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If you’re planning a product launch, one of the steps you’ll want to master is the art of approaching (and convincing) joint venture prospects to partner with you. A JV partner isn’t just anyone.
Anyone can be an affiliate. JV partners are the people who have massive influence with their subscriber list. Not only that, but the list they have is usually much bigger than the ordinary affiliate.
Get on Lists to Find the Right JV Partners
The best thing you can do is build a relationship with other, more formidable marketers. Let them get to know you as a rising star in the industry – people love to get in on the first floor with a real go getter.
Not only that, but if you can get close to (and bring on) one major JV partner, you can name-drop to help make sure others feel comfortable promoting you.
Start research marketers in your niche and find out who has power, a clean reputation, and willingness to work with lesser known individuals. You’ll find out a lot just by being on their list.
You’ll be able to see if they promote anything and everything (which may mean their list doesn’t trust them as much). Or you can read about their promotion of someone new on the scene – a good sign for you.
Make sure you make yourself known. There’s nothing more flattering than you telling another marketer that you’ve been studying them for a long time and really appreciate all the helpful launch advice you’ve seen unfold on their list.
Look to see what kind of ethics the marketer has. Does he treat his list well? You might love the money, but you don’t want to align your reputation with someone who isn’t viewed well online.
What do they promote? Is it usually video course or PDFs only? Do they prefer membership site promotions? What about style – do they typically promote hard-selling sales copy, or more down to Earth sales letters?
Don’t allow everyone to have JV status. That’s what affiliate programs are for. Joint Venture partners are a special breed that can help create a viral sales effect for your business just because they attach their name to it on a promotional level.
Study their lists and see what kinds of emails they send out. Are they short? How are they formatted? This will be important when you present an array of tools for them to use in their promotional strategy.
When you’re on the person’s mailing list, you’ll be able to accurately identify what they promote, and this information will be something you want to add into your email request.
Perks You Need to Offer JVs for Consideration
When you’re not well-known, you have to work a lot harder for your partnerships than the typical guru does. There are some people who can mention a new product, and they’ll have to shut the door on half the people asking if they can be a part of the JV launch.
The first thing, besides having a stellar product that will knock their socks off, is to make sure you’re offering a high enough price point so that their commission is worth the promotion.
Keep in mind that top JV partners are barraged with dozens of offers every day – so when it boils down to money, you don’t want to miss out on their promotion. Even if this means giving them a much higher percentage, do it.
You might want to host a contest with a leaderboard so that they can acquire prizes and prestige that comes with dominating the promotion for you. Don’t insult a top JV by offering a $10 Amazon gift card. They’re used to major prizes.
Sales copy that is specifically written for their audience is a perk you can provide to them if they need it. You can even create it ahead of time and surprise them by saying something like, “I know from being on your list that you prefer text-based sales copy. Even though mine is usually video, I created a dual version just for you!”
Pre-release promotional perks are always a benefit to mention. Before the marketplace gets saturated with competition, they love to know they have a clean shot at getting as many sales as possible.
Now many JV partners will be looking for conversion stats, so it’s okay to mention a prior soft launch to a certain segment of your subscriber list, because that gives them concrete data on whether they want to get involved.
A reciprocal mailing is never anything you want to promise if you find the JV partner’s own products questionable. If you don’t own any, don’t promise this perk – because you’ll jeopardize your own reputation if you get forced into it.
Create Customized JV Requests
A customized JV email is imperative for you to get a good response. In fact, if you send a canned message, you can almost be guaranteed it will immediately be sent to spam or deleted.
JV partners like to be courted. You don’t court someone by using a one size fits all approach. You need to convey things like why your product is perfect for their list.
This is another reason why you need to be on their list, reading their blog, and seeing what their own products are like. You want to be very specific about what similarities are in your courses to what they usually promote.
Upfront access is a nice thing to promise. Don’t give them access to a product the day before a launch. If possible, and there’s no reason why it should be possible, give them access at least two weeks early, so they’ll have time to try the product out.
If it’s a PDF, attach the download immediately – don’t make them email you for it. If it’s a membership, give them a username and password in this first email. No extra steps should take place between you offering and then consuming it.
Every perk you’re offering should be clearly spelled out. These are all reasons why they can’t afford to say no, regardless of how much money they make on a regular basis.
They’ll want to know who else is onboard. This is something mentioned earlier – building at least one solid relationship with a well-respected marketer where it makes you look good to other prospects if they have you as a JV partner.
So, what all goes into a customized JV request?
- A quick introduction about who you are and why you’re contacting them
- Promotional details (commission) and perks
- Access to the product
- Why you KNOW (not feel) that your product is going to be adored by their customers
- Any contest or prize information
- Their JV promotion links (all ready for them), along with access to a toolbox (same thing affiliates have)
- The pre-launch dates and times they can expect to begin promoting
While that looks like a lot, the problem is, you must do all of that in a short amount of space. If you write a 2 or 3-page scrolling email, you probably won’t get many JV partners because their time is precious, and they need you to keep it short.
One more thing: Approach your prospective JV partners with confidence. Nobody likes to align himself or herself with someone who apologizes and makes weak expectations of themselves.
JV Brokers Are an Option
A JV broker is a wonderful option for those who don’t know the ropes and can’t seem to find prospective joint venture partners. JV brokers are a liaison between a seller and someone who might promote your product.
He (or she) knows what each side is looking for – or willing to give – and he connects the two parties together for a fee or percentage of the total sales of the launch (and possibly beyond).
Sometimes a forum can act as a JV broker without any additional fees. This is usually found in a marketing forum where vendors post their threads looking for JV partners – and JV partners post threads looking for products to promote.
However, you can also hire an individual in the niche in which you are selling. So, if you’re in the Internet Marketing niche, for example, then you might hire someone who can hook you up with the right people.
These individuals can sometimes charge a hefty fee (even in addition to a commission). This is because they have taken the time to build relationships with people who promote and have fantastic conversion rates, and you must pay dearly for those skills.
There are also joint venture communities and services you can join. Some have a limited free membership where you can get notified of upcoming launches that you want to be aligned with.
You can pay to have your product launch listed and blasted out to all these potential launch partners. One such example is JVNotifyPro, which is run by a marketer names Mike Mertz.
This community allows you to log in and see what launches are coming up and read about the perks. They usually include a sign-up area for you to get notifications. You can put your product in these communities and have people being actively recruited for your program.
What If Everyone Says No?
This is an unfortunate possibility that you need to be ready for – and take no shame in. It happens to many people, but it’s not the end of the world, and it doesn’t mean you’ve been shunned by the marketing community.
It usually just means you’re not well-known yet, and other people are busy. They’re too busy to review your product, too busy to be part of someone else’s launch because they have their own, or too busy enjoying their own financial rewards to get involved with you.
Sometimes it is a matter of what you did wrong. You might get excited and forget to send them the product upfront. Oops! Or you might make the mistake of sounding canned, even though you didn’t mean to.
Make sure you go through the etiquette steps of securing JV partners and see if you accidentally stepped on anybody’s toes or messed up something big that would be seen as a major mistake.
If you can’t afford to use a brokering service for your joint venture partnerships, and you don’t get any nibbles on your post inside a JV forum that’s free to use, then you’ll have to go it alone on your very first launch.
It’s possible that you just tried to get someone too big for your first launch. A major guru marketer who is known all around the globe might not even consider partnering with you.
But you may be able to choose someone smaller in fame and fortune – someone who can help you get a head start in the marketplace. In fact, you can choose several smaller JV partners and all help each other achieve soaring new heights as competitive vendors.
Then, return to your initial steps of forming lasting relationships with people on the next level above you, so that you can begin bringing on bigger players with every launch that you do.
You might also be asked to participate as a JV partner. This can go a long way in getting others to reciprocate, provided the quality of the course is good. Work hard and convert like crazy and prove to them that you have what it takes to be a success story online.
