When you hear about joint ventures, you probably think of bigger corporations that have joined forces to develop and bring to market something cool and exciting. JV partners such as Sanyo-Ericsson have brought you wonderful new mobile telephone technology. IBM and Microsoft brought you Windows in the 80s. However, JVs don’t always happen on the big scale. Small business owners can benefit and profit from joint ventures as well.
Here are just a few examples of how small businesses can partner with another to grow, expand, and earn more revenue.
Develop a New Product
Many joint ventures partner to share technology, expertise, and manufacturing resources to create a new product. Say you have a great team of engineers, but little space. However, you find a potential joint venture business with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. Work together to create the product and manufacture it, then split the profits. This is much more lucrative than selling out your product idea to a major manufacturer.
Share Office/Warehouse Space
A joint venture doesn’t have to sell a product to be more profitable. Simply saving on expenses can be a way to keep more revenue. Consider joining up with a JV partner who has extra office space where your accounting employees can work, while you trade or barter bookkeeping services rather than rent. Both partners benefit by saving money on other expense items.
Get Marketing Help
Say you are a trained and experienced web developer. That’s great, but how do you get the word out about your creative designs? Why not form a joint venture with a publicist or marketing specialist with his or her own business? You can be the webmaster of their own web project, and in return, you get fabulous marketing advice and efforts.
Think Big
You don’t have to form a joint venture with a business the same size as yours. Consider offering your specialty products or service along with a major national brand. For instance, say you have a great local studio setup for creating stop-motion video or film. Partner up with a major studio like Fox or Paramount to do their next short stop-action animated piece. You’ll get great publicity with a major brand on your side.
