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Joint ventures typically involve two or more businesses coming together in some sort of partnership agreement for the purpose of expanding sales and boosting bottom lines. Most joint ventures are somewhat limited in terms of their scope and time frame, with most considered a short-term agreement that does not necessarily constitute its own accounting system.

However, as longer joint ventures become more popular, it is important to understand your accounting options in joint ventures to ensure the financial interests of both JV partners are properly protected.

Separate Books

Even if you determine that separate books are the best option for your joint venture, you will typically open a joint bank account to hold the investment of each JV partner, as well as any profits that are made during the agreement. This type of accounting is characterized by the following:

• Contributions by each partner are debited to the joint bank account and credited to individual accounts of each partner

• Expenses for the joint venture are directly debited from the joint account

• Sales are directly credited to the joint account

• At the end of the joint venture, the profit or loss will be directly transferred into the personal accounts of the JV partners

• The account will be closed, with equal disbursements made to all of the JV partners

While this tends to be the easiest type of accounting for joint ventures, it is usually reserved for those partnerships that will be perpetuated for some time. Short-term agreements will often pass on separate books in favor of maintaining the joint venture records within each partner’s own record-keeping system.

No Separate Books

When JV partners determine that a separate account for the joint venture is not necessary, they will need to account for the transactions under the joint venture partnership on their own. This means that each partner will open an account for the joint venture and one for his partner. This allows for accounting of expenses made on either partner’s account, as well as those done through the joint venture itself.

When it is time to balance the books, each joint venture partner submits his own ledgers to ensure the numbers all match up. This helps to hold each partner accountable while maintaining the integrity of the separate joint venture. While this accounting system may be slightly more complex, there is no separate account to close out at the end of the joint venture, which is why it tends to be a preferable method for agreements that are made for a shorter term. Profits and losses are simply tallied up, and each JV partner will record his own portion.

Like any business transaction, it is important to maintain proper books during the joint venture process. Whether you choose separate books or have each partner account for the joint venture transactions in his own books, this process is paramount to keeping the integrity of the joint venture intact. When partners are held accountable for the bookkeeping of the joint venture agreement, everyone can rest assured that individual interests, as well as the financial interests of the joint venture, are properly protected.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

When you began your business, you most likely met a specific need for a targeted market base. Unfortunately, many companies begin to forget the needs of their customers as the business begins to grow. Customer service is all about meeting the consumer’s needs, but you must effectively identify them first.

This article will provide some insight on how to determine what your their needs might be in order to formulate appropriate strategies as your joint ventures expand your customer base.

Keeping Up with Changing Needs

Customers’ needs evolve over time, so ongoing research. This can be achieved through surveys or simply asking them what they think of your products and service. When your customer gives you a response, actively listen to what they say in order to correctly identify those needs and find constructive ways fulfill them.

Another way to keep up with their changing needs is to stay abreast of market trends in your industry. When new products or services are introduced, find out what the customer thinks of the changes. If the trend moves toward the latest supply, be prepared to meet the demands by updating your inventory. When you’re up to date with their current needs, you can do a better job of utilizing the various marketing strategies of your joint venture to reach out to a whole new customer base.

Mistakes to Avoid

Many companies make mistakes when evaluating their targeted demographic. One of the biggest mistakes is to identify the company’s internal needs above their customers. This can be seen in businesses that cut back staff to reduce costs, but sacrifice customer service to do so. It can also involve creating marketing strategies in a joint venture that tout the positives about a company without taking into consideration how those positives can directly benefit the customer.

Another problem companies face is accommodating conflicting needs of different customers. In these situations, a business must often take the time to evaluate what individual customers want, rather than formulating blanket policies that might not satisfy any of their customers completely. The success of this approach lies in the effective training and empowerment of the service staff to handle each customer’s needs on an individual basis. This allows for flexibility and creativity in your service to keep the large majority of your customers coming back for more.

The Value of a Joint Venture

When you launch a joint venture, this creates the perfect opportunity to learn your clients’ needs anew. What better time to conduct customer research than when you are about to set sail on
a whole new marketing campaign? When you know precisely what your customers are looking for, it will be much easier to market directly to your base and transform new customers checking out your business for the first time into ongoing, satisfied customers that keep coming back for more.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

You may have heard about joint ventures as a means of growing your customer base by partnering with a similar business to share resources and customer lists. However, many small business owners are hesitant to enter into one of these arrangements because they are unclear on exactly what the benefits are.

If you have been leery about seeking out a potential joint venture, consider the many benefits these arrangements might provide.

Benefits to Your Partners

The first question you might ask when considering a joint venture is why another business would be willing to work with you in such an arrangement. However, joint venture partners stand to reap numerous benefits from one of these agreements, whether they are a larger business, smaller company or a related business of a similar size. Some of the benefits include:

• Potential profits from commissions, particularly if they agree to work with your smaller business to help you build your own customer base

• Shared allocation of marketing tools that will help their business become more visible to a targeted customer base

• Additional customers for a lower price, if they are a smaller company than you

It’s important to keep these benefits in mind when you are wooing potential partners to make the arrangement look more attractive to those companies in which you are most interested.

Benefits to Your Customers

Even your customers benefit from your new JV partnership, although those advantages may not be immediately evident to them. Customer benefits include:

• Improved trust and confidence in your business, due to their past history with your JV partner

• The ability to find your company more effectively through targeted online marketing tools you and your partner share

• The ease of shopping among related businesses from information they receive from a single source

Additionally the customer benefits translate to benefits for your business, by increased sales and a healthier bottom line.

Benefits to You

If you did not stand to gain anything from a joint venture, there would be no point to spending the time and energy to form them, right? The good news is that there are many potential benefits you may enjoy, including:

• An increase in targeted customers and sales

• More effective marketing so you get the best value for your advertising dollar

• If you partner with smaller business, you might enjoy additional revenue from commissions on your partner’s sales

• The ability to improve your reputation and trust among potential customers by cozying up with businesses they already work with

When an effective joint venture is established, all involved parties stand to gain from the arrangement. JVs allocate the necessary resources to effectively advertise to a targeted market with a smaller advertising investment and a greater return. Your customers enjoy greater consumer confidence in shopping with companies related to businesses they already have a relationship with. Finally, your increased sales and bigger customer base will benefit your own company where it counts, your bottom line.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Social marketing is a relatively new advertising concept that was originally introduced in the 1970s. Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman discovered at this time that the same strategies used to sell customers products and services could also be used to sell them on ideas, attitudes and behaviors. The primary purpose of the approach was to benefit the general public by influencing behaviors in an advantageous way.

Today, social marketing has become an effective method for generating website traffic, as well as persuading consumers to purchase a broad range of goods or services that fit well within a single category. It can also be used successfully through a joint venture, as long as both businesses are onboard with what social marketing is and how to use it effectively.

The Components of Social Marketing

A successful social marketing strategy includes the following components:

• Product - This does not refer to a specific product, but rather a spectrum of products that fit within the intangible ideas the advertiser is trying to get across, as well as the benefits the consumer stands to gain.

• Price - As opposed to a set monetary value, the price in social marketing shows what one must do to get the product in question. The actual price is minimized in a successful social marketing campaign.

• Place - This component refers to how the product reaches the consumer, and it requires a basic knowledge of the habits of the target audience to reach them effectively and fit with their lifestyles.

• Promotion - Promotion incorporates a wide range of methodology to alert customers to the product in question and creating a sustaining demand for it.

When all of these components are successfully integrated into a social marketing strategy, you are much more likely to succeed in your social marketing endeavor. It is also important to remember that the ultimate goal of social marketing is to influence behavior, rather than simply sell a product.

How to Use Social Marketing

To incorporate social marketing into your joint venture, you must first develop a thorough understanding of your target market. Social marketing begins by identifying the market need and then addressing that need directly for a better response. To legitimately influence one’s behavior, you must provide good reasons why that behavior change will reap serious benefits to the consumer.

Once you have convinced the public that they need a behavioral change, make it easy to follow through by ensuring your product or service is easy to find and purchase.

While social marketing is often used in industries like health care, it can be effective in other fields as well. The primary principles to keep in mind when launching a social marketing campaign are that you are ultimately interested in action by your target audience. You promote this action by offering a fair exchange that is beneficial to your customers, offering concrete benefits whenever possible. When these steps are carefully followed, you do much more than sell a product; you sell the idea of your product, complete with benefits that will keep customers coming back for more over the long term.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Because joint ventures involve more than one business at a time, it pays to learn how to play nicely with others before embarking on your first JV partnership. The negotiation fun begins when you find a prospective partner to draw into your proposal and ends when you draw up a solid contract with the business. We have negotiation tips that will help the process flow as smoothly as possible.

Preparation

This step is important, whether you are approaching a prospective partner for the very first time or working out a contract that benefits both parties. From the very beginning, it is important to do your homework about prospective JV partners, ranging from the products they sell to the types of clientele with whom they typically work.  Learn a bit about their bottom line as well, including their possible profit margins, unique challenges and available resources. Knowing your JV partner well will benefit you in wooing new partners, as well as drawing up a contract that is mutually beneficial.

Providing Information

In addition to learning everything you can about your prospective partner, it’s important to be prepared to offer the key information about your own business clearly and concisely. Determine how your partner might benefit from working with your business and outline those benefits precisely in your original proposal. List the needs your business has and the way a joint venture will meet those needs so you can maintain consistent priorities throughout the negotiation process.

Benefits vs. Risks

When embarking on a joint venture, write down a list of all the benefits each partner stands to gain, as well as any risks that might be undertaken. Risks should be reduced to a minimum throughout the negotiation process, so that both parties are comfortable with the arrangement. Leveraging current resources, rather than creating new ones can do this. Put benefits into writing, so each JV partner has clear expectations and possible recourse if expectations are not met.

Writing a Contract

All good negotiations begin and end with a comprehensive contract that protects the interests of all partners. The contract should include the overall purpose of the joint venture, the benefits the partners stand to gain and a solid timeline. If you are unsure how long to continue your joint venture, set a specific date to review the partnership and assess its success. Include concrete criteria to fully evaluate the partnership, as well as a fallback option if the arrangement is not going as planned.

Beyond these basic steps, effective negotiation is characterized by honesty and transparency between both JV partners. Remember that most joint ventures continue on for some time, so start yours out on the right foot with negotiations that are truthful, open and professional. Keep the process going with regular contact with your JV partner to assess your current arrangement and make adjustments as necessary in your plan. An effective joint venture offers many potential benefits, including a broader customer base and higher profit margins for everyone involved.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

The point of a joint venture is to build your business, so you want to choose a partnership and an arrangement that successfully does just that. Not every joint venture is a match made in heaven, and it is important to assess each individual situation according to the benefits is may provide to every partner. We have a list of criteria to consider ensuring your joint venture supports your business effectively.

Similar Market

The first step in forming a successful joint venture is to evaluate whether the businesses involved are targeting a similar market base. The most effective joint ventures share customers without competing with one another because the products and services offered by the partners are not exactly the same. Look for related businesses that might attract the same market share with different goods and services from your own. For example, someone selling fitness equipment might partner with a diet supplement company to expand their customer base and sales.

Similar Goals

It is also important to look for prospective JV partners who have similar goals and outcomes for their joint venture. Before addressing prospective partners, make a list of your own business goals and the outcome you hope to achieve. Goals should be action-oriented and have a concrete timeline for accomplishing them. When you find a prospective JV partner who has the same goals in mind as you, the partnership is much more likely to be successful.

Use of Resources

Once you have a joint venture established, use all the potential marketing tools at your disposal to your fullest advantage. If you’re not well versed in the finer points of Internet marketing, hire a consultant to help you get started. Resources like auto-responders, content submissions and link exchanges ensure you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck. Many of these tools cost little to no money up front, but provide a great return for all businesses involved. When both JV partners are tuned into the most effective Internet marketing strategies, everyone wins.

Customer Service

Once you have hooked in new customers through your stellar joint venture campaign, make sure you transform them into a loyal customer base by consistently offering high quality goods and first-rate customer service. This step can actually be taken prior to the establishment of your JV campaign by properly training your staff in your product line and effective customer service techniques. The establishment of quality control with your product base, as well as the willingness to offer money-back guarantees and a fair return policy, will also help you build your base of satisfied customers.

Joint ventures are designed to help you increase your market base and your sales numbers. An ineffective joint venture does little more than cost money and partners you with another business that isn’t a good fit. By ensuring you are ready to make the most out of your JV partnerships, you will be more effective in building your customer list and boosting your bottom line with increased profits from the additional sales.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

The point of a joint venture is to build your business, so you want to choose a partnership and an arrangement that successfully does just that. Not every joint venture is a match made in heaven, and it is important to assess each individual situation according to the benefits is may provide to every partner. We have a list of criteria to consider ensuring your joint venture supports your business effectively.

Similar Market

The first step in forming a successful joint venture is to evaluate whether the businesses involved are targeting a similar market base. The most effective joint ventures share customers without competing with one another because the products and services offered by the partners are not exactly the same. Look for related businesses that might attract the same market share with different goods and services from your own. For example, someone selling fitness equipment might partner with a diet supplement company to expand their customer base and sales.

Similar Goals

It is also important to look for prospective JV partners who have similar goals and outcomes for their joint venture. Before addressing prospective partners, make a list of your own business goals and the outcome you hope to achieve. Goals should be action-oriented and have a concrete timeline for accomplishing them. When you find a prospective JV partner who has the same goals in mind as you, the partnership is much more likely to be successful.

Use of Resources

Once you have a joint venture established, use all the potential marketing tools at your disposal to your fullest advantage. If you’re not well versed in the finer points of Internet marketing, hire a consultant to help you get started. Resources like auto-responders, content submissions and link exchanges ensure you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck. Many of these tools cost little to no money up front, but provide a great return for all businesses involved. When both JV partners are tuned into the most effective Internet marketing strategies, everyone wins.

Customer Service

Once you have hooked in new customers through your stellar joint venture campaign, make sure you transform them into a loyal customer base by consistently offering high quality goods and first-rate customer service. This step can actually be taken prior to the establishment of your JV campaign by properly training your staff in your product line and effective customer service techniques. The establishment of quality control with your product base, as well as the willingness to offer money-back guarantees and a fair return policy, will also help you build your base of satisfied customers.

Joint ventures are designed to help you increase your market base and your sales numbers. An ineffective joint venture does little more than cost money and partners you with another business that isn’t a good fit. By ensuring you are ready to make the most out of your JV partnerships, you will be more effective in building your customer list and boosting your bottom line with increased profits from the additional sales.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

A joint venture is only as good as the results it brings to your bottom line. The first step in a successful JV is to choose your prospective partners carefully based on the mutual benefits you both stand to receive from your partnership. The next step is to assess your arrangement periodically to ensure you are getting more out of the agreement than you invest. We have tips to help you evaluate your joint venture and determine whether it is working effectively for you.

Your Customer Base

A growing customer base is one of the easiest ways to tell if your joint venture is effective for your business. The primary purpose of most JV’s is to bring more customers to your website or through the doors of your business. If you see a steady increase in your customer base since your joint venture began, the arrangement is probably working well for your business. Look at the number of customers clicking on your website every day, or gauge the business of your store for a week or two to determine whether your JV is doing the job in bringing more customers to you.

Your Profits

While joint ventures are primarily designed to bring more customers to your business, increased sales indicate that the customers driven to your website are legitimately interested in the goods or services you offer. When your sales increase, you know you are getting not just a customer base, but also a targeted base from your efforts. This ensures you get the biggest bang for your marketing buck by attracting customers that are more likely to buy from you in the first place.

Your Marketing Budget

The idea behind a joint venture is to get the best value for your marketing dollar. If you are seeing an exponential increase in customers and sales, with a much smaller increase to your advertising budget, your joint venture is working well. If you find yourself spending more and more on your advertising campaigns, it’s time to either meet with your JV partners to revamp your strategy or dissolve your partnership altogether in favor of a more lucrative option.

Your Relationship

When you and your JV partners share similar goals, it is much easier to make your venture work to the benefit of all businesses involved in the arrangement. Meet with your partners regularly to discuss the status of the joint venture and whether the current track appears to be the most beneficial one. When you can work harmoniously with your JV partners, it is much more likely that you can tweak your system when it doesn’t seem to be working effectively any longer.

Joint ventures are a popular, profitable way to build your business as long as they continue to work in your favor. Through periodic evaluations, you can decide if your JV is continuing to work for you and make necessary adjustments when necessary for the greatest value from your efforts.

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 report on Joint Venture Marketing.

Nearly everyone has a Facebook or MySpace page today, and unless you have been living in the Dark Ages of late, you have probably “tweeted” someone through Twitter. Social networking is all the rage, and now businesses are beginning to understand the value of effectively using social networking tools that literally reach millions of potential customers every day.

This article will discuss how to use social networking in your JV marketing strategy to link up with an even broader potential customer base.

Options in Social Networking

One of the biggest draws to social networking in JV marketing is the number of options in social networking today. Some of the choices include:

• FaceBook

• MySpace

• Twitter

• YouTube

One of the most popular options for professionals today is LinkedIn, which is primarily used to market one’s abilities for the job market. However, businesses are also tuning into the advantages of marketing their business through this social networking site as well.

Another option is to find a niche market website that specifically works with businesses or business owners like you. For example, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur attracts small business owners with the opportunity to read blogs and post comments regarding running a business today. There are also blogs like Networking Effectively, which is designed to help business owners utilize the latest technology in social networking to the benefit of their bottom line.

Tips for Effective Marketing

Perhaps you have thought about posting your business on Facebook or Twitter, but you are unsure how to use the sites effectively to market your company. We have a few tips to help you navigate the world of social networking with professional savvy:

• Think about your audience as you are designing your social networking accounts. Are they young and hip, motivated by trendy purchases?  Are they professional yet cutting edge, looking for the best technology?   Make sure your social networking account is in line with your target audience, as well as your current branding strategy.

• Get the ball rolling with a topical discussion about your product or brand, and listen to what others have to say. You may gain a wealth of information regarding what prospective customers are looking for and how you can effectively reach them through your JV partnership and your advertising campaign.

• Provide real time information about your business, including current promotions and specials going on in your store. Social networks are the perfect way to cross promote your joint venture.  You might be amazed at the level of traffic you receive when shoppers begin to sniff out a deal.  Think about creating JV combo packages exclusively for patrons of the social networks.  When you build relationships online, you build them for your business as well.

Using social networking to build a business is a free marketing strategy that is already proving successful for many business owners today. While a JV partnership is a good beginning to finding a broader customer base, the use of social networking by you and your JV partner may increase business exponentially. Social network websites appear to be the wave of both the present and the future for profitable business owners.

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 Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.

Have you tried unsuccessfully to gain a joint venture partner? Perhaps you have given presentations and proposals to other business owners who genuinely were not interested in a JV. Or perhaps you didn’t highlight your own credibility enough. Sometimes a great business idea for a JV is not enough to convince another entrepreneur or business owner to join up. You must earn their trust as a credible potential partner and rainmaker.

Savvy business owners and entrepreneurs are choosy about with whom they spend their time and build alliances. Association with other successful business owners may give them additional credibility and status. Therefore, it’s not just business success, but also the reputation at stake as well.

Subsequently, with this type of business owner with whom you want to partner on a joint venture, you must earn his trust as a credible business owner yourself. Success breeds success, as they say.  If you are after a savvy business owner who is careful with his associations, here are some things you might use to gain his trust:

Client Testimonials

Use your own customer testimonials. Don’t just tout your own success; let your customers do it for you. Your customers and clients can really help your company shine. Whether you provide the best customer service, or produce and sell the best widget, customer testimonials will be the driving force that tells other customers, and your potential JV partner, that you do quality work. Get as many testimonials as you can. A few are good, but 10 shining testimonials are great.

Press Exposure

What have you done in your business that has been noticed by the press? Keep a clip file of any and all media about your business. Perhaps you were interviewed by the local major newspaper or gave a radio interview. And better yet, you got a stellar review about your business in a newspaper or magazine. Clip those articles and reviews and show them to your potential JV partner. Again, praise about your business ability from others gives you additional and heightened credibility.

Endorsements

Positive press is nice, but endorsements from other reputable businesses in your industry or field of business can give you a lot of credibility. People with high status and reputation that say good things about your work are a boost toward greater success. For instance, if you invented a small product and famous pitchman, Billy Mays, chose it to be in his next infomercial, you and your product just enjoyed a jolt of credibility from his endorsement.

A potential JV partner with a discerning eye and a sense for reputation may be one of the toughest pitches you’ll make for a business arrangement. But if you feel that their status, business acumen, and product are a good fit for a JV with you, then it’s worth the effort.  Be sure to appeal to their sense of reputation and status by highlighting your own.

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 Joint Venture Marketing Wealth Report.