|
Profiles of real-life joint
venturers - Jim Crawford...
In March 2001, I had the
pleasure of talking with Jim Crawford of Crawford Direct Marketing (www.CrawfordDirect.com)…
I made the opportunity when a short
e-zine mention of him
caught my eye… About how he had set up an individual affiliate relationship
with a company he wanted to deal with that didn’t have an affiliate program.
I
wanted to learn about that sole experience – and it turned out that this is a
man who has pursued such joint venture relationships with web businesses for
years!
Jim is a stay-at-home dad in Omaha, Nebraska. He’s had
his own business for the past 7 years, his web business for 5 (which dove-tailed
nicely with the birth of his daughter).
His first product was his grandfather’s collector’s
reference book, 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair
Mementos and Memorabilia. Jim’s
grandfather, Robert L. Hendershott, was 6 in 1904... and he visited the Fair
that year in St. Louis. Remarkably, he published his book at age 96, but he needed a little
help selling it...
Jim saw a chance to really push the book via targeted
direct marketing and developed his first mail order offer. His first joint
venture was to include advertising for two other book publishers in his
offer, in exchange for a commission. Jim thoroughly researched the antiques
and collecting industry for other back end offers and discovered his niche.
This research eventually led him online, where he came across
The Internet Antique Shop (5 years ago, when the web
was in its infancy). They provide online stores to antiques and collectibles
dealers. Their marketing was weak... Jim offered to rewrite their promotional
material and include it in his mailings in exchange for a commission - and
they
went for it.
Soon afterward Jim created his first 2-page website to
promote the World’s Fair books and the online mall. He’s been adding
content ever since. His website, the Collector’s Marketing Resource
Center, focuses on providing webmarketing information, consulting, and
web design especially for the antiques and collectibles industry.
Jim looks for affiliate program opportunities that
would benefit his highly targeted audience. He’s found himself often on
the leading edge of affiliation, as it were, with the companies he’d like
to promote.
For example… He discovered
SmoothSale, a
real-time selling service. I wondered if this worked especially well for
people who were selling pricey, one-of-a-kind items… No, that wasn’t it
so much – "Collectibles is a haggling industry… SmoothSale allows you to haggle online, in real time."
…Perfect for the
niche!
SmoothSale folks had
been thinking only in terms of dealing with sellers (they do have a
rudimentary referral program in place)… Jim told them, "I don’t
want to sell anything – but if I write an article promoting your service,
would you pay me for the customers I send you?" They bit – and set
him up with a demo version of their service that he could show his site
visitors.
Then there was SquareTrade, a company that
verifies the soundness of web businesses (especially online auction sellers)…
Another good business-building tool for his collectibles dealer clients, who
may be just individuals working out of their homes. SquareTrade had
no affiliate program; but Jim contacted them to ask if they’d give him a
commission for customers he sent their way. After checking out references
for him (after all, business soundness is their raison d’etre!), they
agreed to set up a tracking system for him. …And the next thing he knew,
they had set up an affiliate program based on the success of this joint
venture!
WebTradeInsure offers
credibility (fraud) insurance, for sellers, and transit insurance, for
buyers, in online transactions. Though they had no affiliate program, Jim
had seen a tracking banner ad of theirs in an email newsletter… He
contacted them with a proposal that he promote their service in exchange for
a commission, which he knew they could easily track from his site – they
agreed to pay him 5%. He wrote an article about them for his site, and they
even went so far as to set him up with co-branding… Their order page says
"Welcome Crawford Direct Marketing Members" – that’s a
courtesy more affiliate merchants should consider.
[If you'd like to read about how to succeed in
"real" affiliate marketing programs, as either affiliate or
merchant, see "The Affiliate
Marketing Primer" at my website www.AffiliatePrimer.com.]
Now that business too has gone on to set up select other
affiliate relationships – though not a full-blown program. (They also
advertise their affiliates’ businesses in a directory on their site –
nice. …And win-win, of course, because they’re proving to their site
visitors that some great businesses are working with them.)
The WebTradeInsure marketing rep was so
impressed by Jim’s article (and the others on his site) that he said,
"You should be a columnist!" That idea dropped into fertile soil…
Jim soon thereafter showed his insurance article to the editor of the "AuctionBytes-Updates"
ezine he subscribes to. She didn’t wish to reprint it, but she was eager
to have him write other things for her publication. …His first article,
titled "Writing to Sell – It’s Not About You!" (great advice
about "About Us" pages), came out in the March 4th
issue. (And his byline, which tells of the services he offers to the
antiques and collectibles industry, will definitely bring him business from
that readership!)
And this is it…
Jim Crawford is a stay-at-home father, entrepreneur,
and Internet Marketing Consultant. He likes to think of himself as a
"creative resource". His Web site, The Collector's Marketing
Resource Center, provides information about Web site design and marketing
for the highly competitive antiques and collecting industry. Stop in for a
free consultation… http://www.CrawfordDirect.com.
Jim spends a considerable amount of time reading publications and
researching Web sites in both the collecting and marketing industries, and
enjoys networking with leaders in both. If you have a question about
marketing your Web site, email him at jim@crawforddirect.com.
What can we learn from Jim Crawford about joint
venturing?…
-
Affiliate marketing is joint venture marketing.
-
If the affiliate-style relationship you want isn’t already provided…
why not ask for it?
-
Don’t let other businesspeople’s blinders limit
your view of what's possible... so much is possible!
-
Joint ventures you initiate educate your partners about
how to get the most out of marketing (win-win indeed).
-
When you promote your own offers, think in terms of how
you might joint venture with others with complementary offers.
-
Write to e-zine publishers to let them know about
anything interesting you do that their readers might like to know about (so
prospective partners will find out about you).
-
What’s interesting? – write it up (so
people will find out about you)... Editors are
constantly looking for fodder for their periodicals, both online and off.
-
Find ways to incorporate strategic alliance/affiliate
relationships into what you do write up (so you'll make money).
-
Creatively work your niche of expertise!
For
those serious about JV marketing...
SEARCH THIS SITE OR THE WEB:
Back to
Profiles of Real-Life Joint Venturers
Free
"Top Web Business/Success Builders" e-seminar
Back
to HOME
Copyright 3-2001 - Gordon Pioneering
|
