Through-partner marketing (TPM) software has been around for about a decade or so. There are several companies like ZINFI who provide through-partner marketing software, which can be a big help to vendors selling through the channel to build their indirect sales pipeline. In this article, we will discuss how a vendor can do this most effectively.
Before you deploy through-partner marketing software and enable your partners to drive demand, you need to think through a few things in a structured way:
- First, focus on the partners that are generating sales for you already. They’ve proven they know how to sell your products, so when they drive more demand you know they will be able to close.
- Second, make sure you focus on providing horizontal campaigns first so that partners who are already selling can benefit from leveraging assets that address the largest possible segment.
- Third, configure your through-partner marketing software to provide lead distribution and management capabilities. This way, when you distribute leads to partners or they generate leads on their own, you can track results in the most effective way. Once you have completed these three core steps, then you can deploy your through-partner marketing software for the rest of your channel.
When you’ve aligned your through-partner marketing software behind the right partners with the right content and have sorted through your lead management and distribution work, you, as a channel marketing manager, will have to also make sure your internal stake holders are behind this effort. It’s not unusual for a client to properly deploy their through-partner marketing software but never really promote it internally to make the channel sales and support teams aware of it. Promotion is essential for success. The more you engage your internal sales team in driving your through-partner marketing software, they more they will feel invested in your successes as your partner base generates demand and closes sales.
Finally, don’t forget to celebrate success. Too often we get busy with moving on from one quarter to the next and don’t take the time to celebrate when things are going well. Celebration not only boosts morale—it can also drive platform adoption. Work with your internal sales team and external partner base to identify the partners that are driving most leads using various campaigns and tactics, and are engaging their own internal stake holders. Success is contagious. When you call out successes among various constituents of your channel—inside sales, field sales, distribution managers, distribution marketing, as we all as your channel partner base—you will see quarterly adoption rates for your through-partner marketing software rise.
Through-partner marketing software can help you and your partner base significantly improve demand with the proper alignment and with the engagement of the right stakeholders in various stages of platform and campaign rollout. This is not rocket science, but it does require thoughtful planning and execution.
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