Joint Venture 101 for Consumer Brands - Turbify Resource Center - Get the information you need to succeed online

Joint venture, also known as strategic partnership or co-branding, is one of the best ways to grow your consumer good (hardware, physical product, widget) business. Why? Because when done it’s right, it’s a win-win-win situation that gives you access to thousands, if not millions of new customers without spending a dime on advertising. Here are the fundamentals and several case studies to set you on the right path.

Why Joint Venture?

As a startup or new consumer brand looking at the competitive landscape, you have a number of ways to grow your business.

Table of Contents

Advertising

Whether online or offline, advertising can lead to quick traffic and sales. But it’s expensive and unless you’ve got deep pockets to work with, you’ll quickly burn through your cash.

SEO & Content Strategy

You can also use search engine optimization and great content to drive organic traffic to your ecommerce website. This is a fantastic long-term strategy, but you need sales now.

Go Retail

Getting your brand into retail stores can bring exposure to your products. But this strategy also has its own challenges. It can take a lot of time to battle your way through. There are also a plethora of requirements your business and product need to meet.

With joint venture / strategic partnership / co-branding, you can quickly get access to new customers without spending much money. You’ve got the advantages of speed, effectiveness, and low cost all rolled up together.

The Fundamentals of Joint Venture

Not Just About the Money

One of the biggest mistakes when you approach someone for a joint venture is thinking only about the money. Your widget might have great margins and a solid sales record, but if you’re trying to partner with a successful business, it’s likely they’ll have many potential partners to choose from — all of which will offer money. They don’t need you.

Money is a given. Just don’t make it the focus.

Get Noticed & Liked

Identify the decision makers and get them to notice and like you. How? By doing favors for them without asking for anything in return. Your goal isn’t necessarily to become friends with the decision makers. Your goal is to help them and add value. Figure out who they are and what they’re interested in through networking, events, Linkedin, and email. For example, you can comment on their work, send interesting articles over, and help them organize events.

People go into joint ventures with people they like.

Does It Enhance Customer Experience?

This is the most important question to ask yourself. Only pitch joint ventures if you honestly believe that your product will enhance the experience of your partners’ customers. Otherwise, just don’t bother. The last thing any reputable business wants to do is to harass its customers with unrelated and irrelevant products.

The case studies we will look at below will illustrate what “enhancing the experience” means.

Joint Venture Case Studies

PURGGO & Car Wash

PURGGO sells all-natural and eco-friendly car air fresheners made with bamboo charcoal. It makes sense to partner with car wash and car cleaning services, especially the eco-friendly ones. PURGGO gets access to new customers, and the car wash services offer a superior experience.