A new idea for finding motivated customers - would it work?

[darrenj54785]

Hi guys,

I've build two web based businesses in the past and found it useful to partner with similar, non-competing businesses. Exposing each others business to our respective coatomer base worked well. However, there's no platform which makes this process easy. I am researching to see if others would find value in this idea?

Idea:

A web platform which makes it easy for a business to find other similar-sized (non-competing) businesses who are actively seeking strategic collaborations to generate more customers. Imagine an "Online Fitness Platform" with a reach of 23,000 customers partnering with a "vitamin company" of similar size, exposing both parties to fresh, like-minded customers.

Is a platform like this something you guys think would be useful?

 

[fisicx]

It might be useful but two questions come to mind:

How would you market such a platform? You would need an awful lot of signups to make it viable. Nobody like to see an empty store.

How would you monetise the platform? Small businesses are notoriously reluctant to spend money on unproven ideas.

 

[darrenj54785]

It might be useful but two questions come to mind:

How would you market such a platform? You would need an awful lot of signups to make it viable. Nobody like to see an empty store.

How would you monetise the platform? Small businesses are notoriously reluctant to spend money on unproven ideas.

Two great questions; To market the platform I have an offer of seed funding which would go some way to getting the word out there. I would also start by manually partnering up businesses to 'get the ball rolling'. So, if you join, I would go and find complimentary partners for you.

As for monetisation, I could charge businesses a one-off fee to contact one another ($9 or so), or I could charge a monthly membership.

My main focus initially is to understand if the concept of joint ventures is one which excites businesses as I don't want to start something which isn't needed by most businesses.

 

[japancool]

I personally wouldn't use it. I find that platforms like this invariably become full of prople who are just trying to exploit what the platform does - look at Flippa or ebay, for example.

Whenever I've had to do this in the past, I've reached out directly to the companies I want to partner with.

 

[Shopclicks]

Online Fitness Platform" with a reach of 23,000 customers partnering with a "vitamin company" of similar size,

If I'm the vitamin company, how do I know you have a reach of 23,000? Which page is that?

 

[darrenj54785]

I personally wouldn't use it. I find that platforms like this invariably become full of prople who are just trying to exploit what the platform does - look at Flippa or ebay, for example.

Whenever I've had to do this in the past, I've reached out directly to the companies I want to partner with.

Thank you for your thoughts. It's true that people can try and exploit these types of things. I had the idea to have a verification process to confirm the stats for each business, such as how many YouTube followers they have, their Blog viewership etc.

 

[darrenj54785]

If I'm the vitamin company, how do I know you have a reach of 23,000? Which page is that?

The idea would be to ask each business for their stats, such as how many people visit their site monthly, their YouTube followers, Blog/Twitter followers etc. You could filter to find businesses of similar 'reach' . Perhaps you have a Blog with a readership of 1000, you could contact complimentary businesses with a similar blog count and suggest a cross promotion.

 

[Shopclicks]

The idea would be to ask each business for their stats, such as how many people visit their site monthly, their YouTube followers, Blog/Twitter followers etc. You could filter to find businesses of similar 'reach' . Perhaps you have a Blog with a readership of 1000, you could contact complimentary businesses with a similar blog count and suggest a cross promotion.

There's a big difference between being told and being shown evidence. YouTube followers don't tell me how many times my promotion will be seen on your website. If I'm spending money to be cross-promoted, I want evidence of your audience numbers.

 

[fisicx]

The idea would be to ask each business for their stats, such as how many people visit their site monthly, their YouTube followers, Blog/Twitter followers etc.

Everyone will lie.

And it’s not really clear how this will work. Suppose I have a business selling woolly hats. How will this partner show their wares on my site? How will I know anyone sees my promotion on their site? If they drop the link from their site do I get my money back?

 

[thetiger2015]

Someone already tried this with a Shopify App. They cross sold products in the checkout against similar but non competing brands. You could pick and chose the brands you wanted to show at the checkout and people could add everything to one basket.

I don't think it ever worked, can't find their app anywhere now.

Brand partnerships tend to only work with high traffic companies and they have brand managers who handle all of that personally.

You may have the nucleus of a good idea but it needs some work to be something of value that brands will actually use.

 

[darrenj54785]

There's a big difference between being told and being shown evidence. YouTube followers don't tell me how many times my promotion will be seen on your website. If I'm spending money to be cross-promoted, I want evidence of your audience numbers.

You are correct, evidence is key. The businesses on my platform would have been vetted to check their stats. From that point on, once you contact one (or more) business on my platform, the relationship is then up to you to manage. You do not pay my platform anything, only a one-off fee to connect with your selected business(s). Then you and the other businesses help one another to acquire/share customers. My job would be to adequately vet each business to ensure their stats are correct.

 

[darrenj54785]

Everyone will lie.

And it’s not really clear how this will work. Suppose I have a business selling woolly hats. How will this partner show their wares on my site? How will I know anyone sees my promotion on their site? If they drop the link from their site do I get my money back?

I think maybe I haven't explained the idea well. Here is an example of a real world partnership I personally did;

Years ago, I had a mailing list of 4000 customers who were members of a music platform I owed. I reach out to another music platform who had 7000 strong mailing list. We agree that I would mention them in my next two mailouts and they would mention me once. We promoted once another and we both got new customers. It was a simple, mutually beneficial agreement with no money involved.

So, my platform would simply make it easier to find partners. Once you find a partner you can do whatever you want with them.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

What's in it for the list owner? Share of profits? Transaction fee?

What protection for the list owner for reputational damage? Who sorts out issues, such as the product owner fails to deliver or delivers substandard product?

 

[darrenj54785]

Someone already tried this with a Shopify App. They cross sold products in the checkout against similar but non competing brands. You could pick and chose the brands you wanted to show at the checkout and people could add everything to one basket.

I don't think it ever worked, can't find their app anywhere now.

Brand partnerships tend to only work with high traffic companies and they have brand managers who handle all of that personally.

You may have the nucleus of a good idea but it needs some work to be something of value that brands will actually use.

This is interesting, thanks for sharing. Although this seems different to my proposition because 'cross selling' is different to cross marketing. That said, you may be correct that smaller businesses don't tend to do brand partnerships.

 

[darrenj54785]

What's in it for the list owner? Share of profits? Transaction fee?

What protection for the list owner for reputational damage? Who sorts out issues, such as the product owner fails to deliver or delivers substandard product?

I'm not sure I understand your question? There are no profits or money changing hands. You help promote a businesses and they promote you in return. The details of the promotion is up to both parties. I will update my main question (at top) as I think my explanation wasn't clear.

* damn I can't edit it - that's not very helpful!

 

[Shopclicks]

You are correct, evidence is key. The businesses on my platform would have been vetted to check their stats. From that point on, once you contact one (or more) business on my platform, the relationship is then up to you to manage. You do not pay my platform anything, only a one-off fee to connect with your selected business(s). Then you and the other businesses help one another to acquire/share customers. My job would be to adequately vet each business to ensure their stats are correct.

Please explain how you would 'vet' visitor stats.

I had the idea some time ago, to create a platform which allowed website owners to sell advertising space to complimentary businesses (rather than adsense which may fill their site with gambling and non-related ads). The big stumbling block in my planning was how to prove visitor numbers for a site I don't have access to.

 

[darrenj54785]

Guys, here's a very simple example:

Robert designs T-Shirts and has 1000 twitter followers
Bert Sell Trainers and also has 1000 twitter followers

Assume they find each other on my platform.

Bert then suggests he will tell his fans how awesome Roberts T-Shirts are. In return, Robert will show his fans photos of Berts Trainers.

That's it.

If it goes well, they may do it again, or find other interesting ways to cross-promote.

My platform simply shows 1000's of businesses who want to do these types of cross promotions. It is up to you on what you do, how you manage the cross promotions etc.

 

[darrenj54785]

Please explain how you would 'vet' visitor stats.

I had the idea some time ago, to create a platform which allowed website owners to sell advertising space to complimentary businesses (rather than adsense which may fill their site with gambling and non-related ads). The big stumbling block in my planning was how to prove visitor numbers for a site I don't have access to.

This would have to be done manually. I would visit their YouTube, Twitter etc. As for their site visitors, I can find this out. The blog readership figures would need to be supplied by the business by sharing their screen and logging into their mailing list provider so I can see live stats.

 

[Shopclicks]

As for their site visitors, I can find this out.

No you cant.

 

[japancool]

I get the idea.

In principle , it's a good one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your role is just to connect businesses together. How each party goes about cross-promoting their products is up to them. It could be cross-promoting products on each others' sites, or sending out each other's leaflets with orders, or one party recommending the other for services they themselves don't provide.

However, you're going to need a significant volume of transactions in order to monetise this to any significant degreee.

I also wouldn't be prepared to pay any money, even a nominal amount before actually talking to the business and initiating discussions. For all I know, our businesses may have no synergy whatsoever, and approaching them is a waste of time.

Going back to my earlier point, I wouldn't know if any particular listing is a serious company, or just Mr. Ranjiv in Bombay wanting to sell me SEO services. I'd have to pay several fees before finding one that matched. I'd prefer to do my own research on a company before approaching them, and I wouldn't see a good reason for paying just for their contact details.

 

[japancool]

This would have to be done manually. I would visit their YouTube, Twitter etc. As for their site visitors, I can find this out. The blog readership figures would need to be supplied by the business by sharing their screen and logging into their mailing list provider so I can see live stats.

You're just not going to have enough time to do this for every potential listing. If this takes 20 minutes per listing, you could do, what, 10 per day? It won't be economical.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I'm not sure I understand your question? There are no profits or money changing hands. You help promote a businesses and they promote you in return. The details of the promotion is up to both parties. I will update my main question (at top) as I think my explanation wasn't clear.

* damn I can't edit it - that's not very helpful!

I'd be dubious that the collaboration would work. IMHO it needs someone to drive it, or it doesn't get done. I do these sorts of [partnerships all the time and I can assure you if I left it up to the partners nothing would ever complete!

Can't see how you would track sales back to collaborators list.

Followers are far less likely to buy than existing customers.

Followers can be faked.

How can you be sure your collaborator will mention you, or they be sure you will mention them?

 

[fisicx]

So this idea is focused on social media and mailing lists. If you have neither I’m not sure how it could work.

 

[darrenj54785]

No you cant.

Yes I can. Video sharing tool to let me see their own hosting providers built-in analytics tools is just one simple way to do this. There are other ways too.

 

[darrenj54785]

So this idea is focused on social media and mailing lists. If you have neither I’m not sure how it could work.

Whilst social media and mailing lists are the easiest to cross promote, the only limitation would be the willingness and creativity of both parties.

 

[darrenj54785]

How can you be sure your collaborator will mention you, or they be sure you will mention them?

They add you to their mailing list or blog or wherever they are mentioning you. You do the same for them.

 

[darrenj54785]

You're just not going to have enough time to do this for every potential listing. If this takes 20 minutes per listing, you could do, what, 10 per day? It won't be economical.

True, maybe AI tools could be made to help with this to some degree. I am a good programmer so anything is possible, but so far from this thread I am feeling that this idea is perhaps not what business owners want/need. It's certainly really helpful to get everyone's perspective.

 

[darrenj54785]

I get the idea.

In principle , it's a good one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your role is just to connect businesses together. How each party goes about cross-promoting their products is up to them. It could be cross-promoting products on each others' sites, or sending out each other's leaflets with orders, or one party recommending the other for services they themselves don't provide.

However, you're going to need a significant volume of transactions in order to monetise this to any significant degreee.

I also wouldn't be prepared to pay any money, even a nominal amount before actually talking to the business and initiating discussions. For all I know, our businesses may have no synergy whatsoever, and approaching them is a waste of time.

Going back to my earlier point, I wouldn't know if any particular listing is a serious company, or just Mr. Ranjiv in Bombay wanting to sell me SEO services. I'd have to pay several fees before finding one that matched. I'd prefer to do my own research on a company before approaching them, and I wouldn't see a good reason for paying just for their contact details.

Thank you, you understood the concept perfectly and your insights are really good. I never thought about people wanting to sell SEO services, that would be an issue. Also, you are correct that people won't want to pay before actually talking to the business and initiating discussions. To that point, maybe a monthly subscription is best and you can then contact as many business as you like? I understand this would only be attractive if there were a lot of businesses listed who are also actively seeking cross promotion partners.

 

[fisicx]

Whilst social media and mailing lists are the easiest to cross promote, the only limitation would be the willingness and creativity of both parties.

Hmmm… looks like I’d be the one doing all the work. It also requires a lot of trust. I’d have no idea if the other party was pulling their weight.

As an example I build Wordpress plugins. I’d be partnering with someone who maybe builds shopify extensions. We might have links to each other on our websites but if they removed theirs it might be months before I found out.

Which means I’ve wasted my money.

I’d expect you to manage everything if I’m paying a monthly subscription.

And as already suggested, you are going to get a lot spammers signing up for this.

 

[Shopclicks]

Yes I can. Video sharing tool to let me see their own hosting providers built-in analytics tools is just one simple way to do this. There are other ways too.

1. Instant barrier to conversion.
2. The time this takes is going to make it unmanageable (setting up timings for screen share, instructing how to find stats, setting parameters, getting monthly averages, etc. )
3. There are no accurate analytics. Providers vary wildly. Browser settings play a major role.
4. Not all hosting providers use the same analytics tools.

 

[fisicx]

1. Instant barrier to conversion.
2. The time this takes is going to make it unmanageable (setting up timings for screen share, instructing how to find stats, setting parameters, getting monthly averages, etc. )
3. There are no accurate analytics. Providers vary wildly. Browser settings play a major role.
4. Not all hosting providers use the same analytics tools.

And it’s really easy to spoof the stats. I could fake an html page to spew out all sorts of junk data.

 

[Shopclicks]

And how many pages is my cross-promotion going to appear on? Which pages? I'd want to see the stats for each page.

 

[darrenj54785]

Hmmm… looks like I’d be the one doing all the work. It also requires a lot of trust. I’d have no idea if the other party was pulling their weight.

As an example I build Wordpress plugins. I’d be partnering with someone who maybe builds shopify extensions. We might have links to each other on our websites but if they removed theirs it might be months before I found out.

Which means I’ve wasted my money.

I’d expect you to manage everything if I’m paying a monthly subscription.

And as already suggested, you are going to get a lot spammers signing up for this.

Reciprocal links are a bit old school and not really what my platform would be about. You'd have to be much more proactive and actively promote their service and they would do the same. For example, you could offer a 20% discount to your customers for their shopify extensions and they would offer their customers 20% off for your plugins.

 

[darrenj54785]

And how many pages is my cross-promotion going to appear on? Which pages? I'd want to see the stats for each page.

That would be up to your to discuss with your cross promo partners.

 

[darrenj54785]

1. Instant barrier to conversion.
2. The time this takes is going to make it unmanageable (setting up timings for screen share, instructing how to find stats, setting parameters, getting monthly averages, etc. )
3. There are no accurate analytics. Providers vary wildly. Browser settings play a major role.
4. Not all hosting providers use the same analytics tools.

The business idea I have is simply to make it easier to find potential partners to help promote one another. It's not for everyone but I think it could be a useful platform. If the figures were roughly correct then it's probably fine for most people - I'd imagine most people are legit as this would be a case of building trust with your partners.

 

[Shopclicks]

That would be up to your to discuss with your cross promo partners.

Why do I need you then?

 

[fisicx]

Reciprocal links are a bit old school and not really what my platform would be about. You'd have to be much more proactive and actively promote their service and they would do the same. For example, you could offer a 20% discount to your customers for their shopify extensions and they would offer their customers 20% off for your plugins.

This is why your idea is going to struggle. It relies on both parties putting in the same amount of effort. Which everyone knows just isn’t going to happen.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the idea has legs but it’s going to be hard work making it work.

 

[Shopclicks]

I'd imagine most people are legit as this would be a case of building trust with your partners.

Oh dear.

Look I think the idea has merit but frankly it's unworkable in the form you've described.

 

[darrenj54785]

Why do I need you then?

You would go onto my platform, use the filters to find 1000s of business who want to do cross promotions. You can see their stats and contact suitable partners from within the platform.

 

[darrenj54785]

Oh dear.

Look I think the idea has merit but frankly it's unworkable in the form you've described.

OK I appreciate your feedback.