Every once in awhile Channel Maven opens the blog up to some of our channel expert friends. Anyone who has been in channel marketing knows Lang Tibbils as an innovator, a motivator and a channel marketing guru. In this blog, Lang shares his insights into the importance of storytelling in the channel and gives three worthy strategy ideas to help you get started.
Has The Channel Lost The Art of Storytelling?
Ideas worth sharing delivered through storytelling, are powerful. So powerful in fact that after a presentation, 63% of attendees remember stories while only 5% remember statistics. There’s a good reason for this, storytelling is a uniquely human trait. Stories offer us an emotional connection that compels us to take action.
Storytelling Is Fading Fast In The Channel
In the ever-pressing quest of today’s channel marketers to create relevancy in the world of 140 characters or less, we are rapidly losing the art of storytelling. Now don’t get me wrong in today’s marketplace, social relevancy is paramount to the success of every company. But, nothing drives demand or builds loyalty with your Channel Partners quite like a compelling story.
Learn From The Master Storyteller
The power of storytelling became abundantly clear during a recent family vacation to Disneyland. We live 15-minutes away from an amusement park in San Jose, CA, and yet we are more likely to drive seven-hours to Disneyland. Why? Simple, the experience at Disneyland creates life-long memories that are worth the extra time and money.
Think about it. The rollercoaster isn’t faster, higher or more thrilling at Disneyland. So what’s the big difference? Every ride at Disneyland tells a unique story, taps into our childhood and gives us that emotional connection that we can share with our kids. The stories and characters bring meaning to the rides, define the experience and create everlasting memories.
Add Magic To Your Channel Strategy
A compelling company story can and will do the exact same thing for your Channel Partners that Disney does for families. It will help Partners understand your company and make you more memorable than just products or sets of features that fit an immediate need. A good story gives your company life in the minds of Channel Partners.
Right now, you might be thinking: I understand the value of a great story, but my executive leadership team wants me on the leading edge. They want to know our strategy for growing social platforms like Snapchat or Vine. They want to know how we will capitalize on new trends like social advertising and social commerce. All are good points but none are good reasons to stop telling stories.
Your story is your core, your foundation and your essence. It’s the intangible entity that makes you memorable and sets you apart. Social media is the amplifier, especially when developing partnerships but you need a good story in order for amplification to work.
Every Vendor has the first, fastest or best of something. So how will Partners remember you from your competitors?
Your Story Sets You Apart
Here are my three best practices learned over the past 20-years working in The Channel. I hope they help create more compelling stories for your Channel Partners:
1. Drinks & Wings On Me – Reflect back for a minute on your marketing academics. It’s our job, as marketers, to be the audience expert.
Compelling stories cannot be crafted unless you understand the needs of your field staff, Partners and their customers. And, you simply can’t build the necessary Channel acumen from your corporate office. Talking with Partners and those within your organization who deal with Partners on a daily basis is the only way to gain the edge your executive team wants.
Channel Partners have unique needs, which is why speeds and feeds are not motivators. Remember, this audience isn’t simply selling your product for a week, they invested considerable time and money to add a your product to their line card. Your partnership is a long-term investment, which means they must feel a level of confidence in order to build a sustainable business on your technology and/or service.
Partners and potential Partners want to know: how big is the market, who are the competitors, how you are different, most common customer objections, how long the sales cycle is, how much training is required and what programs you put in place to help boost their profitability.
This information is drastically different than what customers want to know. In other words, you simply can’t give your customer story to your Channel Partners.
How do you build this coveted Channel acumen? Simple. Get out of the corporate office and into the field. Whenever I travel, I offer to treat the local team and Partners to drinks and wings. It is the classic “give to get” tactic. I give free food and drinks and get timely and relevant information in return. Even if this requires staying an extra day, make the investment. These meetings are not only invaluable but also integral to your story.
2. Listen and Take Action – This one holds true for any relationship you want to develop, but especially relationships with Partners. Nothing frustrates a Partner more than when they tell you what they need and nothing happens.
Please understand, I am not suggesting you blindly take action on every piece of feedback your Partners or field staff offer. I am suggesting you use this opportunity to engage in a 
conversation.
Ironically, being more transparent with your Partners and field about the actions you take is an action itself. Some of my best Partner and field relationships were built on communicating and explaining when the actions we took differed from the actions requested.
Transparency builds trust and loyalty. It also gives the Partner or your field colleague visibility into your plans and an opportunity to offer additional ideas. This is where the dialog comes into play. And, while I can only say “some” of my best Partner and field relationships were built on listening and taking action, I can tell you: it has been the catalyst for all my best marketing ideas.
3. Avoid Going Rogue – Regardless of audience, your company story needs to be consistent. This doesn’t mean you can’t create a tailored set of messages for a specific audience. It means the stories have to align and support the overall company message otherwise they cause confusion when Channel Partners hear one thing from corporate executives and another from Channel executives. Poor alignment not only creates Partner confusion, it creates doubt around company vision and long-term strength, and opens the door to competitive FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt).
Over the years, I’ve found a great deal of success from creating a messaging framework and using it as the talking points for my Channel story. A good framework drives global story alignment within your Channel organization. It also highlights to both corporate communications and marketing how your Channel messages support the overall company story. The result? Your Channel ends up being featured more frequently in corporate activities, including earnings calls and executive keynotes.
When thinking about your Channel messaging framework, start with the overall corporate message and work down to your Channel specific support messages. Remember to keep asking yourself:
The Ability to Share Stories Differentiates Us
Mastering the art of storytelling allows marketers to drive action. Driving action drives sales. Hopefully this blog has reminded you of the power of telling a great story and has given you some sound advice on how to strengthen or build your Channel story.
Like any good list, there are best practices you might include that I didn’t. I welcome the conversation and opportunity to learn. Let me know what you would have included or if you have other best practices, please share them in the comments..
Photo Credit: UniversityofPets, HCLDR
