The Absolute Beginner’s Guide To Joint Venture Proposals

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?

“Joint Venture” is the answer to the question, “I’ve 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, you’re looking for people who already market products like yours to their list. It needs to be a good “fit.”

The question you need to answer is “What’s in it for me.” That’s the question that will be on the top of your potential JV partner’s mind. They want to make the most money with the least effort possible.

One day, you’ll have your own huge list- until then, your job is to make it very, very easy for your JV partners.

Don’t 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

You’ll hear it over and over again: “The gold is in your list.”

When you’re first starting out, you won’t 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 you’ve acquired these customers, you can sell them other products and keep 100{6fed281ec7a8abc92e2b781741b2370631fe85beacf5ac69d09adc3c180ad946} of the money.

The gold is in your list. All other financial considerations are secondary.

Build your list.

When you’re researching potential JV partners, you’ll want to find out all you can about their lists.

This list needs to be “double opt-in,” 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 “non-opt-in” 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. You’re going to sell to a certain percentage of the people on the list. That percentage is a function of the “fit” 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 you’ve got a copywriting e-book, and you market it to a list of automobile mechanics, you’re wasting your time.

Carefully research your potential JV partners to ensure that their list is a good “fit” 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 customers’ level of expertise? Is he an “absolute beginner?” 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 you’ve 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 “nuts and bolts” 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 you’re selling pop-music ring tones for cell-phones, your customers will expect a hip, young voice and vocabulary. If you’re 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.

You’re 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

Let’s look at them in a little more detail-

Stalking the 800 Pound Gorilla

The 800 pound gorillas are the household names. The Elvis’s of internet marketing. You know who they are.

You want to create JV’s 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- they’ve 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 girlfriend’s brother is listed on GuruDaq.

You should immediately start sending proposals to the 800 pound gorillas who might be interested in marketing your product. We’ll 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- let’s 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 “JV proposal,” 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 you’re selling an e-book about Search Engine Optimization, do a search on “Search Engine Optimization” and see where that leads.

Today, it turns up over seven million “hits.” That’s more than we need.

It also turns up a lot of information- if somebody gets to the top of a list that big, they’re worth talking to.

If you’ve 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.

Let’s 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 “SEO, Search Engine Optimization, E-Zine” will turn up- just a second- 229,000 Web addresses.

You should probably start with the top ten. If they’re on page 1 of a Google

search that is that broad, they’ve got a lot of traffic. They probably have a large list of subscribers, too.

Read their ‘Zines. Are their customers your potential customers?

If it’s not a perfect match, don’t bother.
The Big Dogs

The Big Dogs- This is the group that hasn’t quite hit “Elvis” status yet, but they’re in the trenches and have a good track record. They’re easier to get to. You probably don’t know their names, yet, but they’re easy to find.

You’ll see them mentioned in forums. You’ll read about them in newsletters. They’ll 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 they’re 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 “big dog” before he becomes an “800 pound gorilla,” 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 they’re welcome. If you solicit for affiliates in an informational thread on a forum, you’ll 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 don’t. I don’t have any recommendations. I’ve 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. They’ve already got a list of people who buy products like yours.

A list of people “who buy” is much more valuable than a list of people “who are interested in.” 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, it’s 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. They’ve already got the list. They are looking for products to sell to their list.

It’s a win-win proposition.

At an internet marketing seminar last year, I heard a list-owner talk about “creaming” somebody else’s 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 “cream” 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, “it’s pretty bare bones, but it will work.”

That’s 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 “fit” with the list-owner’s list.

The phrase I hear most marketers use is “polite and persistent.” You may not get a response to your first email.

Wait a few days, and then follow it up with a “did you get my previous email” email.

If that doesn’t generate a response, wait a few days and then enquire again, including a reminder of the product’s benefits and the fit with their list.

Dear ____________,

Thank you for providing such a valuable resource.

I’m 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- _______

It’s the ____________.

Your complementary copy is at [http://www.___.com]

The sales page is at www. com.

You are welcome to 75{6fed281ec7a8abc92e2b781741b2370631fe85beacf5ac69d09adc3c180ad946} 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 you’ll get better at as you go along.

Over time, you’ll be able to launch a JV deal with a personal email or a casual conversation over lunch.

You’ve now got the tools to establish those relationships. The sooner you get started, the sooner you’ll get there.