What is a Joint Venture?
In internet marketing terms, a joint venture is where a product owner and a list owner agree to work together for their mutual benefit.
My clients are all product developers, and so am I, so this will be written from that point of view.
Why Joint Venture?
âJoint Ventureâ is the answer to the question, âIâve finished my e-book, what do I do now?
You need to create a relationship with someone who has a list of people that they can offer your product to. More specifically, youâre looking for people who already market products like yours to their list. It needs to be a good âfit.â
The question you need to answer is âWhatâs in it for me.â Thatâs the question that will be on the top of your potential JV partnerâs mind. They want to make the most money with the least effort possible.
One day, youâll have your own huge list- until then, your job is to make it very, very easy for your JV partners.
Donât waste your time blindly sending JV proposals to absolute strangers. This almost never works.
Take the time to develop relationships with your potential JV partners. Subscribe to their e-zines and newsletters. Research their businesses. Get to know them.
Lists
Youâll hear it over and over again: âThe gold is in your list.â
When youâre first starting out, you wonât have a list. Every move you make should include building your list as one of your goals.
You will need to JV with people who have large lists. Some of the people on those lists will soon be on your list. That is the single most important factor in a JV agreement. You can market to these people for the rest of their lives.
Be prepared to give up a large chunk your initial sales income to the list owner. The first sale is just that, the first sale. After youâve acquired these customers, you can sell them other products and keep 100% of the money.
The gold is in your list. All other financial considerations are secondary.
Build your list.
When youâre researching potential JV partners, youâll want to find out all you can about their lists.
This list needs to be âdouble opt-in,â which means that subscribers have agreed to be on it, and then confirmed that agreement.
Single opt-in lists are not as responsive- I tend to avoid them.
People who market to ânon-opt-inâ lists are known as spammers.
There are two things to look at, initially, when analyzing a list: size and focus.
Size, in this instance, does matter. Bigger, in this case, is better. Youâre going to sell to a certain percentage of the people on the list. That percentage is a function of the âfitâ or focus of the list and the effectiveness of your sales material. The more people on the list, the more sales that percentage represents.
The focus of the list is very important. If youâve got a copywriting e-book, and you market it to a list of automobile mechanics, youâre wasting your time.
Carefully research your potential JV partners to ensure that their list is a good âfitâ for your product.
Who Is Your Customer?
The first step in creating a successful Joint Venture is to have a clear mental image of your potential customer.
Analyze your product, and then visualize who would benefit from it.
Some parameters to think about are:
1. What is your potential customersâ level of expertise? Is he an âabsolute beginner?â Is she an expert?
2. Where does your customer get their information? Some people only receive information from their television sets. Others read books. Others only get information from the internet. Most people use a combination of sources, but you will notice trends. Laundry detergent is most effectively marketed on television. E-products, like e-books, teleseminars, etc., are most effectively marketed on the internet.
3. After youâve identified the broad area of where your customer gets his/her information, see how finely you can focus. Some people only trust news from the New York Times. Others only trust Fox news. The same trend is true in internet marketing. Some people are very tech oriented, and like a ânuts and boltsâ proposal. Others respond to personality marketing, and are more interested in the seller than the product.
Get inside your customers head and try to imagine what they are reading and listening to.
4. What vocabulary does your customer respond to? If youâre selling pop-music ring tones for cell-phones, your customers will expect a hip, young voice and vocabulary. If youâre selling an e-book of stock market tips, a more mature tone is needed, along with a vocabulary that addresses the specific terminology of that market.
Youâre looking for a list that speaks to your customer.
Types of Joint Venture Partners
Potential Joint Venture partners fall into three categories.
1. 800 pound gorillas
2. Big Dogs
3. Everybody else
Letâs look at them in a little more detail-
Stalking the 800 Pound Gorilla
The 800 pound gorillas are the household names. The Elvisâs of internet marketing. You know who they are.
You want to create JVâs with the gorillas before you contact the big dogs and affiliates. The 800 pound gorillas like drinking from a clear stream. If they have to compete with hundreds of small affiliates, they will probably pass on your proposal.
Ultimately, you want to establish relationships with the list-owners who market to your customers.
Here are some strategies for establishing those relationships:
1) you know them (try giving them guitar lessons!)
2) you get to know them (meet them at a seminar),
3) work your way up through their organization- theyâve probably got a staff of people who go through JV proposals- they may get 20-50 a day, or
4) you get lucky- for example, your girlfriendâs brother is listed on GuruDaq.
You should immediately start sending proposals to the 800 pound gorillas who might be interested in marketing your product. Weâll discuss how to create this proposal later in the book. This may be a long-term goal for you, but stick with it. Some of these guys can send a million emails with the wave of a wand.
Research these gurus, and identify the ones who are selling to the customers you want to sell to.
The next step is to find out where this customer goes online. Who is already talking to your customer? Who is already selling products to your customer?
Google is a remarkable tool for research.
It is also a dynamic tool that changes frequently.
Right now, the top slots in a Google search get there by spending money and time. Search engine optimization is tricky, but what you need to know is- the top spots on a Google search belong to savvy marketers who invest time and money.
If you are selling a product- letâs say, a JV proposal e-book- you can use Google to identify who the strongest marketers are in your niche.
I just did a search on âJV proposal,â and e-book. There were almost 8,000 hits.
Find the ones that resonate with your niche, subscribe to their e-zines, and read them.
People with big lists publish e-zines and newsletters.
If youâre selling an e-book about Search Engine Optimization, do a search on âSearch Engine Optimizationâ and see where that leads.
Today, it turns up over seven million âhits.â Thatâs more than we need.
It also turns up a lot of information- if somebody gets to the top of a list that big, theyâre worth talking to.
If youâve got the Google toolbar, or the Alexa toolbar, you can find out a lot more about them- but the fact that they turn up at the top of the list tells you just about all you need to know.
Letâs look at the obvious resources first.
The best place to look for JV partners is in the world of e-zine publishing.
Again, a Google search on âSEO, Search Engine Optimization, E-Zineâ will turn up- just a second- 229,000 Web addresses.
You should probably start with the top ten. If theyâre on page 1 of a Google
search that is that broad, theyâve got a lot of traffic. They probably have a large list of subscribers, too.
Read their âZines. Are their customers your potential customers?
If itâs not a perfect match, donât bother.
The Big Dogs
The Big Dogs- This is the group that hasnât quite hit âElvisâ status yet, but theyâre in the trenches and have a good track record. Theyâre easier to get to. You probably donât know their names, yet, but theyâre easy to find.
Youâll see them mentioned in forums. Youâll read about them in newsletters. Theyâll show up as co-authors on books they write with the gorillas.
By the way, the absolute best forum for learning about info-product marketing is InfoProduct U, at http://www.infoproductu.com. Bill Hibbler and I run that one, and there are hundreds of potential JV partners who are also members.
Find these people while theyâre still on their way up and establish a relationship with them.
You might hire them as a coach. You can sign up for my coaching program at http://www.yourportableempire.com .
Subscribe to their e-zines and newsletters.
This business, like every other business, is built on relationships. If you can establish a relationship with a âbig dogâ before he becomes an â800 pound gorilla,â you might end up with a relationship with a real heavy hitter.
Everybody Else
Everybody Else- I have hundreds of affiliates for some of my e-books. About five of them actually make sales. You will naturally attract these affiliates through the Clickbank directory, and through the promotion you get from the other two categories.
I subscribe to several forums. Most of them have a place where you can advertise your affiliate programs. Be sure to only advertise them in the specific place where theyâre welcome. If you solicit for affiliates in an informational thread on a forum, youâll get flamed- at best, and banned at worst.
I just did a search on affiliate directories- here are the top ones. Some of them charge to list your product, some donât. I donât have any recommendations. Iâve found all of my affiliates by listing my products in the clickbank directory and through personal relationships.
What About the Competition?
There is no such thing.
A competitor is a potential partner.
A competitor is a person who is already marketing to your customers. Theyâve already got a list of people who buy products like yours.
A list of people âwho buyâ is much more valuable than a list of people âwho are interested in.â It takes a leap of faith on the part of the customer to actually reach in their wallet, pull out their credit card, and buy. Once that faith is established, itâs much easier to get them to pull out the card a second time.
This is why you are willing to give up a large percentage of the first sale to get names on your list, and this is why your competitors are your best potential partners.
Your potential partner understands this. They also understand that if their customer bought one product in this category, they will probably buy another. Theyâve already got the list. They are looking for products to sell to their list.
Itâs a win-win proposition.
At an internet marketing seminar last year, I heard a list-owner talk about âcreamingâ somebody elseâs list. It made perfect sense. If a list-owner sends 10,000 emails directing his subscribers to your sales page, and 1,000 of them buy, then the 1,000 that bought are the âcreamâ of his list. They are the ones who are interested in your product, and willing to pay for it.
Those are the ones you want.
Sample Joint Venture Letter
Below is a sample joint venture proposal.
Joe Vitale said, âitâs pretty bare bones, but it will work.â
Thatâs what I was going for.
It is just a simple template. Do not copy it verbatim. Use it as a guide.
All the pieces are there. Make your JV proposal as long and as detailed as it has to be, but not any longer.
There is a temptation to include your resume, or detailed information about yourself. Resist it.
Emphasize the benefits of your product, and the âfitâ with the list-ownerâs list.
The phrase I hear most marketers use is âpolite and persistent.â You may not get a response to your first email.
Wait a few days, and then follow it up with a âdid you get my previous emailâ email.
If that doesnât generate a response, wait a few days and then enquire again, including a reminder of the productâs benefits and the fit with their list.
Dear ____________,
Thank you for providing such a valuable resource.
Iâm a subscriber to your E-Zine, _________________, and especially enjoyed the issue about __________________.
I have developed a new product (written an e-book, developed a software program, etc.) that I think your readers will enjoy and profit from.
The features that make it especially attractive to your subscribers are- _______
Itâs the ____________.
Your complementary copy is at www.___.com
The sales page is at www. com.
You are welcome to 75% of the gross sales generated from your list. For the next week, I am offering it to you exclusively, and will not offer it to any other marketer until I have heard from you.
If you are interested in offering it to your list, contact me any time at
___@___.com, 555-555-5555.
Thank you,
_________
Go To Work!
Generating JV relationships, like much else in life, is something youâll get better at as you go along.
Over time, youâll be able to launch a JV deal with a personal email or a casual conversation over lunch.
Youâve now got the tools to establish those relationships. The sooner you get started, the sooner youâll get there.
Pat O’Bryan is the CEO of Practical Metaphysics, Inc., Director of the Milagro Research Institute, an award winning songwriter, recording artist, visual artist, author, video producer and internet marketer. He is the host and promoter of the “Your Portable Empire” Un-Seminars.
Work at home, or from anywhere – http://www.patobryan.com