Ever wanted to form one of those nifty “Joint Venture” things?
One of the most powerful marketing techniques around is to form an alliance with another company.
A few types of joint ventures:
(Being careful of CAN SPAM provisions)
One of the trickiest things to do is find a business that would benefit from an alliance, but not be hurt by your competition.
To find these businesses ask yourself some of these questions:
Example:
Lets say you sold gardening tools. You wouldn’t want to approach other gardening tool makers, as they’re in direct competition with you. Instead, you might want to approach landscapers, professional gardeners, sod companies, fertilizer producers, etc.
Also, realize that your product is just a chain in a link of products. Again, if you sold gardening tools… the people that buy them obviously need additional things to get their garden up and running.
On the bottom of the product chain they need land to garden on. They need equipment to get the ground ready.
On the higher end of the product chain, if they like to garden then they probably read about gardening or belong to a gardening group. Maybe they read about gardening online.
Sliding up even further up the chain, they’re probably going to do something with the things they grow. Do they like to grow herbs vegetables? Do they like to cook? What do they use to cook? Do they collect recipes about cooking with home-grown fruits or veggies?
Now where?
Once you’ve found a list of potential companies, use a service like InfoSeek or Switchboard to find companies in your area. Call them up and ask for the owner. Don’t spend your time trying to force them, just make it simple:
“I’m a local business that sells gardening supplies and am looking to ally with other local, related businesses and am conducting a quick survey.”
Conclusion:
Of course these lists are far from complete. I just hope I’ve provided enough thought fodder to get your cogs crankin’. Business partnerships can be an extremely profitable win-win situation for both of you. You’re helping others while making money. And isn’t that what business is all about?
Aaron Colman, helping business make money online.
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