A joint venture is an initiative in which one or more separate businesses, usually having different but compatible products, work together to offer something that will appeal to both of their customer bases. Joint venture marketing is all the activity surrounding the promotion and advertising of the venture. Tips for good joint venture marketing include sharing or leveraging print or electronic mailing lists, using social media sites, creating advertisements that work for both businesses and establishing a good metrics system for the project.
One of the biggest advantages of a joint initiative is the ability to reach a larger market pool. Keeping this in mind is critical to establishing an effective joint venture marketing plan. Each business most likely has a print or electronic mailing list used for direct mail and email campaigns. In many cases, businesses will share those lists with the other entity or entities participating in the promotion.
If businesses are not comfortable giving their lists to another business because of customer privacy, the businesses should ensure that all advertisements give the customer a chance to opt in to the other business' lists. This is easiest with electronic lists, as an email can include links to each business' website. If nothing else, all advertisements should include the logo of and information about all businesses involved so that each business is exposed to the customers on all the mailing lists.
Social media sites can be incredibly effective for joint venture marketing. By publicizing the venture on the social networking pages of all participating businesses, the campaign will reach everyone who follows each business. Each participant should also suggest that its followers become followers of the other business' accounts or pages. This offers an easy way to increase each business' followers, which means that future social media campaigns will reach more people.
The content of advertisements is critical to the success of joint venture marketing. Each ad should be devoted primarily to the venture itself. At the same time, each ad should clearly show each participant. This can be as simple as using the business' names and logos at the bottom of the ad. It may also be wise to include a website address for each participant so that potential buyers can check out businesses with which they are unfamiliar.
Metrics are incredibly important to joint venture marketing initiatives. Participants should begin with specific goals and should measure performance against those goals. Depending on how the venture is set up, it might be successful for one business, but not for another, so each business should also have its own way of tracking the venture's performance.
