Hey Gang - recently new to the forum but like many, not new to marketing although the world of JV is new for me from this side, not from the other side of post launch affiliate scrambles to gain traction but with the competitiveness out there, it can be tough. Hence my gratitude at learning about this site from Jonny Andrews's Money Siphon system.
I have questions about tangible goods JV opportunities. First, from your experience, has anyone done these (i.e. with physical goods - outside of health and wellness or fat loss pills) with any success? Second, if so, what is the best approach to achieve success? Is it basically the same formula as intangible digital products?
I ask because having been in marketing for over 22 years, with 20 of those in offline markets, I have friends that sell products via traditional dealership networks but are not as successful as they would like - they tend to remain localized and regional and the internet being global represents an entirely new market for them yet many are lost as to what it takes to leverage online marketing to it's fullest potential.
Some of these products are killer, unique niche offerings and I keep thinking "man, if you could get this out there as a JV launch online and bring on affiliates, you'd be golden" but am not sure how to begin approaching the concept from the perspective of tangible goods.
The only serious experience I have brokering JVs for physical products are 'hard' versions of infoproducts. Basically, it is the same ... sometimes it's even easier to sell, as customers feel having the ability to see and hold the physical goods in their hands a quality edge over digital, in my experience ... you may have to eat into your own profit to secure 50% commissions for your partners, as they've been spoiled with 75% to 100% commissions on digital merchants looking to built customer lists with little regard in making actual profit from the launch, monetarily.
The problem is fulfillment costs for each and every unit, unlike digital. So you have to work extra hard on retention/CS, and save full version physical comps for proven partners. If not an infoproduct, I'm sure sample versions would be the best route to secure and oblige partners, and I've no doubt that the usual partner profit margin would have to be cut considerably. Shouldn't be as much of a problem as it would appear, considering that other niches are not quite as jaded as IM in regards to high commissions.
Obviously I'm unfamiliar with the space of online JV and am not in any position to begin seriously trying to get to the level of many people here. This is more of a "hmmm...what if?" exercise and I appreciate the feedback and response.
Correct in that I'm not referring to info products and I hear you on the commissions related to the list building.
Maybe it's just me but I see the infoproduct space as highly commoditized and it's hard to distinguish value from one product to the other. It seems very "me too, me too" with a heavy focus on who can give the best bonuses. No doubt buyer psychology is a huge lever here and I'm in total agreement with the strategy.
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