Joint Ventures in Internet Marketing

A joint venture in Internet marketing is defined as, “A mutually beneficial cooperation between web site owners” according to the Internet Marketing Dictionary.

Many times joint ventures in Internet marketing are entered into between a person who has developed a new and innovative product or service but has no Internet marketing history and no list to market his product or service to and an established Internet Marketer who has spent years developing his list and his reputation.

This is the kind of agreement that can be described as a win-win situation. The joint venture gives the developer of the new product or service access to potential customers that he would not otherwise have access to and the experienced Internet Marketer gains access to new product or service that the members of his list can benefit from.

Both the product/service developer and the established Internet Marketer make a profit that neither of them would have made without the other… and that is the very essence of the joint venture. By joining forces and pooling resources and talents, a joint venture allows all parties to accomplish more than any one of them could have accomplished alone.

The fact is that the joint venture is one of the better kept secrets of successful Internet Marketers. You can have been trying to break into the Internet marketing game for a very long time before you have ever heard the term. Joint ventures are certainly not a new concept, however. They have been around since Internet marketing began.

For the new Internet Marketer, the joint venture is the quickest way to making a profit. The old pay-per-click advertising way is expensive and not near as effective as the joint venture. By entering into a joint venture agreement with an established Internet Marketer, a newbie can get his product or service offered to those most likely to buy it at almost no cost quickly and efficiently.

How Does a JV Work?

Often, even very well established Internet Marketers will enter into a joint venture… even those who are in direct competition with one another. Why, you ask, would competitors ever agree to a joint venture? The answer is simple: Joint ventures are just simply good business and even competitors can both make a profit by using them. Neither marketer is entering into a joint venture for the purpose of helping his competition. He is entering into it to help himself.

At first glance, the joint venture agreement looks a bit daunting but actually it is pretty simple. A joint venture just joins the customers, advertising, products, services, knowledge, skills, etc. of one website owner with those of another website owner for a specific project. Joint venture agreements can be between two or more website owners.

Let’s say that an established Internet Marketer develops or acquires the rights to a product or service that would be beneficial to his own list of potential customers. He could sell that product or service only to his own list and make a nice little profit. However, by entering into a joint venture agreement with other website owners who have lists of potential customers that would be interested in the same product or service, he could multiply his sales many times over. The owners of the other websites get the opportunity to recommend the product to their own lists and make a profit as well. Everybody wins.

The joint venture works for established Internet Marketers, as well as, for new comers to the Internet marketing field. Established Internet Marketers are always on the look out for new and innovative products and services that would help their customers. Bt approaching established Internet Marketers with a joint venture proposal, many new comers have gotten their start.

Types of Joint Ventures

A joint venture is an agreement between two or more individuals or businesses whereby both contribute to a joint business endeavor. They share in the expenses associated with the project and they share in the profits realized. Joint ventures are very common in the brick and mortar world, as well as, in the online world of Internet marketing.

There are basically two types of joint ventures… the Insider Joint Venture and the Outsider Joint Venture. Both kinds are profitable the difference is who the partners in the agreements are.

The insider joint venture agreement allows all parties to it access to the same private areas of the business such as the administration panel, accounting, sales records, and other insider’s knowledge. The product or service that is the focus of the agreement is usually developed as a joint effort by the parties to the agreement. Ownership of the product or service is jointly held.

The Outsider Joint Venture is the kind that is most common in the Internet marketing arena. In this kind of joint venture, there are no common administration panel, accounting or sales records. Each entity remains separate. Usually an individual or company has developed a product or service but has no customer base to market it to. The individual or company will approach an established marketer who does have a customer base, list or market share that would be interested in the product or service. They enter into a joint venture agreement where costs of marketing and profits made are shared. Sometimes there is an even split and sometimes the split is on a percentage basis other than 50/50.

The joint venture can be profitable to all parties of the joint venture agreement and the cost of advertising is minimal. The joint venture is an old idea that is being made new again via Internet marketing.