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!   
      

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