A Channel Marketing Change is Coming

Channel partner marketing eats up a significant chunk of overall marketing budget for any vendor that operates an indirect route to market. It is a complex beast, and often kept very separate from corporate marketing teams and budgets. Here at The Marketing Bee we feel this needs to change. Connected marketing is the way forward.   

One of the biggest problems facing channel marketing teams today is the fact that the vendor model hasn’t really changed much in the past 20 years, yet the market they serve and ultimately the end user customers that buy the products and services have changed beyond measure thanks to the rapid pace of digital transformation and a change in priorities.   

This has also meant a revelation in how data can be used to give better insight into marketing performance, vital at a time when marketing budgets are under severe scrutiny where ROI and accountability is king.  

Millions of dollars a year globally is pumped into what many vendors believe are cutting edge marketing strategies, but in reality they need to be better.  

Too many vendors are just sending out e-shots with product updates, pushing the same old partner program updates, producing long and dull webinars that nobody watches, or just doling out MDF to selected partners, resulting in frustration or a mad scramble to find ways to spend the funds by each quarter end. 

As a result, these MDF-fuelled marketing strategies can be rushed and last minute because the partner has been focusing so much on running their businesses and dealing with their own customer challenges. 

Even worse, partners are often limited in the way they are allowed to spend MDF and end up relying on the same old strategies that really don’t engage or enlighten their own customers.  

It should not be like this.  

Here are the Marketing Bee we are involved in all kinds of partner marketing conversations, day in day out. 

Over the last year we have helped build, shape and deliver- 

• Partner marketing program performance audit and recommendations 
• Campaign toolkits to enable partners to deliver vendor campaigns 
• Joint planning sessions with partners on behalf of vendors 
• Joint value propositions to build the right GTM message between partner and vendor 

• Lead generation programs to generate leads for partners 
• PRM set up and management 
• Alliance marketing campaign build 
• Distribution marketing programs. 

We have a wealth of experience and channel marketing is in our DNA. 

To discuss your marketing needs contact us.