Channel Marketing

In channel marketing, the classic four “P’s” of the marketing mix still apply; Product, Place, Price and Promotion.

It is always a useful exercise to ensure you have your ducks in a row and are correctly articulating your value to the different audiences. However, with Channel Marketing, you are extending your four “P’s” to include Program and Partner.

The Product will dictate the sales cycle (from a complex ERP system to a single mouse mat), and thereby the placement of that product through different channel partners, perhaps even distribution. Price will likely be flexed according to partner level and promotion and so already you have a complex spreadsheet to manage. Now add multiple program elements and different partner types and the role of Channel Marketing can seem daunting.

In addition to the creative side of marketing design and articulating value, channel marketers need to be able to track;

• The effectiveness of pricing decisions
• The profile and segmentation of your partners for correct product placement and promotions
• How funds are spent and the ROI of campaigns and spend with channel partners
• The results of bundling solutions on revenue and profit
• Is the partner experience as slick and easy as you would like?

Equally important is the role of liaison as Channel Marketing is invariably the catalyst between Product Management and Channel Sales, who often hold ultimate revenue responsibility, and profitability. However, Channel Marketing needs to devise the programs and promotions that deliver those numbers through the channel.

Take a good look at the marketing teams within your channel; increasingly, they are tech savvy Millennials and Gen X who interact through social media. In parallel, you will have partners with no dedicated marketing resource who also need to be accommodated.

Ultimately, being “easy to do business with” is a top priority for vendors.

Yet there are many elements you need to cover from marketing to training, and support to co-selling. Picking the right experience for partners, while increasing efficiency for you the vendor, is now a game changer and vital for success. A modern partner program will have multiple marketing elements all requiring execution, reporting and measurement of success or failure. Without the necessary tools and automation this is no longer possible in today’s channel ecosystem. That’s why world class channel marketers choose our channel program automation platform, to elevate the running of their channels.

Channel Mechanics bring program excellence to the execution of your channel programs. Discover how our channel program automation platform can drive your channel marketing programs