The term Joint Venture or JV is one that is being thrown around a lot online nowadays but having read many books written by so called Joint Venture experts it becomes obvious that most people are missing the full extent to which JV's can be used to add profit to a business. Most of these experts will tell you that a joint venture is when one company mails an offer to their customer database promoting the product or services of another company and receives a commission for any sales that result. This form of JV is also known as a host-beneficiary offer, a phrase coined by Jay Abraham.

In reality Joint venture marketing can be so much more. A joint venture is any marketing promotion that involves 2 or more organisations for mutual gain. If you were to walk in to any McDonalds store today you would find multiple JV's in action. Take a look at their kids' meal and you will probably find a toy from a company looking to promote their toy brand or latest movie.

When you expand your thinking you begin to see that JV opportunities are everywhere.

Lets look at a few of the benefits you can enjoy by including joint venture marketing tactics into your marketing mix.

1. JV's can be used to bring more customers to your business. Customers who are already presold on the benefits of your company so they only want to buy from you. When your JV partner endorses and promotes your product or service to people who know and trust their business you get instant customers who want to buy from you.

2. Joint Ventures can be used to tap in to thousands, possibly even millions of dollars of other peoples advertising capital. Your JV partner has invested a fortune into his/her business to obtain the customer following they have. When they promote your business to their database you get instant access to that valuable investment.

3. The right JV will add additional revenue streams to your business requiring no additional work or investment on your part. You can promote your joint venture partners services to your database and get paid a percentage of the sales generated. The money you earn is pure profit from day 1.

4. JV's allow your business to leverage off the resources of other organisations.

5. JV's let you capitalize on your businesses hidden assets.

6. Your business gains added credibility, instantly when associated with winning businesses.

7. You can grow your business significantly without spending a single cent on traditional advertising.

8. You gain greater control over customers purchasing habits allowing you to control your businesses downtimes.

9. JV relationships are a great way to separate yourself from the competition and establish your business as a market leader. The most powerful leg up you can give your business is to do something totally different because when your business is unique then by definition there is no competition!

10. JV's can be used to encourage your customers to spend more money - more often.

11. Low cost advertising. Traditional advertising can be expensive. Joint venture marketing can save you that expense by letting you promote your business for FREE.

12. Fast, effective, results driven advertising. Joint venture marketing is a direct response marketing method, which drives immediate results.

13. Wholesale Advertising. Cash is the only form of trade in traditional advertising but joint venture marketing lets you give away samples of your product or service to get new customers so your only cost is the wholesale value.

14. Increase profit by creating an 'Incredible experience' which drives referrals and word of mouth advertising. Giving away gifts and running generous promotions gets people talking, and recommending your business, another FREE advertising method!

15. Increase customer loyalty dramatically. Customers will generally remain loyal to businesses that treat them well and give massive value.

16. Decrease your customer acquisition cost. Joint venture marketing gets new customers to your business at a fraction of the cost you'd expect to pay in traditional advertising.

These are only some of the benefits.... they're endless!