Channel partners are a diverse group. While many share challenges, like needing to improve their marketing, driving more demand, and wanting support from Vendors to grow their businesses, some have challenges not common across the entire Partner landscape like marketing to a particular industry or region. Segmenting Partner challenges in order to engage the entire Partner ecosystem can be tricky but it’s an important and often overlooked component of successful Channel Programs and its's necessary in order to grow your Channel. Let’s look at three key concepts to get started.
Understand where the Partner is
To connect your support with actual needs of the Partners, you have to understand what drives them on a daily basis. For most Partners, new sales and customer retention is the answer. When these are the focus, where is their time spent and what challenges are they facing? The answers will vary between industry landscapes, geographies, and across Partner types and sizes.
Discovering the blocks standing between Partners and their demand generation efforts starts with asking questions across all Partner levels. It also entails uncovering ways to package that intelligence into information that can be delivered either across the whole Partner ecosystem or segmented and delivered only to Partners with those particular needs. In doing so, the ones who don’t need that kind of help aren’t bombarded with white noise while those who do feel heard.
Understanding where the Partners’ marketing is
No two Partners are in the exact same place when it comes to their marketing and demand generation efforts. Understanding and segmenting them and bringing strategy and assistance tailored to their specific situation makes Partners look forward to communications from you.
Start with an online assessment; do all your Partners have websites? Are they engaging on social media or blogging? Do they take full advantage of beneficial aspects of your Partner Program, like content and social syndication or MDF and co-op programs? Putting Partners in segmented buckets helps you develop a plan for
Listen. Listen. Listen.
In real estate it’s location, location, location, but when you’re managing a group of Channel Partners it’s about listening and then using the gathered information to serve the greater good. Partner-facing roles within Vendor organizations are the ones with direct insight into where Partners’ mindset and challenges are, as well as how to solve their problems.
In the course of interacting with Partners, it’s important to categorize their challenges to understand how you can repackage them into solutions. Then, use that information to address them either across the entire ecosystem or at an individual or small group level depending on the situation.
For example, a group of Partners has marketing staff that is doing an exemplary job engaging on social media and their inbound marketing efforts are working well. Don’t focus communication in that area. Save it for those who need it. Instead, think about their target industry and how you can support them there, or ask what you can do to solve other challenges. Use that information to create helpful videos, blogs, articles and communications addressing different Partner needs.
Grouping Partners by similar situations and communicating to those groups separately about their specific challenges helps Vendors grow mindshare because Partners feel understood. When Partners feel supported and understood they naturally want to work with those Vendors. The dynamic sets up a win-win where your can more easily grow your Channel and Partners prosper in the process .
Interested in more ways to help your Partners gain market share?
Here are a few of our favorite articles:
Help Channel Partners Prospect with Conversations that Matter
CMCtv: Helping Channel Organizations Incentivize Partners – Steven Kellam, CCI