3 Ways We’re Using Joint Ventures to Grow Our Business

Over the past few months, we’ve been focusing more and more of our energy on referral marketing partnerships, for 2 big reasons:

Reason #1. Your customers want and need more services and solutions than you can possibly provide to them. And therefore, you should establish relationships with other companies that you can recommend to your customers.

Reason #2. These other companies can send customers your way, too. And everybody knows that referrals are the highest quality prospects you can receive.

Maybe I’ve just opened your eyes to the power of reciprocal referral partnerships. (And in the online marketing world, we commonly refer to these types of arrangements as “joint ventures.”)

I’m going to assume that you already understood these 2 things, at least in principle. If you aren’t currently using referral marketing partnerships in your business, I think it’s probably because you’re lacking specific ideas for how you can get started.

So, in this article, I’m going to briefly walk through some of the different arrangements we’re creating with partners, and maybe it’ll spark an idea or two for how you can do something similar in your business.

(And if you own a company that provides marketing services or tools and you’re interested in partnering with us, contact us and let’s start a dialog).

Here are 3 ways we’re using joint ventures in our business.

Joint Venture Example #1. Swapping Referrals

Here’s what we’re doing:

We created the Main Street Marketing Network to introduce our customers to high-quality marketing providers. And often many of the companies in our network will reciprocate and recommend our products and services to their audiences.

How you can use this idea?

No matter what business you’re in, there are products or services that your customers may want, but that you don’t provide. Identify what companies provide those complementary products and services, and start a dialog. For example, if you’re a chiropractor, maybe you’d want to partner up with a massage therapist and trade referrals.

Joint Venture Example #2. Offering Freebies and Discounts

Here’s what we’re doing:

We host free events (such as The Death of “Old-School” SEO teleseminar on Halloween) and we then encourage our partners to invite their audiences to attend.

How you can use this idea?

When you trade referrals, I recommend that you create a special offer, such as a free consultation, in order to make it easier and more compelling for your partners’ customers to say “Yes!”

Joint Venture Example #3. Sharing the Spotlight

Here’s what we’re doing:

We’re inviting guest experts to participate in live interviews (such as our most recent interview with Kim DeYoung about how to create joint ventures). We invite our audience to attend the calls, and our guests typically invite their audiences to attend, as well.

How you can use this idea?

You can put on events with other companies (either virtually or in your “brick and mortar” place of business), and invite your audiences to attend.

Pick One, And Get Started!

Can you use any of these ideas? I hope so… and I recommend you choose the one idea that seems most promising based on your current opportunities and relationships, and then take the next step forward while it’s fresh in your mind.

Pete

P.S. One final note…

It may months (or even years) for new relationships to blossom into meaningful profit-generating partnerships. But it’s worth it. A solid partner network is one of the most valuable assets you can build in your business.

So, use the 2-year test.

If you’re not confident you’ll want to be collaborating with a potential partner in 2 years, then you should probably skip that partner opportunity. Be picky and only partner with people you’ll want to associate with over the long-term.