This is an excerpt from the workbook for Marketing Joint Ventures, our topic for April. If you’re in the coaching program, you’re getting your workbook this week. If you’re not, why not sign up now and enjoy the benefits of associating with some of the best minds in aviation marketing? __________________________ Of course, one of the keys to success in a marketing joint venture is to choose the best possible partners.

Who are my current suppliers and partners that I do business with already? Could I expand our collaboration to include joint marketing?
Who offers a product or service that adds value to my product or service?
Who do I know that’s not a direct competitor that has a list of customers and prospective customers that would be great customers for me?
Who has a great social media presence?
Who does fantastic printed advertising that I admire?
Who is well-respected and has name recognition in the circles that include my prospective customers?
Who has a similar philosophy of sales and customer service?
Who do I trust?

Packaging Products and Services

Some examples of packaged products and services:

AeroStar Training Services LLC is a FAA Part 142 training facility that provides jet transition and type rating training for the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320. They add value to their service by partnering with FAA Part 141 training facilities that offer primary flight training, such as Florida Institute of Technology and Cochise College. This partnership allows them to offer students a complete training experience and combine course work so students can receive college credit for their course work. In many cases students begin from no flight training at all and finish with a bachelors’ degree and type rating that qualifies them as a captain or first officer, ready to go to work.
Special Services Corporation (SSC) provides charter service and aircraft management to clients in the Southeast U.S. Brad Searls at SSC explains their formal and informal joint agreements –

“While we don’t have formal agreements with any travel agencies, resorts, etc…we do have a number of preferred vendors we use when arranging these type of services for clients. We often use Limolink when setting up ground transportation for clients, and we use Jason’s Deli here locally for most of the catering needed out of Greenville. If the client isn’t Greenville based, then we just arrange it through the local FBO. We do offer valet type services for clients out of Greenville. When they show up, we greet them in the parking lot, take their car keys, and have the cars washed and ramp side upon their return. Often times we wash the cars ourselves, but if we can’t, we take them to the local car wash. Beyond that, we do have a partnership with Terapass, a green initiative. Clients can pay a certain dollar amount per flight hour for carbon offsets & green initiatives. “

Airline Choice partners with 3M to create an integrated solution for travel document validation and verification, bag tag printing, and other services required for airline and charter service check-in. They also partner with other software providers such as SkyVantage to serve more customers with more diverse needs.

PMI Solutions and Esajee USA partner to bid on government projects to provide information assurance and build custom software for government and military applications. The partnership gives them the opportunity to scale the company as needed to meet the size and skills required to bid on (and be awarded) individual contracts.

ABCI partners with with Esajee USA to provide information technology solutions; with AMSTAT, JetNet and AirPac to provide marketing lists and other data for our clients, and with Sales Ground School to provide sales training and staffing so that our clients have the staff and skills to fully leverage the leads our marketing systems bring to our clients.

Taco Bell and Doritos. Cashing in on the name recognition and fan base of both brands. Not specifically an aviation example, but one that has done a lot of promotion.

When packaging your product or service with those of another company, you have the opportunity to add value and convenience for the customer, and to leverage the strengths of both companies. Of course, as with all agreements that involve schedule and budget, it is very important to have an excellent written agreement that outlines the responsibilities of both parties.