 million and ended with a net profit of $7.1 million. That is a 54% increase of net profits from the same period in 2008!

What You Can Learn from This Case Study?

What can you glean from Watsco’s success? Take heed of their strategy:

• Watch for consumer trends. Markets constantly change as do demand for particular products.

• Find the niche. Watsco saw the potential niche for energy efficient products thanks to consumer demand and government tax incentives.

• Find the right and most strategic partner. Watsco partnered with the popular Carrier brand of heating and cooling products. This helped increase Watsco’s potential distribution channels and increased exposure to other quality brands.

This is a great example of how a joint venture can result in synergistic results. Though you may not have the same profit results, a strategic joint venture can help you capture new markets and see an increase in your sales.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

11 Reasons Why Companies Form Joint Ventures

Joint ventures are very common – and in fact, more common than you might think. Particularly, JVs are quite prevalent amongst big business. Oil and gas companies are common allies when it comes to forming joint ventures for drilling purposes. Electronics joint ventures, such as Sony Ericsson, fuel innovation and global access to untapped markets.

Here’s a look at why big businesses form JVs. Do you see a similarity to your needs? Most likely you do. Learn from the global corporate giants and get an idea of how you can form your own JV right in your own city, state, region, or even on a national or global scale.

Internal Reasons to Form a JV

• Spreading Costs – You and a JV partner can share costs associated with marketing, product development, and other expenses, reducing your financial burden.

• Opening Access to Financial Resources – Together you and a JV partner might have better credit or more assets to access bigger resources for loans and grants than you could obtain on your own.

• Connection to Technological Resources - You might want access to technological resources you couldn’t afford on your own, or vice versa. Sharing innovative and proprietary technology can improve products, as well as your own understanding of technological processes.

• Improving Access to New Markets – You and a JV partner can combine customer contacts and together even form a joint product that accesses new markets.

• Help Economies of Scale – Together you and a JV partner can develop products or services that reduce total overall production expenses. Bring your product to market cheaper where the customer can enjoy the cost savings.

External Reasons to Form a JV

• Develop Stronger Innovative Product - Together you and a JV partner may be able to share ideas to develop a product that is more competitive in your industry.

• Improve Speed to Market – With shared access to financial, technological, and distribution resources, you and a JV partner can get your joint product to market faster and more efficiently.

• Strategic Move Against Competition – A JV may be able to better compete against another industry leader through the combination of markets, technology, and innovation.

Strategic Reasons

• Synergistic Reasons – You may find a JV partner with whom you can create synergy, which produces a greater result together than doing it on your own.

• Share and Improve Technology and Skills – Two innovative companies can share technology to improve upon each other’s ideas and skills.

• Diversification – There could be many diversification reasons: access to diverse markets, development of diverse products, diversify the innovative working force, etc.

Don’t let a JV opportunity pass you by because you don’t think it will fit in with your own small business. Small and big companies alike can benefit from the reasons listed above. Analyze how your company can benefit internally, externally, and strategically, and then find a joint venture partner that will fit with your needs.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

What You Can Learn About Joint Ventures from eBay and Craigslist

Joint ventures can provide both partners with tremendous success, but even the best intentions can go awry. One example of an off track joint venture involves online marketing giants eBay and Craigslist.

In 2004, eBay and Craigslist entered into an agreement whereby the two companies would try to expand more into global markets. However, the joint venture soon stagnated to the point where eBay was trying to market the 28.5% share in Craigslist to other companies, and Craigslist was fighting to get it back.

The biggest problem with this joint venture is that the two companies obviously had completely different intentions and goals. Craigslist wanted to retain authority and management of its own operations, but learn from eBay about larger online classified operations. eBay wanted to use their share in Craigslist to better compete against Google in the online classified industry and maximize profit potential in Craigslist operations. Although both companies had a shared intention of expanding into bigger global markets, their alternative intentions soiled the relationship, and they are now in litigation to end the JV.

Looking at the original intention of the JV, it was a good one. However, there are things you can learn to prevent such a tragedy from occurring in your own JV. Here are some things to consider:

Write Out the Intention of the JV as a Mission Statement

Before your JV goes “live”, you and your JV partner need to know exactly what is expected from one another. Are you looking to have access to technology while your JV partner needs help in reducing expenses? Or perhaps you both are looking to enter into bigger national markets by combining forces?

The mission is critical to ensuring that you and your JV partner will not have disputes over the overarching goals.

Explicitly Write Out the Partner Responsibilities

What will you be contributing to the JV? What will your JV partner contribute? Who will manage the accounting books? Who will handle distribution?

All of the facets need to be clearly outlined in the beginning. You don’t want to have a finished product ready, but find your JV partner reluctant to distribute it appropriately. Know who is responsible for every step of the joint venture.

Shelter Your Proprietary Information

eBay used confidential Craigslist information and techniques to form its own “free” online classifieds, called Kijiji. Craigslist did not want another competitor, especially one that was using its own technology and industry secrets.

Although you may agree to share certain proprietary information to develop a new product, be careful what information you do share. Keep your proprietary information private. Remember, you are still in business for yourself.

Define the Exit Strategy

eBay and Craigslist are still in a lengthy and expensive dispute on how to dissolve the joint venture partnership. You can avoid legal litigation by defining exactly how your JV will dissolve if things go wrong, as well as if things go right.

Joint ventures don’t have to end badly. Knowing all expectations and responsibilities will help you and your JV partner get the most benefit and profit from your JV efforts.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Are You Giving An Inspired Performance in Your Joint Venture?

We all want to perform better. Our jobs, our personal life, our marriages – all this and more require our full attention and focus in order to be successful.

With so many areas of our life pulling at our focus, how can we maintain a consistent and outstanding effort with a joint venture? Doesn’t your JV require your full effort as well? However, sometimes we lose sight and forget why we formed a JV in the first place: to make money and be more successful in business.

Evaluate Your Feelings

You can improve your JV efforts. If you have felt any of the following in regard to your JV, then you are not realizing your full potential, or are unaware of the full potential you can give to making your JV a success:

• Over stressed

• Health challenges

• Feeling of futility

• Imbalanced

• Isolated

Here are three simple things you can do to leveraging your highest effort and give an inspired performance in your JV.

Create a Compelling Vision

What was the reason you formed your joint venture? To make more money? To gain additional business contacts? To tap into an underdeveloped market segment? You need to go back and look at your JV documents and business plan. What is the purpose? If you just review your vision, you can get back to the place that made it exciting.

Don’t have a vision written down? Now’s the time to do so or improve on what you already have. A vision needs to be compelling. “Make more money” is not a compelling vision. “Earn six figures in the next fiscal year with a global marketing effort” is more like it. Make sure your JV vision is compelling enough that it gets you excited every day.

Tackle Challenging Situations

One thing that can really get you down is dealing with tough situations. However, haven’t you felt great and gained a sense of accomplishment when you last tackled and overcame a challenge?

Don’t let tough situations get the best of you. You can feel inspired when you succeed. Approach challenging situations with a goal to tackle one small thing at a time. Break it down into smaller steps. Then check off one step at a time and soon you realize the overwhelming situation is manageable. And always remember to give yourself a pat on the back with a small reward when you complete a challenge.

Tap into Your Creative Abilities

Nothing gives a more inspired performance than when you are creative and productive.  Practice brainstorming more often. Lay out multiple scenarios and solutions to a problem. Give yourself permission to come up with seemingly crazy ideas. That is where you find yourself thinking outside the proverbial box – when you allow yourself to think of innovative and creative solutions outside the norm.

Sometimes you just need to breathe life back into your JV performance. Don’t let yourself get a stale attitude toward your joint venture. Remember what you’re working for. Get that sense of accomplishment. And allow yourself to be creative. You and your JV partner will be thankful for it.

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.

To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

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