When ProForma founder Greg Muzzillo created Inaquest.com in 1999 with hopes of establishing a strong Web-based presence in the promotional printing industry, he understood the value of leveraging relationships.
So it should come as no surprise that Inaquest.com president Bob Daugherty did just that to build the site’s first large partnership. The company? A simple software firm based in Redmond, Wash.
“Microsoft held out the potential of $1 million in a six-month period,” says Daugherty of the deal, which made Inaquest the sole sponsor of Microsoft’s “My Business” Web site at www.bcentral.com.
“We’re doing something very unique,” Daugherty says. “We’re providing not only products, but ideas. Business owners can come to our site and learn from case studies how to put on trade fairs, market their business and hold press conferences.”
Inaquest.com, an Independence-based online seller of business, provides commercial printing and promotional products such as business cards, stationery, labels and logo merchandise.
And while the Microsoft partnership is expected to drastically increase Inaquest.com’s sales, that’s just one of Daugherty’s objectives. The sponsorship also promises to drive traffic to Inaquest.com’s Web site, since bCentral is a popular small business site. Attracting traffic, or “eyeballs,” according to Daugherty, is the first step in getting customers, and Inaquest sees more customers now than if it weren’t partnering with Microsoft.
Additionally, by partnering with a company as respectable as Microsoft — its current legal woes notwithstanding — Inaquest.com stands to improve its merit.
“Microsoft is pretty successful,” Daugherty says, “which lends us credibility.”
The partnership arose because of existing ties between Inaquest employees and Microsoft from previous smaller deals, Daugherty says. Employees used to their advantage the business relations they had formed with employees at Microsoft, “essentially calling on old buddies,” he says.
Linking up with larger companies isn’t a new practice, but in the race to stake out unique claims in the burgeoning field of e-commerce, it’s a necessity.
“The Internet changed everything,” says Daugherty.
It opened marketing channels that otherwise may have never been explored. If a small Internet business merges with a larger entity, the small business can target a local, loyal client pool. It also works in reverse. Microsoft stands to gain from Inaquest just as much as it offers, by tapping into Inaquest’s client base. The result is a collaboration that’s mutually beneficial.
Says Daugherty, “Inaquest widens its audience and Microsoft gains Inaquest’s local, loyal client pool.”
How to reach: Inaquest.com, (216) 901-9746
Courie Weston is an editorial intern at SBN.