Mar
31
The old business strategy, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” can be so true for a joint venture. Business owners want to succeed in keeping their business sustainable and growing. And usually the biggest obstacle for a business is competition. But do you view your competition as that which must be conquered, or have you really taken a look at your competition and analyzed how you can work to increase profits together?
The psychology of competition has always been that of beating the other companies. There must be a clear winner and a loser. However, this does not have to be the case in business. It is quite possible that you and your competition can put differences aside and work towards mutually beneficial goals. But in order to make that work, you need to remove the face of “the other guy” and become an informed and strategic-thinking entrepreneur.
Analyze the Competition
Before you can figure out how to work together, you need to know the similarities and differences between you and your competition. First, take a good, long look at your competition. Gather and write down information about their business process. Where do their customers come from? How is their product packaged? Where do you see their advertisements?
Learn everything you can about how your competition works. Become a “secret shopper” and make a purchase. You can hire someone or get an associate to do this work if your competition knows whom you are. First-hand knowledge of business practices can be some of the best data. How do they treat customers? How fast was their service? What is their décor if they operate in a retail shop or office? Casually ask other customers about their experiences with your competition.
Formulate a Strategy
Once you have gathered as much information as you can about your competition, analyze their strengths and weaknesses. Is their packaging inferior? Do they provide much better customer service than you? Find the points where your competition could help your business, as well as the strengths you possess that can help them.
After you have pinpointed potential areas in which you can combine efforts, formulate a point-by-point presentation that you can use to convince your competition that by working together you can both enjoy increased revenues.
Approach the Competition
This could be the hardest part, especially if you have had an adverse relationship with your competition in the past. But remember the past is history, and you want to look toward the future with high expectations of success. Agree to bury the proverbial hatchet.
Take them out to lunch or invite them over for a formal meeting. Outline for them your strategic plan that shows specifically how you can combine strengths to generate higher revenues. Can you create more attractive packaging? Can you use your cost-cutting method of production with their stellar customer service? Remember to focus on showing them how they can benefit from your strengths.
If your competition has an open mind, then a joint venture can easily be agreed upon if the benefits are there. Remember to maintain a professional and business-like attitude and your competition can see that you’ll be easy to work with. If your competition agrees with your plan, then congratulations! Move forward to setting your plan in action and enjoy the benefits of your joint effort.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.
Mar
28
3 Brief and Sneaky Advertising Scoops
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This article will discuss about 3 quick and dirty marketing ideas for anyone to kick start their new business. Getting the word out to the masses and markets isn’t as easy as it sounds and not all of us have a stash of cash that we can use to pump up our A&P budget. Advertising and marketing ideas can be deary even if it is just a small marketing campaing. Therefore, we may need to use vicious tactics and economical yet simple way to put across the message to the masses.
The good news is that the internet came along some time ago and has evolved into a marketing platform in its own right and many people as well as businesses have been using it effectively as a cheap and quick way to market their products and services. You should use this to your advantage and take a page from those who have been doing affiliate or direct marketing on the internet.
While I am not saying you should condone and emulate spam, I am advising you to make use of all the back channels of the internet for your own purposes and these can include blogs, social networking sites like Face Book and MySpace, forums, newsgroups, e-zines, instant messaging services and email. These are some of the websites that can use to disseminate your message to the masses and especially with the daily log in of more than 6 million people, the internet will provide you with the most effective and holistic medium for you advertising to take place.
In addition, you should also try to visit the more popular blogs and websites and briefly mention the services and products your business offers. It is cheap and usually you can strike a deal with the owner of the websites, like pay per click or profit sharing, based on how many referrals you get from them. Of course, there is affiliate marketing, which is one of the most effective ways for anyone to get the word out. On the other hand, the profit gained may be limited as you may have to share it with those that got you the refferals. One of the best ways to market your product and service is to do so from a virtual office as well. This is because you will be able to save a significant amount of money by shifting your base of operations to cyberspace.
You get a premium address, telephony, fax, internet services and even a receptionist to handle your day to day calls. By doing so, you are able to market your services and at the same time own a ‘physical office’ that adds validity to your campaign . Nothing damages a marketing campaign more than a free email address or a website from a popular host or a home address. It is advisable to go engage the service of a virtual office if you are serious in kicking start your business. Well, these are 3 quick and ‘dirty’ marketing ideas for anyone who want to kick start their new business.
Mar
24
Increasing the Probability of Success in Your Home Based Business with Joint Ventures
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More and more people are suffering from economic setbacks and corporate layoffs. What is the solution for many of these people? They consider starting their own freelance business working from home.
Forming a home business has become as easy as pressing a few keystrokes and hanging out your virtual “shingle.” However, being in business for yourself is not so helpful if you can’t make the business come to you. That is why many home-based businesses thrive with joint venture partnerships.
What can a JV do for your home business? Here are some of the growth possibilities you could experience with your home business through joint ventures:
Internet Marketing
Marketing is one of the most grueling tasks for most home business entrepreneurs. You want to focus on doing the business you love, whether it be consulting on retirement investments, designing web sites, or working as a virtual assistant. Marketing means you have to make time in your schedule to generate the business that keeps you in business.
Thankfully, a joint venture can help. How? Look for a potential joint venture partner who specializes in Internet marketing. These kinds of specialists can help you gain customers or clients in some of the following ways:
- Increased mailing list – Your marketing materials need to get into the hands of your potential customers. Whether it is email or regular mail, you want focused marketing material read by those who will most likely look to purchase your product or service. Signing up with a joint venture marketing specialist can help you get the leads you need to increase business.
- Affiliates – Do you have a product or service that can be sold through affiliates? Using other websites or Internet marketers with high traffic sites may be a great way to increase income. Generally, you don’t have to pay for advertising space with an affiliate. Using affiliates means you agree to split a sale generated from an ad on an affiliate’s website. You get increased revenue and marketing from your affiliate, and they also receive a nice income from sharing their traffic numbers.
A joint venture with an affiliate is also great for your business due to credibility. A web site with high traffic and subscriber lists carries a lot of weight with its readers. If your affiliate recommends your product to millions of readers, just think what kind of sales that could generate.
Combine Talents, Products, or Services
Many home businesses are focused in a specific area of specialty. Bookkeeping, web design, or jewelry making are good examples. Why not join up with a partner and combine your talents to help create more business or make business easier? Trade your bookkeeping skills with a joint venture partner who can design an attractive and workable web site for your services.
Many home business owners think that online joint ventures are difficult. On the contrary, every other Internet or home business is looking to increase their sales, generate more revenue streams, and gain more clients or customers. With the right approach and proposition, you can help ease your marketing needs with an Internet joint venture.
Christian Fea is CEO of Synertegic, Inc. A Joint Venture Marketing firm. He exemplifies how to profit from Joint Venture relationships by creating profit centers with minimal risk and maximum profitability.
To discover more Joint Venture Marketing Strategies join his free JV Wealth e-zine.