Strategy One: Leveraging on Joint Ventures

When Internet marketers hear the term, ‘Joint Venture’ they will immediately begin to drool... maybe ever to slightly... but they are certainly drooling.

New marketers dream of getting that first lucrative Joint Venture deal under their belts (and into their bank accounts). Well-seasoned Internet marketers always have both ears and both eyes wide open searching for their next Joint Venture opportunity.

Everybody wants a Joint Venture for the very simple reason that they are lucrative... and ‘lucrative’ is an understatement.

The first, most important and most on-going task of every Internet marketer is to build an opt-in list.

There are basically three kinds of lists and all of them are not created equally.

First there are lists that are bought... these are just about worthless.

Second there are lists of potential customers. Potential customer lists are valuable because they are lists of people who have opted in to a mailing list and may well buy something at some point but they haven’t as yet.

The third kind of list is the ‘paid customers list’. The paid customers list is the one that is very, very, very valuable. This is a list of people who have actually bought a product or service. They have already proven that they will spend money. Most importantly, the paid customer list is one of the factors that potential Joint Venture partners will base their decision of whether to Joint Venture with you or not will base their decision upon.

So... building a paid customer list is the number one task for an Internet marketer. In order to build a paid customer list, you may well have to give something away. One of the best ways to build a paid customer list is to offer a product that is relatively inexpensive... say one that will sell for $9.95 or even $19.95... to Joint Venture partners and allow them to keep all of the profits from the sale. That’s right. Give them 100% of the profit... the whole $9.95 or $19.95 that the product sells for.

What you get is a long paid customer list which will turn out to be a lot more valuable than the $5 or $10 dollars per sale that you would have made. That paid customer list is like your own private gold mine. It can be used to leverage future Joint Venture deals that will add a lot of money to your bottom line.

Another method that can be used to build that valuable paid customer list is to have two membership sites... one free and one paid.

You can then offer Joint Venture partners the opportunity to give away free memberships and an opportunity to gain a commission when anyone that they send the offer of a free membership chooses to upgrade to a paid membership. You can structure this offer as a one-time payment for an up-grade or as an ongoing commission on the price of the monthly subscription.

By using either of the above discussed methods for your first Joint Venture deals you will have built a paid customers list and you will also managed to create some serious credibility for yourself. Both are assets that are beyond placing a value upon. This is the formula for success:

Paid customer list + Credibility = Success

Whatever method you choose to employ, the bottom line is that what you need the very most in order to get a profitable Joint Venture deal is a long paid customer list and some credibility. There are no substitutes for either.

Make no mistake here. Credibility is equally important to a paid customer list. Credibility is achieved by becoming a recognized authority in a niche. The paid customer list adds greatly to your credibility but you need to work hard at building credibility by writing and marketing articles, posting to blogs and forums, etc. Building credibility on the Internet isn’t easy and it takes some time. There aren’t any shortcuts.

With a paid customer list and credibility you will then be in a position to leverage the best and most profitable Joint Venture partnership agreements that are possible. Always remember that adding to your paid customer list is one of the factors that you want to insure when you enter into any Joint Venture agreement.

Now, armed with a paid customer list and credibility, your next move is to find ways to make your potential Joint Venture partners willing, even eager, to help you. Contrary to what appears to be common sense, your best Joint Venture partners are those who, up to this point, you have considered your main competitors.

No, I’m not kidding. These are the Internet marketers who are most closely associated with your customer base. The names and email addresses on their lists are the ones that you want on your list.

Let’s say that you sell ‘whatsits’... you and several other marketers are in the ‘whatsits’ selling business. If you can come up with a product that will make selling ‘whatsits’ easier or explain how customers can get the best use out of a ‘whatsit’ then you can approach your most fierce competitors and turn them into your most valuable Joint Venture partners. They will eagerly assist you in promoting your new ‘whatsit enabler’ product... for a commission, of course.

A product that will make people feel better, look better or solve a problem for them is a product that potential Joint Venture partners will embrace and then they will be eager to help you sell it.

Additionally, you must always offer generous commissions and ample support to all of your Joint Venture partners. This is never a place to cut corners or get greedy and you credibility is always on the line.

If you have made a name for yourself in your niche (gained credibility) and you have a product that Joint Venture partners know will make them look good to their lists (even your most fierce competitors), there is no limit to the help they will be willing to provide for you as a Joint Venture partner!