“Joint Ventures are in, and if you’re not utilizing this strategic weapon, chances are your competition is, or will soon be, using this to their advantage…possibly against you!” Valerie Orsoni-Vauthey. If the number one way to build your business is to grow your mailing list, the number one way to grow it quickly is to employ joint venture strategies. Simply explained, a joint venture is when two or more parties agree to promote each other to their mailing lists. In some cases, the goal is to simply broaden the audience reach and grow a list, while in other cases, the joint venture may be a sales pitch in which the partner receives an affiliate commission on sales made from the mailing.
Either way, cross promotional joint venture ideas are an inexpensive way to reach more people, grow your list, gain credibility and increase your sales. Who should you partner with for a joint venture? Typically, the ideal partner has a common target market, but does not offer that market the same thing that you do. Your services should be complimentary, but not competitive. A dance studio that offers dance classes may want to partner with a company that sells dance leotards for example. They have a common audience, but serve that audience with different services or products. A personal trainer that teaches yoga classes may want to partner with a chef that teaches healthy eating to their common audience of health conscious women. What types of organizations offer services that are complimentary but not competitive in your case?
Another factor for choosing a partner is your mailing list size. If you have a list of 300 people, you need to find someone with a list in that general range. A person with a list of 5,000 won’t get a fair response from your 300 as you would from theirs. So, look for opportunities to partner with people who have similar list sizes. If you are smart about choosing the right partner, you can increase your list by a significant percentage in 24 hours with a joint venture. I have increased my list by more than 100 names overnight with this strategy.
So, how often should you joint venture? As often as possible. Starting out, you should find someone to do a joint venture with once per quarter, then once per month. When your list size grows to over 1,500 people you should be doing 2 per month and when your list is in the tens of thousands, you can do one every week.
Remember that this strategy is about partnership. So, make sure that you know who you are partnering with and that they share the same values that you have for your clients. Do your homework. You are not looking for one night stands here, joint venture partners are partners after all. As you grow your lists of joint venture partners, you become part of a support team that will have immeasurable benefits. These partners will promote you beyond the initial joint venture and you will promote them.
Get partnering and start growing!
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