Joint Venture Marketing » Collaboration Marketing

Tips to Coordinate a Successful Joint Venture

Christian — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:20:53 +0000

Joint ventures provide some of the best value for your marketing dollar today. By riding the coattails of a larger company, or combining resources with a business similar in size to your own, you can exponentially increase your customer base and your bottom line.

The success of your joint venture begins at the outset with the establishment of your very first JV partnership. We have tips to help you coordinate a successful joint venture right from your first contact with a prospective partner.

The Screening Process

The right JV partners will set the stage for a successful joint venture overall. To ensure you find the best possible partners for your arrangement, consider the following:

The nature of the partner’s business and how well it relates to your own

The reputation and history of the partner’s business

The overall purpose and goals of the other business for the joint venture

The ability to work well with and trust the partnering business

The benefits both businesses will stand to gain from the joint venture

The more carefully you screen your potential JV partners, the more likely you will be to embark on a successful joint venture.

The Legal Process

Once you find a prospective partner that meets your pre-screening qualifications, it is time to deal with the legal aspect of the joint venture process. No matter how comfortable you feel with your JV partner, you want to have your full agreement put into writing and signed by both parties. Potential issues to address in your JV contract include:

Management issues – who will manage what

Availability and allocation of common resources

Mutual gains and how they will be disbursed

Accounting principles for the joint venture

Taxes and potential deductions

Specific business plan, including purpose and goals

There are a couple of options for drawing up a JV contract. First, look for templates online that have been specifically designed for this purpose. Second, hire the services of an attorney that specializes in business issues like joint ventures to handle the legal part of the process for you.

The Partnership Process

After the relationship is in full swing, there are a few factors to keep in mind to ensure your joint venture continues to motor along smoothly:

Strive for regular communication between partners to assess the arrangement and make necessary changes

Keep your word to your partner in all business endeavors, so a circle of trust is built within the joint venture

Set a time-line to reassess your partnership and determine whether to continue the joint venture or disband in favor of other potential arrangements

Aggressively market your joint venture, using all possible Internet options, to ensure the partnership brings you the best return

Joint ventures are a popular method of growing a business today, but many companies are still shying away from the concept for fear of getting roped into an ineffective arrangement. With these tips in mind, you can rest assured your joint venture will be as successful and harmonious as possible.

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.

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Simple Techniques to Jumpstart a Joint Venture

Christian — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:30:07 +0000

Joint ventures are one of the most effective ways to broaden your customer base and increase your profit margin. This marketing strategy offers the biggest bang for your advertising dollar because it capitalizes on the experience and customer loyalty that other, more established companies have already developed.

Understanding that joint ventures are an integral part of growing small businesses is the easy part; setting an actual JV partnership into motion is quite another. We have tips to help you make your business more attractive to potential JV partners and jumpstart your joint venture campaign.

Ask for Reviews

Contact a related business in your industry and ask if any of their customers would be interested in trying out some of your products. You provide the free samples, and all you ask is that they provide a brief review after the customer uses them. If those customers like your products, you have opened the door to a joint venture arrangement with the other company. After all, if the other business looks good in the eyes of its customers by referring them to your products, the owner may be more inclined to work with you on other business ventures as well.

Display Testimonials

You can also display the testimonials of your own customers prominently on your website to demonstrate the many satisfied clients that have used your products or services. This is a tried and true marketing tool for attracting new customers to your business, but it might also be effective in jumpstarting a joint venture with another company. If your business looks good in the eyes of your customers, it will be more likely to look good in the eyes of the customers from your potential JV partner as well.

Gather Endorsements

Some businesses take the testimonial approach a step further and recruit business endorsements from individuals well known in the industry. For example, a business that sells sports equipment might pursue an endorsement from a professional athlete in the area. These endorsements legitimize your business to potential customers and JV partners alike, and they make it more likely that companies will listen to your proposal if you approach them with a plan.

Look Good

Community involvement is an effective way of generating positive press that goes a long way in impressing prospective JV partners. Participate in an annual charity drive or partner with other organizations to support the local community. Prior to your participation in the event, contact the media so that your efforts will be broadcast. In addition, you will be generating more interest from the community, greatly increasing support for your cause and a more successful outcome.

Jumpstarting a joint venture isn’t easy, but these steps can help you along the way. When you take the time to make your business look more attractive to other businesses in your industry, it is more likely that many of them will approach you about a prospective relationship. Even if you have to make the first move, setting yourself up as a respectable business will go far in ensuring other businesses take notice and give your JV proposals the time and consideration they deserve.

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How to Ensure Your Joint Venture Supports Your Business

Christian — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:28:47 +0000

The point of a joint venture is to build your business, so you want to choose a partnership and an arrangement that successfully does just that. Not every joint venture is a match made in heaven, and it is important to assess each individual situation according to the benefits is may provide to every partner. We have a list of criteria to consider ensuring your joint venture supports your business effectively.

Similar Market

The first step in forming a successful joint venture is to evaluate whether the businesses involved are targeting a similar market base. The most effective joint ventures share customers without competing with one another because the products and services offered by the partners are not exactly the same. Look for related businesses that might attract the same market share with different goods and services from your own. For example, someone selling fitness equipment might partner with a diet supplement company to expand their customer base and sales.

Similar Goals

It is also important to look for prospective JV partners who have similar goals and outcomes for their joint venture. Before addressing prospective partners, make a list of your own business goals and the outcome you hope to achieve. Goals should be action-oriented and have a concrete timeline for accomplishing them. When you find a prospective JV partner who has the same goals in mind as you, the partnership is much more likely to be successful.

Use of Resources

Once you have a joint venture established, use all the potential marketing tools at your disposal to your fullest advantage. If you’re not well versed in the finer points of Internet marketing, hire a consultant to help you get started. Resources like auto-responders, content submissions and link exchanges ensure you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck. Many of these tools cost little to no money up front, but provide a great return for all businesses involved. When both JV partners are tuned into the most effective Internet marketing strategies, everyone wins.

Customer Service

Once you have hooked in new customers through your stellar joint venture campaign, make sure you transform them into a loyal customer base by consistently offering high quality goods and first-rate customer service. This step can actually be taken prior to the establishment of your JV campaign by properly training your staff in your product line and effective customer service techniques. The establishment of quality control with your product base, as well as the willingness to offer money-back guarantees and a fair return policy, will also help you build your base of satisfied customers.

Joint ventures are designed to help you increase your market base and your sales numbers. An ineffective joint venture does little more than cost money and partners you with another business that isn’t a good fit. By ensuring you are ready to make the most out of your JV partnerships, you will be more effective in building your customer list and boosting your bottom line with increased profits from the additional sales.

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10 Steps to Building Trust in Your Business Relationships

Christian — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 19:17:26 +0000

Martin Haworth writes, there are some simple things you can do with your people to ensure that they start to trust you. As a letter from Mike Emmott of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the UK says, in April 2005′s UK Management Today says:-

“Our surveys show that only one in four employees trust senior management to look after their interests”

Is that not appalling? How on earth can businesses develop, survive and above all hang onto their best people if they are seen to be untrustworthy?

It’s horrible.

There is an article below which talks a little about ‘Rapport Building’, but to supplement that, here are Ten Steps to help you build trust with your people.

Keep Your Promises

If you can’t keep a promise, then don’t make it in the first place – it is a big negative emotion being let down in this way.

Never Tell Lies

Why would you? And if you have to, it’s much, much more about you. Your people will really lose faith in you fast.

Keep Confidences

Sometimes people will tell you things that they don’t want broadcast – they need you to hear them sometimes. But keep it to yourself. Do not be the instigator of gossip and rumor.

Communicate as Fully as Possible

Keep as little from your people as you can. Communicate as openly as possible. Sometimes you have to hold some information back – it happens, but think really carefully about it.

Have No Favorites

Treat all of your people equally and show no favorites. I know this is tough – I found it tough, but it needs to be right. Have agreed principles and standards that everyone works to – sorry, but no exceptions.

Challenge the Behaviour – Not the Person

People make mistakes, do things wrong and need to be told. It’s the thing they did, not the person they are. “You’re useless”, is not a good way to build trust, but, “That wasn’t what I would expect of you usually, tell me more about what happened”, works better.

Follow Through

If you say you are going to do something. Do it! Your people will love that you do what you say (or apologies at least if you find you can’t). And it sets a great example.

Listen Attentively

There’s a whole piece about this, but safe to say if you don’t pay attention to people fully, they will not trust you. It’s rude and it diminishes the relationship.

Forgive Mistakes

Be generous. It is a value-creating action. People hate to get things wrong – they expect a ‘bollocking’ (as they say!). Help them with a learning from the mistake. “What might you do next time?”, is far more valuable.

Don’t Talk Behind Backs

If you do this with anyone, they will always wonder what you say about them when they aren’t there – and what are they saying about you – it’s a bad habit.

Building trust is vital if you, your people and your business are going to excel. Working on it is just a discipline. These points will help you.

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Key Points to a Collaboration Marketing Strategy and How It Will Benefit Your Business

Christian — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:52:49 +0000

While a collaboration marketing strategy may not be ideal for every business, there are several benefits to consider. It is a mechanism with which to build strong relationships with both customers and business.

Relationships have always been a cornerstone of effective marketing, and collaboration marketing is a way to foster trust and build strong alliances. The following are a few ways in which a collaboration marketing strategy will benefit your business.

Take Advantage of Size Economics

Often, though not always, you can enjoy significant cost savings by collaborating with other businesses, which require the same supplies that you do. In this way, you may be able to command a higher market price for your product.

Maintain a Steady Flow of Product

Having your product readily available at the time your customer wants to buy it is essential for a successful business. Even the most popular products will quickly lose their market share if they’re not available when the customer wants them. By collaborating with others in your industry, you can be certain to always service your customers in a timely manner. The collaboration ultimately benefits all parties involved.

Preserve an Existing Market

As the structure of business changes, there is much concern about the disappearance of local markets in favor of global markets and outsourcing to other countries. A collaboration of small businesses in local markets can protect these smaller markets and help sustain the existence of small independent businesses.

Create a New Market

There are two sides to every market: suppliers who offer a product to sell and customers who are looking for the product to buy. Sometimes, potentially viable markets fail to develop if a minimum volume cannot be reached. If several small businesses are struggling to sustain enough customers, collaborating with other business owners may create a way to develop a niche market for your products, allowing you and your contemporaries to stay afloat in a situation where that may otherwise have been difficult.

Gain Access to Knowledge and Professional Expertise

Access to business owners who have knowledge in areas in which you may not be an expert is one of the most important and beneficial aspects to collaboration marketing. Everyone has different skill sets and areas of expertise. By collaborating with businesses and professionals who have strengths and capabilities in areas where you are weaker, and vice versa, will ultimately benefit and create stronger and more thriving individual businesses.

The collaboration marketing strategy is a potentially vast tool to help you expand and sustain a strong business. There are many applications of collaboration marketing to consider, and if initially you don’t feel it will be a good fit for your business, a closer look at the benefits of such a model may quickly convince you otherwise.

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Collaboration Marketing for Your Business

Christian — Fri, 09 May 2008 14:55:24 +0000

Developing a strategic marketing plan is important to raise awareness for your business. If consumers don’t know about your fabulous product, it is very difficult for them to buy it! The art of successful marketing is largely about letting the public know how to find you.

For online business, there are a variety of creative ways to do this: direct email, banner ads, pop-up ads all of which are successful and strategic tools. A rather new idea in Internet marketing is called collaboration marketing, an understanding of which will help develop a complete marketing strategy.

What is collaboration marketing?

In essence, collaboration marketing focuses on directly attracting customers to your site, rather than intercepting them with traditional advertising methods. In traditional advertising, customers are somewhat randomly drawn to your business. For instance, if they happen to see an enticing advertisement, and happen to click on it, they may find their way to your website and business. This is proven and effective marketing tool, but to find an edge in business, it is important to cultivate new and creative ways to raise awareness for your business.

How does collaboration marketing work?

Collaboration marketing attracts customers by becoming more and more helpful to them, in a sense a sort of personalized service. This type of marketing targets customers both in terms of evaluating potential new products and services that may be of interest to them, and working with them to get more value from products and services they have already purchased.

This may sound like a lot of work, but these goals can be obtained through straightforward processes that will target a large group of customers at one time. Personalized service need not be personal service. Collaboration marketing challenges the idea of a one to one personalized service with the refreshing view of many to one to one types of marketing.

Push vs. Pull

Collaboration marketing works by mobilizing a broad range of relevant third party marketers to add value to the customer relationship. These marketers make resources and relationships available to the customer that will enhance the products the customer has already purchased, thus creating a need and loyalty to the company of previous purchases. This is a pull approach where the marketer becomes useful to the customer so the customer then seeks out the marketer, rather than other types of marketing that seek to push a customer towards their product by invading email and blasting out ads.

Certainly, traditional modes of marketing are effective. Many types of marketing have been successfully implemented for decades. But the art of successful marketing and strategic marketing is about finding an edge and developing a strategy that will get you noticed and attract customers to the products and services that you offer. Collaboration Marketing should not be the only type of marketing you implement for a successful strategy, but is another piece to add to your repertoire to give you the business edge that will get you noticed and helps make your business a success.

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Collaboration Marketing: Hassle-Free Brand Ambassadors to Attract New Clients

Christian — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 23:41:17 +0000

The age old adage pertaining to “word of mouth” advertising still holds true, “Make a customer happy, and he will tell one other person; make the customer unhappy, and he will tell 20 others”. However, with the power of the internet, this impact has grown exponentially, as word of mouth published in blogs, websites, and community bulletin boards are read by millions of eyes, far exceeding the physical limitations of actually verbally telling someone about a company.

Buying the power of “Word of Mouth”

With that said, corporations continue to tap into word of mouth advertising, but on a larger World Wide Web level. According to PQ Media’s “word of mouth” marketing forecast, companies are continuously increasing their spending on citizen marketing, growing from $980 million in 2006 to $1 billion in 2007. With the weakening of the economy and signs of a continued recession for 2009, expect these spending numbers to grow at greater rates. In fact, by 2011, it is anticipated that this marketing figure will grow to approximately $4 billion.

Fortune 500 companies are cashing in on the power of citizen marketing through brand ambassadors. Formerly considered a spokesperson or token PR individual, today’s brand ambassador is equipped with the power of Web 2.0, thus reaching an exponentially larger audience.

Just to name a few, Jet Blue, Macy’s, and Sony have launched rigorous marketing campaigns based upon brand ambassadors, who are everyday citizens armed with word of mouth recommendations. For example, Sony named 25 brand ambassadors to promote their new digital cameras. Armed with the technology, these brand ambassadors were given the digital cameras, encouraged to take photos of their every day activities and blog their perspectives.

Citizen Marketing levels the playing field

This unique marketing strategy is not limited to the big corporations. In fact, a small business can take advantage of this marketing strategy as effectively as Fortune 500 companies. With the internet and the power of viral word of mouth marketing, a small business can make as much of a splash as Sony.

However, while brand ambassadors can be a tremendous asset to a corporation’s marketing efforts, managing them is not necessarily an easy task. In order to successfully execute a citizen marketing campaign, a company must fully select, train, and manage individuals who will be effective brand ambassadors, instead of simply paid endorsers. In addition, not all business models are suited for the brand ambassador strategy.

Collaboration Marketing: Hassle-free Brand Ambassadors

With that said, any business can take the fundamental benefits of brand ambassadors, word of mouth advertising, and citizen marketing, and apply them to a collaborative marketing strategy. A collaborative marketing strategy shares the fundamental core of citizen marketing, but is much easier to implement and manage. You still achieve the same benefits of having brand ambassadors, which provides credibility and knowledge to the marketplace, without the hassles of training and managing a team of citizens.

To find a collaborative marketing partnership that will offer you the same rewards as a brand ambassador and word of mouth campaign, it is important to locate a company that has credibility and sway with its customer base. Without a credible, interactive relationship with their clients, their “word of mouth” recommendations are likely to fall to the wayside, which does not necessarily bode well for your company’s reputation. Yet, the effort is certainly worth the results, as a synergistic collaborative marketing relationship is likely to open your business to exponentially larger customer base and revenues.

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Social Networking Demonstrates Power of Collaboration Marketing

Christian — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 23:37:46 +0000

The incredible popularity of social networking sites, such as FaceBook, MySpace, and Yelp, demonstrate that individuals are collectively looking for ways to connect with each other. Yelp, a popular social networking recommendation site, is based solely upon individuals sharing their own opinions, experiences, and insights regarding local businesses and activities.

Businesses are social too.

And businesses are jumping in on the social networking trend. According to the Institute for Corporate Productivity, 65% of business professionals utilize social networking websites, while 55% of business professionals utilize social networking web sites to share their “best practices” and experiences with their colleagues. Thus, the question remains – how does social networking relate to collaboration marketing?

Collaboration Marketing: the Sibling to Social Networking

An effective collaboration marketing strategy is akin to the fundamental popularity of social networking websites. Individuals, as well as small businesses, are looking to utilize the internet as a wealth of knowledge. The best way to research a company, product, or even supermarket is to ask someone who has experienced it. Thus, social networking sites, such as Yelp, are abounding with individuals asking for advice and recommendations.

This is where collaboration marketing becomes powerful and strikes the core need for individuals to garner “first hand” advice regarding the products and services they should purchase. Therefore, any successful collaboration marketing campaign utilizes the trust built between the company and its client base to promote with credibility.

Successfully bridging the Business and Community Relationship

However, there is a fine line that must be walked in collaboration marketing, which is parallel to marketing efforts through social networking sites. In a relationship where trust and credibility play important roles in the end user’s buying decision, it is critical that the sense of “community” be developed. If the customer believes that the company is not contributing to the relationship or worse yet, are exploiting the customer, then the efforts become negative.

Therefore, when you are formulating your collaboration marketing strategy, it is absolutely essential to ensure that the “recommendation” does not appear exploitative or too aggressive. In fact, the more “real” the recommendation sounds, such as the use of minor critiques, the more likely the customers will trust the recommendation and convert into a paying client. Another effective strategy is to couple the recommendation with a discount, which prompts the end users to believe that indeed, the recommendation is in their very best interest.

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IBM’s Collaboration Marketing Efforts to Tap into China’s Market

Christian — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 20:14:56 +0000

Utilizing collaboration marketing, IBM and Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories have entered into a joint venture to penetrate into China’s call center market. Although IBM and Genesys have been working together for many years, this is the first time they will engage in a joint venture to market call center technology in China.

Capitalization on each partner’s strength

The joint venture will bring Genesys and IBM together to create, implement, and market their new call center solution in China.

IBM has a very strong reputation in China, which will be a strategic advantage to the sales of Genesys’ products to new customers. In addition, this collaboration with IBM will also give Genesys’ current clients enhanced value and branding for their solutions.

According to Michael McBrien, the senior VP of Asia Pacific at Genesys, “we are now tapping into IBM’s sales and marketing expertise to expand our presence in the Greater China market.”

The VP of Strategic Partnerships at IBM, Mark Hanny, commented that the joint venture with Genesys for call center technology will allow both partners to achieve greater market exposure in the continuously growing Chinese market.

This joint venture together will also increase the strength of their sales in other collaboration arenas in China, such as the telecommunications, banking, government, and insurance sectors.

Collaboration marketing analysis

As evidenced in many collaboration marketing efforts, one partner has a stronger branding value, while the other presents a specialization, either in products or service. In this case, IBM’s widespread market recognition lends this marketing collaboration greater exposure, especially for Genesys’ sales of its specialized contact center technologies.

If you are considering utilizing collaboration marketing or a strategic alliance to take your business to the next level, determine what your strengths are as a partner. Do you have strong branding or widespread market penetration? Or, does your company offer specialized services or products that could be easily synergized with a powerful brand? When you understand where your strongest contributions as a partner are, you can then target your offerings strategically, leading you to the most beneficial collaboration marketing partnership combination.

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IT Executives Target Collaboration Marketing Tactics in 2008

Christian — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:02:29 +0000

As 2007 winds down, IT executives are looking to take their businesses to the next level in 2008 with collaboration. Despite the threats of recession and mortgage crisis that are hurting the overall economy, IT executives remain confident in pursuing 2008 growth.

Research demonstrates collaboration reigns as a top 2008 priority

According to a Ziff Davis Enterprise Editorial Research survey, combined with interviews with IT professionals, collaboration is one of the top IT initiatives targeted for 2008. Interestingly enough, it is not green IT and Web 2.0 technologies that are not on the list, but instead, a desire to collaborate to enhance the delivery of better services.

In addition, in a research survey for CIO Insight, the IT professionals surveyed were asked to designate the three most important IT business strategies for 2008. More than 35% of the respondents stated that collaboration and work flow would reign as the most important aspects in 2008.

Increased supply of applications to meet collaboration needs

Specifically in the IT field, many companies have released new software applications to address collaboration and strategic alliance efforts. For example, Google released its Google Apps Premier Edition in 2007, demonstrating the growing strength in the collaboration movement. The increased supply of collaboration software is symbolic of how the popularity of collaboration and strategic alliances is increasing.

Collaboration and Strategic Alliances go beyond IT

The economic weakening in the United States, as well as in the rest of the world, changes many industry dynamics. Many luxury and leisure industries will feel the economic pinch starting in 2008, as the ramifications of the mortgage crisis and lack of expendable income begin their waves of impact.

Therefore, more important than ever, it is important that existing and new businesses explore collaboration marketing and strategic alliances as a way to maintain and grow their revenues. Relying solely upon one’s established client base may cause stagnation or a decrease in revenues. However, by developing new means of collaborative marketing, combined with exploring strategic alliance opportunities, businesses can expand their target audience, which will result in increased revenues, even in times of economic fluctuation.

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