Have you heard of the know-like-trust factor? It's the ONLY reason why prospects convert to clients!

Prospects who come across your products and services for the first time will only buy from you when they get to know you, like you and trust you. This therefore means that amongst other things, you have to build CREDIBILITY in the marketplace.

But how do you do that without breaking the bank?

The easiest and most profitable way to fast track your credibility in the minds of your prospects and clients, is by implementing joint venture marketing in your small business. This involves joining forces with a reputable business e.g. a key player in your industry (your joint venture partner), so that you can piggyback on their credibility and shine in their glow.

How will that be of benefit to your business?

Your joint venture partner would have probably spent years building a good reputation within their industry. They therefore have influence and credibility with their clients. By partnering with them, you'll be tapping into this resource.

You'll enhance your credibility and reputation as a direct result of associating with a respectable joint venture partner. This will subsequently magnetize more clients, more sales, and more profits to your business!

Why would another business be interested in partnering with your business?

Because joint venture marketing is about combining business resources like credibility, time, capital, expertise, skills, and so on, to create a win-win situation that will benefit the businesses involved, and benefit their clients at the same time.

Talk show host, Dr. Phil, was a virtually unknown psychiatrist before Oprah Winfrey introduced him to the world. He gained credibility as a result of Oprah's influence. The case study section of this article explains why a world-renowned mogul like Oprah Winfrey would partner with an unknown psychiatrist.

How do you know whether a potential joint venture partner is respectable?

* Find out what the media, and their prospects and clients think about them

* Examine their business ethics

* Review and ensure that their products and services are of high quality

* Evaluate their customer service standards

It's imperative to ensure that your potential joint venture partners are reputable. Associating with a business that has a bad reputation will hurt your own business, and that defeats the purpose of increasing your credibility.

Here's A Case Study...

Oprah Winfrey knows what her audience wants to watch, and therefore created a strategic alliance with Dr. Phil, a psychiatrist who was a virtually unknown doctor before appearing on Oprah's show, and had never been on television.

He started doing guest appearances on her show and his "tell it like it is" style was very popular with Oprah's audience. Over time, the audience wanted to see more and more of Dr. Phil. Eventually, Oprah offered to produce a show for Dr. Phil, and he began a daily afternoon talk show of his own.

Dr. Phil has benefited from this alliance by gaining exposure and CREDIBILITY through Oprah's influence. Oprah has benefited by adding another program to her empire, and getting a percentage of the profits from that show. And, the television audience enjoys getting a program that offers free advice and real-life case studies that affect their lives. They would otherwise have to pay thousands of $$$ for private sessions with Dr. Phil.

This case study illustrates what I call a win-win-win situation that can only be provided through the power of joint venture marketing.

Copyright © 2005 by Habiba Abubakar and Emprez. All rights reserved.

Note: You are welcome to republish this article as long as the resource box at the end is included fully and unaltered.