The more manufacturers look to their solution providers to be the extension of their sales and marketing teams, the more solution providers look to their manufacturers for marketing support. With all of the co-branding materials, marketing platforms, and valuable content manufacturers are creating, there is one more step keeping partners from successfully driving demand — One-2-One marketing support. Solution providers rarely have a dedicated marketing strategist to think about marketing targets, planning, and analytics. Here’s how One-2-One marketing support can make you both more successful together without breaking the bank:
Effective marketing programs that work closely with partners, keep a vendor’s solutions top of mind for their partners. Partners are especially eager to engage in a marketing program when they see direct results in the growth of their business or feel supported by vendors in helping their customers. Vendors that do this best keep the end customer in mind when building their programs.
By working closely with your partners to market effectively, you are guaranteeing better solution marketing and exposure through your channel. A powerful One-2-One solution means partner-specific marketing support and strategic planning. With marketing expertise on their side, your partners can most effectively market your solutions to more customers.
With the right marketing person on their side, your partners’ online marketing work will ultimately benefit your business. By offering your partners personalized strategic marketing support, your solutions will be linked to more online searches and mentioned in a broader variety of online networks than you may be reaching alone. The growth of your partners’ online presence will directly affect the presence of your company, products and overall brand online.
If your partners are keeping you top of mind, more end customers are learning about your solutions. Additionally, as your online presence and your partners’ online presence grow, your sales should also increase as a direct result.
It is clear that if your partners are better equipped to sell your solutions, at the end of the day you benefit from their success. Your sales grow and so does your partners’ loyalty to your products.
Are you already doing One-2-One marketing with your partners? If not, what are your reasons behind not investing in a partner focused channel program?