Develop Strategic Partnerships
Back to making the initial contact: Sometimes it takes time to get through on the phone. Establish right away that you’re not trying to sell them something; rather, you want to develop co-marketing programs. You even can use a two-step approach: Make a short, initial contact and then send a package that includes your catalog, other marketing collateral, and a letter introducing yourself and your intentions to help build one another’s businesses through exchange-driven marketing.
Jim Gilbert has had a storied career in direct and digital marketing resulting in a burning desire to tell stories that educate, inform, and inspire marketers to new heights of success.
After years of marketing consulting, Jim decided it was time to “put his money where his mouth was" and build his own e-commerce company, Premo Natural Products, with its flagship product, Premo Guard Bed Bug & Mite Sprays. Premo in its second year is poised to eclipse 100 percent growth.
Jim has been writing for Target Marketing Group since 2006, first on the pages of Catalog Success Magazine, then as the first blogger for its online division. Jim continues to write for Total Retail.
Along the way, Jim has led the Florida Direct Marketing Association as their Marketing Chair and then three-term President, been an Adjunct Professor of Direct and Digital marketing for Miami International University, and created a lecture series, “The 9 Immutable Laws of Social Media Marketing,” which he has presented across the country at conferences and universities.
