Tutorial: Secret Joint Venture Strategies
Once you've been growing your list of prospects for a while, it's time to start an affiliate program so your subscribers and customers can earn money selling for you.
People love a good opportunity to make money. It's human nature. The sooner you recognize this fact and tie an opportunity into your business, the sooner you'll see your profits soar. Online, this is as simple as opening an affiliate program.
All you need to open an affiliate program is a website and a product or service of your own. This is one of the main reasons I encourage even marketers who focus marketing others’ products, to come up with at least one product or service of their own. Having at least one product or service enables you to open an affiliate program, enabling your website visitors, subscribers and customers to make money from you, and ultimately for you. Starting an affiliate program is like hiring thousands of sales people and paying them only when they sell.
Setting up an affiliate program is pretty simple these days. I use my WebBusinessWizard account to handle my own affiliate program but you can find dozens of low cost solutions by searching google.com for affiliate management solutions. The key is to choose a simple solution that you can get working in a day or two. Of your product is digital you can use a solution like clickbank.com which handles everything from refunds to sending out commissions to your affiliates.
Recruit Super-Affiliates:
The real key to success with an affiliate program is to actively seek out potential super-affiliates on a regular basis.
I'll say that again because it is very important... The real key is to be proactive with your affiliate program and recruit potential super-affiliates.
Every day you should contact at least 3 or 4 owners of websites in niches similar to yours. Spend a little time at their site and if you like their product or service, tell them you want to promote it for them.
That's right! Tell them you want to promote THEIR product?
It's called Synergy.
Dictionary.com defines "synergy" as: "The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects"
And that says it all, really.
You see, you should not be out there "pitching" potential super-affiliates with this tired old bit... "I have a new product and I'll give you X% of the profits if you'll promote it." Frankly, webmasters are tiring of those pitches. In fact, I receive literally dozens of them every week now. I don't have time to even look at all those offers.
HOWEVER... (And this is the real twist that makes it effective)
When someone comes to me and says, "Hey Jim, I think I can sell lots of copies of your product..." then I sit up and take notice. And that folks, is the #1 job of any joint venture offer. So that's what you should be doing in your own efforts.
Of course, at the same time you offer to sell someone's product, you will also "introduce" a product of yours that would fit in well with their niche.
Here's a sample letter you can use to make the first contact...
Subject: I'd like to promote your site
Hi {NAME},
My name is {NAME} and I own {WEBSITE}. I just found your site today and I believe many of my website visitors would find your {PRODUCT NAME} quite useful. Would you be interested in a little cross-promoting?
I'm confident I could bring you lots of fresh sales, and I'll pay you handsomely for any sales you generate of my product. Of course I'd be happy to send my product to you so that you can review it first. Just say the word and I'll get it right out.
Sincerely,
{YOUR NAME}
What you will find resulting time and time again is a JV-JV, or double joint venture, where you promote their product and they promote yours. Synergy. Increased sales. Call it what you want, it is very effective and profitable for both parties involved.
Here are a few tips to consider before you start using this strategy.
Tip: Make sure you have a top-notch product, service or opportunity to present BEFORE you start using this strategy. You'll need testimonials in place and you should also be willing to offer a complimentary review of your product or service.
Tip: Contact only businesses that are NOT directly competing with you, but whose offerings are in the same niche. For example, if your site offers discount search engine submissions, don't try to hook up with another search engine submission site. Instead, try domain name registrars, web hosting companies, or similar sites.
Tip: Try to find other businesses whose traffic and subscriber lists are comparable to yours. A handy tool for determining this can be found at Alexa.
Remember, you'll want to show that you can make a comparable number of sales for them, and then back up that claim. So don't aim too high, but don't aim too low.
Again, this is a strategy that will work forever. It is not subject to being blocked by technology or becoming less effective over time, like many strategies. So if you are not yet using an affiliate program at your site, and actively seeking out potential partners on a regular basis, I suggest you start today. |
