Comments on: Differentiating your Program – Start with the End in Mind

By: channelmaven

channelmaven — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:17:27 +0000

Thanks so much for the great comments both of you. Paul I absolutely second that, if the company is known for being creative but the partner program is known for being thorough and having a lot of standard competencies they’ve missed the mark.

There is a lot going on behind the partner program that unfortunately creates the need for the formality of business plans and marketing plans. The hope is if the partners want the MDF and Co-op enough, they’ll make the effort. If they can’t produce a business plan then how do they expect to provide an ROI and get the funds for their marketing programs?

By: Melissa Paulik

Melissa Paulik — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:33:49 +0000

I would vote for keeping yur programs “as simple as possible, but no simpler.” I’ve worked with several of the high-end business software partner programs and the one thing that held most of them back was a complexity that made them hard to navigate for all but the most well-healed of Partners. (Those who could afford to keep people on staff simply to manage the relationship with the vendor and all of the administrative tasks that went with it.)

I remember one program that required you to fill out so many forms regarding your marketing programs, just to meet the vendors expectations, that the average Partner had little time left to actually market.

By: Paul Hebert

Paul Hebert — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 20:12:50 +0000

Great point Heather. I’d also say that any program should mirror the differentiation the company has in the market. I always start with “what makes your company so special” and then translate that message to the program. It’s not only making sure the program matches the target – the program has to match the sender.

As we all know today – the brand (and that is more about what the customers say than the company) needs to permeate everything.

Great post.