Joint ventures and strategic alliances are successful because each partner takes advantage of the other's leverage in order to bring some sort of gain. That gain could be profit, publicity, a new product, a better product, etc. Joint venture marketing is one of the most creative parts of your marketing strategy as there really is no one way to do it. And there are undoubtedly joint venture models which have never been used before.

Here are some examples of different joint venture partnerships. You have a new product and you are looking for a way to promote it. You approach a webmaster or business that has a large list of quality subscribers or customers. Ezine and newsletter publishers make wonderful partners in this type of joint venture.

This is how it works: They would provide a personalized endorsement of your product or service in exchange for a handsome commission. If you are running an affiliate program, I would recommend offering a joint venture partner a larger commission then a normal affiliate. The reason is that most of your affiliates are looking for a product to promote. They are a lot easier to get on board.

However, your ideal JV partners don't necessarily need your product to be successful and are probably not necessarily looking to promote something. Because of this you have to give them a good reason.

An endorsement is not a sales letter. It is a very personal recommendation, from one person to another. You should always offer to write the endorsement for your partner, and let them customize it however they see fit. A successful endorsement should always come across as though your partner was doing his or her client's a favor. Your partner is taking the time to make their lives better. And people respond to this kind of giving.

No matter who your JV partner is, everyone is always interested in building a better relationship with his or her clients. If you are offering a quality product or service, a product or service that your partner's customers will appreciate, they will in turn give their gratitude towards your partner, which means he or she will have a better time selling other things to his customers in the future.

Capitalize on your partner's desire to look good to her subscribers by offering something unique of yours to give away for free. Make it special. It shouldn't be something that everybody can go and get on your website.

Another advantage to these JV relationships is that it is great publicity for you amongst your business peers. Any good publicity means leverage. Some other business might approach you with their own JV idea just because they've seen you partner with another business.

Creating good JV partnerships can give you an edge on your competition, even if your competition is well established and successful in their own ventures, and even if your business is relatively new.

The other obvious advantage to gaining these new customers and leads is that you are capturing their information to keep in contact with them later. This means that when you have something else to offer, you have a larger customer base to offer it to.

You can use these partnerships as a free way to test your product. If your JV partners are successful in their endorsement, you know that you are on the right track. However, if your JV partners are not successful, you know that you have to reevaluate what you offer and find how to fix the problem.

If you create successful partnerships with respected businesses, you can have them write you glowing testimonials. These kind of testimonials are great because they leverage your partner's reputation has will help convince new customers that you are offering a quality product or service.