I’m going to need to be a bit less of a baby marketer to get it rolling, but we’ll crawl forward together.

Thanks for the spark Terry.

I seriously doubt this is an original idea, so tell me who is already doing this perhaps?

Big marketers and baby marketers might connect like this.

The big marketer could bring all the baby marketers together, and provide a supportive environment where the baby marketers could learn to JV, and find people they could actually JV with.

As the baby marketers grow, under the wings of the big marketer, the big marketer can reach down in to the pile from time to time, and invite the most promising babies in to JVs. This gives the baby marketers something realistic to shoot for, to encourage them on the JV trail.

The main thing, and I really must insist on this, is that all we baby marketers get official baby marketer T-shirts and baby bottles full of some highly caffeinated beverage. Maybe when the big marketer finally returns our emails, we get a master marketer birth certificate.

Somebody whip this up in to a package, and we’ll all promote it to our baby lists!

Phil: I wouldn’t consider it a debate at all. While people should aim high, you’re correct they will be ignored many times. There is no reason at all they shouldn’t go for smaller jvs. And remember this also, the smaller jvs can become contacts and relationships that grow into big deals as both of your businesses grow. So my only disagreement would be telling people to forget about the stars. My suggestion, just don’t basis your project based off of them only.

Brian: There are a couple of sites like this, but it sounds like you have yourself a good project idea there.

Steve: great comment I want to highlight, “I usually ask people what their top three challenges are and then listen. At some point you can feed back their challenges and may be angle a solution that fits with their concerns.”

From my standpoint the approach is critical to the success of any joint venture.

My focus is to find people with offline bricks and mortar businesses. My business partner and I invest a fair amount of time in educating people about what is critical in their business. We now do a lot of this via a report “Partner or Perish The Obvious Truth About Business”.

As joint venture brokers we apply or combine the best of the offline world with the best of the online world.

It is just amazing how far ahead On-Line marketers are when compared to most offline businesses or their owners. The online world generally understands the terms joint venture, affiliates, strategic alliance whereas the offline world does not (unless you include large multinationals).

As I suggest the approach is critical and you have to no where your potential JV partners is comming from and whats upermost on their mind.

I usually ask people what their top three challenges are and then listen. At some point you can feed back their challenges and may be angle a solution that fits with their concerns.

In fact I would go as far as saying the questions you ask are more important than anything else. Good questions can peel away the layers of the most sceptical business owner.

The ultimate aim for any JV is a win/win/win.

Fill your boots, JV’s are a great way to add value and leverage…Execution is everything!

Cheers and kind regards

Steve (joint venture broker)

However, someone with what it takes to compete in the marketplace will certainly be cunning enough to figure out an approach that works.

Nice post and comments.

Carole

Some enterprising individual need to establish a small secure blog-site where newbies, experts or fresh hot ideas can be placed for perusal, with a ‘contact me’ link and a ‘what I seek’ field.

Site will need to be passworded to subscribers from this industry.(website owners)with an application for admission. (we then get chance to reject/ignore too!!)

There, was that not a realistic solution to exposure and potential uptake by ‘experts’?…so who’s going to set this up? Don’t forget my commission.

Brian

Just to stir the pot a bit, here’s a little debate, and something to add.

Your article implies that modest merchants have a shot at doing deals with top marketers, and I’m not sure that’s very realistic.

I’d guess that 99.5% of the time, an outreach to a serious marketer will be ignored, no matter what you put on the table.

In order to have your deal considered, the serious marketer has to actually read and consider your pitch. How likely is this, given, as you say, that they are being pummeled with pitches from strangers on a daily basis, and are quite busy?

I recently offered a top marketer, whom I’ve known well since 1998, $7000 to write a blurb about my product in his newsletter. In order to achieve this fee, we would have had to convince 1/3 of one percent of his readers to spend $12 on a completely relevant product.

He did read and politely reply to my offer, because of our long association, but his mindset is focused on obstacles, not the opportunity and how we would achieve the goal.

The point is, I find this to be perfectly natural and understandable from his point of view, given that he has been pummeled relentlessly with deal ideas, most of them junk or scams, every day for 10 years.

Here’s a solution of sorts that readers might consider.

Lower your sights, and aim for marketers on your level or just a bit above. And then patiently work your way up the marketing food chain. Forget the experts and the stars for starters, unless you yourself are already a well known expert and star.

Read the serious marketers, learn from them, buy their teachings, but forget about doing deals with them.

I believe this perhaps more realistic approach holds more promise for the majority of us.

Definately like the interview idea…I also always thought a direct personal message via a video, but then that might be scary

The best investment in terms of JVing, for me, was to haul myself out to a seminar and integrate..nothing beats face to face meeting (without the ‘in ya face’ pitch of course)

Jerry

Chris Moran