Using joint venture to build your business Blog

A really quick and easy way to increase your reach and build your profile is to harness the power of joint ventures.

What is a joint venture?

A joint venture by definition is a relationship between 2 or more parties entering into an agreement to work towards the same strategic goal while remaining separate entities. It can be as simple as swapping ads to share on each others website, or providing content for a newsletter in return for getting exposure to the newsletter subscribers for your business or product.  Joint ventures can also be where you sell your product through another business and agree to give them a percentage of every sale.  I have done this with one of my online products and have found it a very profitable way to sell.

Some ideas for joint ventures:

• You could write an ebook about “How to Lose Weight if you are a Mum” and then contact all the mummy bloggers and give them a percentage of every book sold.
• If you have a list and you know that your subscribers need some specialised help, contact an expert and offer to promote them to your list in return for a percentage of sales.
• Contests are a great way to get exposure for your product or service.  Contact businesses that have a similar demographic and offer something that you have as a prize.  Make sure it appears to be high value but does not cost you a lot in return.  For example, if you were an interior designer, you could offer a consultation as a prize and partner with a furniture store.
• Something I have used successfully in my fitness business is at Christmas, I offer a $50 gift voucher for my services to businesses to give as a Christmas gift to their employees.  The business loves you for giving them a gift they don’t have to buy for their staff and you get a number of leads into your business.
• I have also had success writing for magazines in return for promotion of my business and my products.

You are only limited by your imagination!
What to look for in a joint venture partner?  

When looking for joint venture partners, find businesses who are complementary to your offering but are not competing.  If you come in to the relationship with a competition mindset, the joint venture will not work for either of you.  Some examples of complementary businesses are a bookkeeper and an accountant, a nutritionist and a gym or a business coach and a web designer.

Make sure that the business you partner with serves the same demographic as you or it will not be to your advantage.  So if you client base are mums, then look for a joint venture partner that services mums.

Another thing you need to make sure when deciding upon a joint venture partner is to make sure your partner has similar goals and is happy to put in the work.  There is nothing more frustrating than having a joint venture partner who takes all the benefits from you but does no work for you in return.  Set goals together of what you are going to achieve for each other and make sure those goals have time frames.  Check in with your joint venture partner regularly to make sure the goals you have set stay on track.

I look forward to hearing of your successes from joint ventures below!