How To Conduct Joint Venture Webinars to Sell more online courses
You've heard all the marketing professionals on the internet say: the money is in the list. A few marketers (we won't name specific names) have even used to refer to their lists as their own ATM machines. To be clear We don't advocate using your list of contacts as your personal ATM, but there is definitely a lot of truth in the expression.
What if you only have just a tiny list? And what happens if there is any list? What are you going to do to promote your online courseand, even more important, create revenue? It's easy: work with Joint Venture partners.
So what exactly is the definition of a Joint Venture partner?
Joint Venture Partners (also called JV partners promotional partners as well as affiliate partners) are organizations or individuals that have an email list that includes people located in the market you want to target, and agree to advertise your online course on the list of a fee or percentage of sales. The product is provided by you. The list is provided by the seller. They split the profits. This is a win-win situation for both parties, and that's why they're effective.
In this piece this article, we'll teach you how to locate suitable Joint Venture partners to promote your online course, how to reach them, and how you can work with them successfully. We've spoken to lots of experts on this topic and will include their opinions sprinkled throughout the article.
Before we tell how to show how to implement Joint Ventures into your course marketing plan, let's chat about why Joint Ventures are so effective.
Note Note: We've made the following workbook that you can download and print out to help keep track of all the steps in this article. Collaboration with other partners can be lengthy, and it's beneficial to have a tracking document similar to this.
The benefits from working with the Joint Venture partner:
Alongside generating revenue through your online course sales There are many additional benefits to the collaboration in conjunction with Joint Venture partners such a powerful marketing strategy. Without a way in any particular order, here are some of those advantages:
1. You don't need an audience
The primary benefit from having the Joint Venture partner is the exposure to their audience. If you want to promote an online class, it is essential to have an audience to promote it to. More specifically, you need an audience that is targeted, one who is interested in your course topic. It won't do much great to market your pet's education course to the masses of pet owners. The key is to make sure you get your course in front of the right people.
The process of building an audience takes a lengthy process, and doesn't happen overnight. If you've got an online course, however, you do not have an audience (ie. a targeted email list of potential buyers) Working with the Joint Venture partner is your ideal choice.
We asked Sol Orwell, the Co-Founder of Examine, to share his knowledge to us. This is what Sol Orwell told us about the benefits of working together with Joint Venture partners:
"At the time of writing Marketing is all about exposure and distribution. Joint Venture partners give you access to an audience typically you wouldn't be able to reach." Tweet this.
2. It is not necessary to invest money on advertising (free exposure)
You only pay your Joint Venture partner if sales occur. Since you're paying them with money you've earned from profits (sales that you would not be receiving in other circumstances), you're not spending any money out-of-pocket. The money you keep after you've paid them their portion is profit for the company.
3. It will help you build your list
4. It is possible to build on the trust that they build with their target audience
We talked to Iman Aghay, the founder of Success Road Academy and creator of the Ultimate Course Formulaabout this. What he has to discuss the transfer of trust that occurs in the event that a Joint Venture partner promotes you:
"Joint Venture partners lend their trust to you, to make you more an authority. Although their audience doesn't know your name, they are familiar with the partner. They trust their partner, they believe in your." Tweet this.
5. A higher conversion rate than advertisements. Higher conversion rate than paid
If you compare it to the cost of spending for advertising in order to market your online courses to an audience that doesn't recognize your name (aka"cold traffic") and the rate of conversation of your marketing will likely be more effective in the case of the Joint Venture partner. Why? Because the people who visit your website trust the individual that drew them to it. So in that sense making use of a Joint Venture partner to promote your online courses can prove to be more efficient as opposed to using advertising paid for.
Here is the information that Iman Aghay shared with us regarding the effect that the referrals of a Joint Venture partner can have on conversion rates:
"You will notice the differences in the conversion rate on your landing page. As an example, suppose you're running an advertisement on Facebook with a 15-30% conversion rate. Most likely, if you have a similar method of marketing to the same landing page but through an affiliate partner, you'll get a 60-70% conversion rate, because the moment a visitor arrives on your landing page via an affiliate, they trust your brand. They already know that somebody other than them is standing up for your business. Anybody can put ads on Facebook however, not everyone has the ability to establish a connection with a friend." Tweet this.
6. You are able to work with as many Joint Venture partners as you need to
Another benefit to this approach is that there's an unlimited number of many times you can use the strategy. As long as the person you partner with has an audience that would likely be attracted to your course and that you're not directly competing with them, you can work with them.
We had a conversation with Matt McWilliams, an Affiliate Manager who has helped numerous entrepreneurs and online course creators create successful launches of their products including Lewis Howes, Jeff Goins Peter Voogd Ray Edwards, and others. His term used to describe the benefit was scalability:
"The most important benefit is its scaling. There's only so many Facebook Ads or LinkedIn Ads or SEO that you are able to make. Everybody has a ceiling. There's a limit to the number of people you're able achieve by yourself. If you're working with JV partners, that limit is much higher." Tweet this.
The Bottom Line is: Credibility + Distribution
As you can see from the benefits we listed above, the impact that the collaboration with Joint Venture partners can have on your business can be difficult to overlook. If we were to summarize all of those advantages in two words, those words are the distribution and credibility.
We spoke with Dana Severson, the Director of Marketing for Promoter Distribution, and distribution as well as credibility were the exact words that he employed to explain the primary advantages when collaboration with Joint Venture partners:
"The two main benefits I look for in any partnership is the ability to distribute (how many people could I reach?) and trustworthiness (does this partnership increase our social proof? )." And credibility (does it improve the social proof?).
Where to find potential Joint Venture partners:
Once you understand how using Joint Venture partners is so powerful, let's discuss ways to locate them. There are several places that you can find an ideal Joint Venture partner to help promote your online course:
1. Your network
The first place that you need to look for possible Joint Venture partner is your current network. These are people who already have a relationship with, trust and respect your company. Do you know someone who has access to your target public? You know who could connect you with someone who does?
Connecting with your existing network is one strategy which Matthew McWilliams recommends as the starting place to find the perfect Joint Venture partner:
"Start with the people you know, especially the people who are within the same field as you are. These are your ideal people to work alongside." Tweet this.
2. Your Existing Customers or Email List
Your existing customers and/or the list of subscribers to your email can be an excellent resource to find a Joint Venture partner because these are those who have bought your item or service (or at the very minimum had a taste of your material), and are familiar of what you provide as well as the products and services you offer. A few of them may have access to your target customers, or might be able to introduce your company to someone who is.
We spoke with Sohail Khan who is the most sought-after Joint Venture Expert and the co-author of Guerilla Marketing and Joint Ventures together with Late Jay Conrad Levinson. Sohail has earned million of dollars him and his clients through Joint Ventures. This is what he said about how to leverage your existing clients to identify your next Joint Venture partner:
"Your existing customer or mailing list is one of the best places to find prospective JV partners. Why? because your clients have done business with you. They know you, they have a good understanding of your business, and they are likely to have a good relationship with your company. They'll be able to trust you and adhere to your recommendation if you've built an excellent relationship with them. You've also sold and endorsed quality products with them." Tweet this.
3. Bloggers:
Do a Google search for blogs that are related to the subject of your class. Most bloggers do not have their own products or services to sell to their audience however, they would love to promote your online course to their viewers in the event that they believe it's something they're interested in. It is possible to give a blogger free access to your course prior to when you ask them to promote it, so that they have a clear idea of what they'll be promoting to their audience.
As per Iman Aghay People may decide to endorse you due to the value of your content to their audience, and is not necessarily due to the amount of money they will receive when their customers purchase from you:
"People would like to endorse you for reasons other that just earning cash. Affiliates are actually looking for your content. Why they're marketing your product is not due to the amount of money they are going to make however, it's because of the content you've created." Tweet this.
4. Podcast Hosts:
Find podcasts that are related to your topic in iTunes. It is also possible to check out the New and Noteworthy section and the What's Host segment for the categories most related to your subject. Make a list of the podcasts that appeal to your listeners, then head to their respective websites to get in touch with the hosts.
Pat Flynn, for example is host of a highly rated business show called the Smart Passive Income Podcast. Although Pat does not personally have any training courses on how to earn passive income on the internet, he has a very vast audience who are interested in the subject. Because of this, Pat frequently becomes a Joint Venture partner for the guests of his show who have an online course that the audience will be attracted to.
As an example, shortly after appearing as Pat's guest on his podcast in 2015 discussing making and selling online classes, David Siteman Garland and Pat presented a webinar jointly. Pat asked his viewers to join the webinar, where David presented his thoughts about creating and marketing online courses. Following the webinar, David pitched his course called The Best Online Courses You Can Create to those in attendance, and then split profits with Pat. The result was win-win for all parties. David gained more students to his course, Pat made money, and his audience was able to know about a particular way to earn an income from home.
Here's a picture of the Registration Page to the webinar they held in conjunction (they made use of LeadPages to create the page):
5. Authors:
Look over the bestsellers list Check the bestsellers list on Amazon for the subjects that have the most relevance to the topic of your class. It is your goal to discover books your target market is buying. You can also browse for books with the main search bar to determine which titles appear in the search results. Take a list of authors who have published books on your subject (or similar topics) Then go to their website to get in touch with the authors.
6. Other Online Instructors:
Other online instructors can be fantastic Joint Venture partners because they already have a large audience of those who have taken an online class. One of the most important aspects to consider is to look for online classes that are compatible with the subject matter of your class but are not in direct competition with your course. If you locate a course that fits these criteria, contact that instructor. Marketplaces for courses like Udemy and Lynda are useful for searching for courses online.
David Siteman Garland (Create Awesome Online Courses), for example, will often promote others' online courses to his students. In the beginning of the year of 2016, David was promoting a course entitled Your First 10,000 Readers by Nick Stephenson. Many of David's students are authors who want to learn how to create their own mailing lists. Since list building is not something which David himself teaches, forming an Joint Venture with Nick Stephenson made perfect sense. It was a win-win for everyone involved.
This is a screen shot of the registration page of the webcast they attended with each other:
7. Facebook as well as LinkedIn Group Owners:
Find groups related to the subject you are interested in on Facebook as well as LinkedIn. Find out who founded the group, and then send them an individual message as well as a contact request. Facebook as well as LinkedIn Groups are great places to conduct market research on your current and/or next online class. You should consider joining those groups so you can take part in discussions.
8. Conferences and industry events:
Look up conferences and other activities related to your area and connect with the organizers of these occasions. If you can, meet the host in person (a meeting face-to-face will be more meaningful as opposed to an online exchange). If you organize an event, it is most likely to be able to have several hundred or even a few thousand individuals in their database who have an interest in the same topic.
Matt Astifan, host of an Vancouver-based Meet Up group called Internet Masterminds as an example, frequently becomes an Joint Venture partner for people with online courses that are that are related to online marketing. Sometimes, he invites them to present at his gathering and, in other cases, is a co-host of a live webinar hosted by them where they sell their course online to his viewers and share the profits with him.
How do I reach out to a potential Joint Venture partner:
When you've created an inventory of possible Joint Venture partners, the next step is to reach out to them. Before you can do that it, you must understand some thing crucial.
Asking someone to promote your online course is basically soliciting a favor. If they don't know who you are, or have helped them with something previously, they may not be confident in promoting your course to their target audience (an audience who they've spent a lot of time and effort to gain the trust of).
Give the value of a prospective Joint Venture partner before you pitch them
Instead of pitching to someone you don't even know right out of the box Spend some time trying in bringing value to them before you pitch them. Leave a comment on their website. Subscribe to their email newsletter. Attend one of their webinars. Share their Tweets. Buy their product. Write a favorable review about their publication or podcast. Recommend a customer to them. Go to their live event. You get the idea. The goal is to grab their attention by supporting their work.
It is this approach Michael Ugino, Co-Founder and CMO of Sellbrite, recommends:
"Follow their efforts, take note of the message they are trying to convey If you can, get an introduction from a trusted media outlet." Tweet this.
If you are supportive of someone else's work initially, they'll be more likely to be supportive of your own in the event that you ask them to. It is important to build the foundation of a lasting connection. It's much easier to ask your friend for a favor than it is to approach a stranger. Here's the information Sohail Khan said about developing relationships with potential Joint Venture partners:
"Help the company out by helping them by helping them out with something. Find something about their business or their site, ads, or whatever else - that could use a little assistance. It should be something you have actually worked with. Don't be rude to anyone else or disrespectful. You've just created a new friendship. Build on that friendship and keep on helping one another out. When the time comes for you to make an idea, they'll be completely open and 90% of the time you'll get it." Tweet this.
You should also check to be sure that the person you reach out to isn't running an online course that competes with yours. It is important to find someone with an audience that would most likely want to take your online course, but who is not competing with you. Your online course must complement the content is already being offered to their audience.
For example, if someone has an online course teaching people to develop into a freelance graphic designer, and you have an online course on Adobe Photoshop, then your course is a complement to theirs and isn't competing with it. If that's the case, it is proper to get in touch with those who have the same course.
Partnering in conjunction with Joint Venture partners that provide an additional service for those who are similar to them is a great idea for many entrepreneurs, including Devesh Khanal The founder of a conversation optimization consultancy. This is his story to us about his experience working with Joint Venture partners that serve those same clients:
"For agency work, Joint Ventures have been fantastic for sourcing leads. The #1 problem for most agencies is reaching the attention of their target audience. One way to accomplish this is to search for other businesses that have prospective customers in an alliance. The majority of businesses will find best partners in firms that offer the same customers in a complimentary way. Examples include the company could be an SEO agency and a PPC firm." Tweet this.
Create a customized email to every possible Joint Venture partner
After you've established a rapport with a prospective Joint Venture partner (or have already attracted their attention through encouraging their work) then the following step would be to email them.
If you are sending a prospective Joint Venture partner an email and they want to receive it, you must make it the kind of email was specifically written to their needs. The sending of a customized email is very important. If your email comes across like a standard mail template you've sent to a variety of persons, chances are that you will not receive a reply from those.
Here is what Jason Quey, a Growth Strategist for Content Marketer has told us about sending emails to potential Joint Venture partners:
"While I utilize social media to get on their radar, I always want to write them an email. This creates a personal contact without having to worry about an additional tweet, Facebook post or another notification." Tweet this.
Meet them in person (tell them your name, what you do as well as who you are serving and in what way). Reward them for their efforts and demonstrate your boss that you've done your homework by mentioning specifically why you appreciate what they do or how the content they provide has been helpful to you.
Then, inform them that you've got an online course which you believe their target customers would like as well as complements their products and services they're already offering. Let them know that you'd like to discuss possibilities of forming a Joint Venture together and ask for them to connect to you in the event that they're curious.
Keep in mind the reason for the first email is to grab their attention and initiate a conversation. This is not to ask them to promote you immediately. As Dana Severson told us, it takes a bit of courting in order to convince them to accept to do the Joint Venture with you.
"Depending on the size of your company it is possible to engage them in the course of time. Choose the best contact, follow them on social networks, reply to the posts they make -- basically just create a relationship. When the time is right send them an email with the short but powerful pitch. Then, sell them on the value you can provide you." Tweet this.
Set up for a meeting
If you've been contacted by the potential Joint Venture partner, we recommend scheduling a phone call (or Skype call) with them. It's more personal than an email which gives you the chance to establish a rapport while you discuss the details of working together. A in-person gathering is even more beneficial However, most of the time it's a phone call that's scheduled to suffice.
If you do decide to work together then it's best to sketch out the particulars of your discussion in writing. This will help prevent any misunderstandings from happening later on. Below is the information Jon Tavarez, the Founder of Vantage Internet Group, told us about verbal agreements:
"Verbal agreements don't matter. Make written agreements that are very simple and transparent." Tweet this.
How do you work with an Joint Venture partner:
There are a variety of methods to organize an Joint Venture, but since your goal here is to sell your course online to their viewers, we recommend to hold an interactive webinar. A live webinar gives you the chance to add value to their audience by sharing the best content you have to offer upfront. At the conclusion of the session the course is presented as an online course to those who attended.
In the event of co-hosting a webinar in conjunction with the Joint Venture partner, there are four main elements to talk about with the potential partners before committing to collaborate:
1. They advertise the webinar through their email list
The initial step in the process is to ask your Joint Venture partner to send an email to the list of participants inviting them to attend your webcast. Make it really easy for them to do this. Provide them with specific mail copy that they can send to their lists (subject lines or bullet points, webinar details and so on.) and a link to the webinar registration page. Give them 2 or 3 emails to email to their contacts (an initial webinar invitation email and a few email reminders).
Based on Matthew McWilliams It's recommended to determine all information about the webinar, as well as the roles (including emails) that you have with the Joint Venture partner several weeks in advance:
"A major mistake we've made previously was that we didn't get the items partners require early enough. The swipe copy, logins for affiliate centers, all the essential dates, contest information and more. Send all of this delivered weeks ahead. Your partners' lives don't revolve around your launch. You should give them all the information in advance so they can schedule it." Tweet this.
2. You build your email list as people register to attend the webinar.
In order to attend the live webinar, participants must sign up for the webinar using the email address they use to register. The webinar organizer will need to establish the registration Page to host your webinar. It is recommended to offer the free content (an ebook or a PDF-based guide for example) in exchange for registering. Be sure that the Joint Venture partner knows that advertising your webinar to your list of contacts will help you build your database, and they are okay with that.
When someone signs up to attend your webinar, they'll receive a confirmation email and a string of emails to remind them prior to the event. When the webinar has ended you should be prepared to provide a link to the replay to all registrants (many online courses sales come from webinar replays). Contacting webinar attendees via email is usually your obligation.
3. The webinar is live together where you sell the course
Although certain Joint Venture partners will want to send their lists an invitation to the webinar and not actually host the session jointly with you, we would encourage them to host the event with you. You don't need to be there throughout the entire event, but if they're capable of personally introducing you to the audience right in the opening of the webinar, this can help increase the number of revenue since the personalized introduction can inspire the group of viewers.
Don't leave it up the discretion of your Joint Venture partner to decide how they introduce you to their audience on the webcast. At a at a minimum, give them a single-paragraph bio to establish yourself as an expert in your subject prior to beginning the presentation. Also, make sure the Joint Venture partner is aware of the software you'll use to conduct the webcast. It's a good idea to ensure they arrive early to allow you time to check the video, audio and screen sharing features before you begin the presentation.
In the end, ensure you give an EPIC presentation for you Joint Venture partner's audience. Provide them with a ton of value upfront, before stepping into presenting your online course. As per Iman Aghay, not being able to perform these two activities is actually insulting to the Joint Venture partner:
"When I host a webinar to a particular person that I am hosting for, there are two things that I would like them to accomplish: present themselves professionally and deliver incredible content to my audience, and at the end of the session, make it easy for them to convert the majority of those on that webinar to their program. This is a disservice to affiliates if you ask them to run a webinar for them if they don't offer an outstanding value for their viewers and don't finish with a bang." Tweet this.
4. The revenue you earn from sales of your course with them.
First, friendship. Business second.
When we conclude this article, we would be sure to highlight a crucial fact, and that is that the primary factor to getting the Joint Venture partnership work is spending the required time and energy to establish a partnership initially.
Absolutely, it's wonderful when you are able to promote your course to their target audience, and both of you earn profits when you market an online class. But getting there doesn't happen quickly. Be prepared to spend several months establishing a rapport with prospective Joint Venture partner before they accept to let you promote them. This is an approach that is long-term, one where developing real connections with influential people in your sector will eventually pay off.
We spoke with Yaro Starak an extremely successful business blogger who recently made over $100,000 from sales of his blogging course in a two week period thanks to his Joint Venture partners. Starak reminded us that it is important to have the "friendship first, business next" mindset. Here's what he told us:
"Start in contact with Joint Venture partners and affiliates 6-12 months before you launch the online training course. Most affiliates follow a schedule. They decide in advance which affiliates they are going to promote. If they aren't familiar with you or you offer them a brief notice, they are likely to not endorse your company. You have to build a relationship with them first. Make friends. When the time is right, you can speak to them about how they can promote yourself." Tweet this.
Are you ready to utilize Joint Ventures to sell more online course?
Well... that's it! You're now equipped with more information about using Joint Venture partners to promote your online class over the majority of online instructors. It is now time to think about how do you use your newly acquired superpower?
Before leaving, be sure to download our no-cost Joint Venture worksheet. This worksheet can be used to develop the details of your Joint Venture marketing strategy and ensure that you are in touch with each potential Joint Venture partner you reach out to.