But how to come up with a great joint venture marketing concept?...

If you've read some of the articles linked from the page titled Joint venturing...  How others see it, you've encountered some ideas to start you thinking.  But it can be hard to visualize the possibilities for one's own joint venture marketing situation by extrapolating from someone else's...
  

So here is a list of ideas to brainstorm from!

(None too commonplace, none too far-fetched to be considered.  Keep open to the potential in every situation that presents itself to your fertile mind...)

TYPES OF JOINT VENTURES...

Exchanging links

Exchanging leads

Exchanging an endorsement of a product to one's customer base for a share of the profits (or a like endorsement)

Exchanging store signs

Exchanging counter-top brochures between stores

Placing brochures/sales fliers in store shopping bags at check-out

Placing brochures in other businesses' billings or newsletters

Allying your business with a good cause ("cause-based marketing" - e.g., helping a non-profit organization raise funds, while you get the benefit of being seen as a benefactor)

Cost-sharing for any type of business function (e.g., producing a magazine, setting up a website, placing display ads, renting booth space at a fair/show/convention, joint publishing, etc.)

Writing articles for someone else's e-zine or website; accepting others' articles for yours

Providing prizes for fundraising events

Offering to sell someone else's products for a commission

...In fact, affiliate marketing is joint venture marketing! - where payment is made only for actual results (and if a potential partner doesn't have an affiliate program... suggest setting up an individual affiliate relationship - see this profile of someone who has done just that) 

OPTIONS TO CONSIDER FOR JOINT VENTURE MARKETING DEALS...

Back-end offers

Cost-sharing, or ride-along participants

Free gifts (to entice both JV partners and customers)

Interviews with one or more JV participants published on your website or in your e-zine, etc.

Joint authorship (of books, e-books, newsletters, e-zines, columns, articles, guides, white papers, directories, brochures, etc.)

Monthly automatic credit-card charges to customers for products bought often (e.g., nutritional supplements)

Point-of-purchase endorsements

Product or service upgrades

Profit related to volume levels achieved

Reviving of dormant customer/client lists

Straight-across trades, or deals sweetened with some immediate profit potential for one party (maybe even 100% of the profit for a one-time deal, if the other party values new customers highly!)

Three-way (or more) deals that don't necessarily involve each party with all of the others

Trial periods for customers

Yearly contracts to provide services
    

EXAMPLES OF JOINT VENTURE MARKETING PARTNERSHIPS...

Audiobook club / travel organization (or businessperson's organization)

Auto detailer / car dealership

Beautician / tanning salon

Beauty school / doctor lecturing on hair follicle physiology

Beekeeper / orchardist

Boarding kennel / pet groomer / pet products vendor

Bookstore / publisher

Bridal store / wedding photographer / wedding planner / printer / limousine service / florist

Business success book seller / business success seminar giver

Camera store / restorer of old photos

Car accessory/parts store / car dealership

Car dealership running out of room / business with a huge parking lot

Car insurance company / car accessories vendor

Chiropractor / health supplement vendor (or back pillow seller, or heating pad manufacturer)

Comedian / joke writer

Computer hardware dealers / computer software dealers

Construction firm / architect / interior designer / landscaping firm

Copywriter / company with a sales force (writing sales presentations)

Crafters / businesses with unused storefront window space

Credit card company / holiday tour operator

Dentist / vendor of superior tooth whitening agent

Diaper service / baby photographer / children's clothing store

Dry cleaner / restaurant catering to power-lunching businesspeople

Film developer / camera seller (or travel agency)

Florist / candy store (or a funeral parlor!)

Gas station / video store

Golf pro shop / golf seminar video producer

Graphic designer / printer

Grocery stores / cookbook publishers

Gym / karate instructor (or a beauty parlor)

House painter / carpenter

Insurance salesperson / financial consultant (or stop-smoking program!)

Jeweler / honeymoon hotel

Kitchenware store / cooking instructor

Landscaper / lawn care service / plant nursery

Law firm / financial consultant (or an international adoption agency)

Lunch counter / gas station with a mini-mart

Moving company / packaging store / storage facility

Newspaper or magazine / anyone who'll write a column for them

Pharmacist / doctors

Photographer / new store celebrating an opening

Plumber / electrician

Printer / theater in need of programs

Real estate agent / security company

Resort hotel / seminar giver

Restaurant / radio station (that would like to more cheaply wine and dine its clients)

Software developer / internet service provider / instructor of internet newbies (or seller of an e-book for new internet users)

Tackle/bait shop / pay-to-fish pond owner

Tailor / jeweler

Toy maker / health clinic (free toys for the waiting room)

Toy shop / kids' party planner / clown

Tree surgeon / firewood vendor (or landscape gardener or plant nursery)

Used clothing store / charitable organizations with clothing donations that don't wish to hold rummage sales

Wedding planner / church group (giving marriage preparation classes)
  

...And all the ones you've thought of after reading this!

And even that list doesn't begin to cover it...

Consider joint ventures with direct response mailing list owners...  The response rate can soar from 1-2% to more like 15% with their specific endorsements!

Don't forget the "celebrity" endorsements, and the charity groups, and the community service organizations, etc.

And don't forget the competitors - with the same kind of offerings, but where the offerings themselves don't compete.

Nor the not-directly-related-but-still-viable deals, like the pharmacist who teams up with the jeweler, or the hardware store that provides a discount from a florist just before Valentine's day, or the bookstore that JVs with the cafe next door, because people who buy books also eat! - etc.  Put yourself in the shoes of all of those businesses' typical customers...

Joint venture marketing = Use your imagination!

         
For those serious about JV marketing...