Last fall our CEO Heather K. Margolis was invited to participate in a Zift Solutions sponsored video series addressing specific channel marketing topics. Part one of this three-part series covers channel marketing trends for 2016.
Here in part two, Heather dives deeper into channel marketing and gives advice on channel organizations, tips on educating and communicating with partners and then explains the “why” behind her strategy for creating Channel Maven Consulting in 2009.
Communicating to Partners without bombarding is a key message Channel Maven Consulting delivers to the IT and Telecom Vendors we work with. It’s also a topic (along with many others) covered at events where Heather speaks.
We feel it’s important for Vendors to understand that their Partners are rarely exclusive to them. In fact, most Partners interact with and sell solutions on behalf of anywhere from five to 25 Vendors at any given time.
The sheer volume of information Partners receive on a daily basis is staggering. Between managing employees, clients, prospecting and other business activities, it’s unreasonable to expect Partners to read all incoming communications from every Vendor.
Make Your Partner Communications Stand Out
In order to capture the attention of Partners, it’s critical to understand how, where, when and why they want to receive communications from their Vendors. Doing so will make it easier for them to choose to view your communications.
Channel Maven Consulting suggests Vendors present all partner-facing communications from the ‘value to the Partner’ perspective. What will they learn or understand by taking the time to read your email, newsletter or other communication? How will it make them a better marketer, drive more demand or enhance their success? Answering those questions before hitting the ‘send’ button will help you stay top-of-mind with Partners even while you’re not communicating.
That’s just one of the many tips this video brings. To find out more about best practices for educating Partners and how to help them cater to their audiences to drive demand – press play on the video above!