Contributing to channel partners' marketing efforts helps cultivate a consistent message, a stronger brand, and greater ROI from MDFs. Playing an active role in the marketing strategy and implementation is necessary to create a healthy channel community. Each partner will have unique needs, but many of the challenges are the same. Here we look at six key challenges your partner community might face.
Increase Website Traffic
There are many ways to reach prospects these days, with a new social media platform being introduced on what seems like a daily basis. Driving traffic through traditional means such as email, direct mail, and teleprospecting is still essential, but it should be used in conjunction with a content marketing strategy. With so many different options, a multi-channel marketing approach is needed to ensure partners reach their target audience.
Generating Leads
Similar to driving more traffic to their website, your partners will need to use a variety of tactics to convert their prospects into qualified leads. Personalizing campaigns to appeal to your target's favorite methods of communication, content consumption preferences, and pain points will improve the efficiency of lead generation campaigns. Creating quality content that speaks to each stage of the buyer's journey and distributing it to your partners will take some pressure off of their marketing teams.
Diversifying Content
Prospects absorb content in various ways, and preferences vary greatly even within similar business verticals. Additionally, using diverse media to develop your content will keep your partner's blog, social media pages, and website from becoming stale. Written blogs, videos, webinars, infographics, and interactive content are necessary for a complete content marketing strategy. Repurposing content into different media can be a great time saver and allow your partners to reach those prospects that ignored your message in its original format.
Maximizing Budget
Digital initiatives are primarily consuming marketing budgets. Automation platforms, CRM, and paid advertising are all essential pieces of a multi-channel marketing strategy, but it is important to set aside finances for traditional marketing methods. With many investing in digital campaigns, utilizing more traditional means such as email and direct mail will make your company stand out. Deciding whether to internalize marketing efforts or outsource them will require research and a detailed analysis of your partner's resources and needs.
Content Distribution
Identifying where your target audience primarily absorbs their content is the first step in your distribution strategy. Although most of your potential customers may prefer a certain channel, it's essential to exploit all means of content distribution. This includes social media discussion groups, industry media sites, email, direct mail, and popular publications. Although you want to develop a highly refined buyer persona, your partners will need many tactics to draw them into their funnel.
Collaboration
Technology has made it easier than ever to connect with people, and, as a result, cultivating a diverse network has taken on a new significance. Collaborating with companies for joint marketing campaigns and outsourcing specific tasks can increase the quality and exposure of your partner's marketing materials. Encourage partnerships and recommend specific companies for your partners to work with.
Understanding the challenges that your partners face will help you develop a truly effective strategy to enable their marketing efforts. Companies that nurture their channel and provide them with the necessary tools to succeed stand to gain far more than those with a hands-off approach.
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