Determining Your Operating Model – Don’t Go It Alone

Many organizations new to CMA get so excited about deploying new technology and saving money that they try to manage all of the tactical responsibilities of running, integrating and managing their CMA platform on their own. In a rush to do everything independently, they soon find themselves swamped by tactical responsibilities and their initiatives struggle or fail. Establishing a strong CMA platform-operating model prior to launch balances responsibilities and goes a long way toward optimizing CMA usage and return on investment.

Determining your platform operating model involves identifying support roles and responsibilities for you and your partners, but the real key is relying on the experts for help. The best CMA providers offer an array of support options tailored to your needs, from executive oversight and operational guidance to hands-on support. Take advantage of those options. Once you become comfortable and confident in managing all of the tactical responsibilities associated with launching and maintaining your new CMA platform, you can take on tasks as a reasonable rate, but trying to do everything right out of the gate is a recipe for disaster.

Align Support with Partner Expertise & Resources

Your partners will also need ongoing support based on their own varying levels of marketing expertise and available resources. Look for a CMA platform provider that can lift at least some, if not all, of this burden from your shoulders with:

• Basic support that delivers introductory-level support and training, so all partners can get fast answers to their questions and effectively use the tools that you are providing.
• Premium support with proactive outreach, strategic direction and hands-on guidance to optimize partners’ potential and enhance marketing efforts.
• Concierge or managed services with direct, ongoing support and the ability to execute campaigns or complete programs on behalf of the partner. These programs pay off. Channel partners who have access to managed services benefit from 93% more new leads and 94% more active leads, according to Zift research.

You’ll maximize CMA investments and partner adoption by delivering services and direct support that aligns with channel partner needs.

The Right CMA Provider

Remember that CMA is much more of a journey than it is a destination. You’ve found the right CMA provider if they are eager and available to help you define and execute each of the 4 cornerstones of CMA success as you progress along your path:

CORNERSTONE 1) Vision & Strategy: Defining your vision and strategy from the start will avoid miscommunications and misdirection that often cause disappointment down the line.

CORNERSTONE 2) Partner Engagement: Make a plan to ensure CMA adoption and long-term partner engagement by taking time to understand and align tools with your partners’ marketing maturity and available resources.

CORNERSTONE 3) Content Development & Execution: Satisfy partner content demands by automating content delivery, providing visibility and usage tracking, including whether content is being used, ignored or misused.

CORNERSTONE 4) Platform Operating Model: Determine who will be in charge of specific strategic and tactical responsibilities prior to launch and align partner support with their marketing maturity level and available resources.

Learn more about all 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Success by downloading the complete eBook:

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Feeding the Content Need

Without a solid content development and execution plan, Channel Marketing Automation (CMA) programs often fail. Maintaining a strong content thread keeps partners engaged and coming back to your CMA platform. Once partners start to get a taste for supplier-provided content, their appetite only grows. If you can’t satisfy their content demands, partners begin to look elsewhere, adoption diminishes and negativity toward CMA tends to emerge.

Content marketing returns high rewards for relatively low cost. Per dollar spent, content marketing produces 3 times more leads than paid search. However, getting the right content to the right people at the right time is an ongoing challenge for those on both sides of the channel. Resource-stretched partners rarely have the time or in-house talent to generate the amount of targeted content required to capture and keep the attention of prospects and customers. At the same time, suppliers may spend thousands to generate content and provide it to partners, only to find that they have limited visibility into what channel partners actually do (or don’t do) with the content they’ve delivered.

Developing a Content Strategy & Marketing Execution Calendar

A strong CMA platform can lift much of the content burden from partners and suppliers, by automating content delivery and providing visibility and usage tracking, including whether content is being ignored or misused by partners. Prior to launching any CMA solution, suppliers must ask themselves several content-related questions. If they don’t, CMA can amplify rather than solve content challenges. Ask yourself:

A strong CMA platform can lift much of the content burden from partners and suppliers, by automating content delivery and providing visibility and usage tracking, including whether content is being ignored or misused by partners. Prior to launching any CMA solution, suppliers must ask themselves several content-related questions. If they don’t, CMA can amplify rather than solve content challenges. Ask yourself:

• Do we have enough available content to adequately respond to partner demand?
• Do we have enough available content to adequately respond to partner demand?
• What are the primary messages we want to convey?
• What are the best materials to provide to partners?
• Does available content align with our product marketing methodologies?
• Are the materials we intend to provide easy to customize for partner marketing?
• How will partners ultimately use the content provided to generate leads and develop a strong marketing presence in their space?
• At what pace will we deliver available content to partners?

Taking time to answer these questions will determine the level of effort required to properly maintain your content pipeline on behalf of your partner community – and go a long way toward defining your content strategy and marketing execution calendar.

Learn more about developing your Content Development & Execution Strategy along with all 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Success by downloading the complete eBook:

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Developing a Partner Engagement Plan: No “One-Size-Fits-All”

There is no “one size-fits-all” model for partner engagement. However, organizations that take the time to develop a partner engagement plan before they move forward with Channel Marketing Automation have much higher rates of success.

The key to developing a strong partner engagement plans is to align your overall CMA vision and strategy with the realities of your partner community. To do so, you must evaluate the strength of your current partner relationships along with the available resources and marketing maturity of partners themselves.

Each and every partner community is unique and thus requires different engagement plans. Partners already reselling through large multi-million or billion-dollar enterprises will likely have well-established marketing practices and significant resources in place. Their needs and expectations will differ vastly from those of a small mom-and-pop shop with limited resources.

Evaluating Your Partners

The first step in developing a partner engagement plan is understanding and segmenting your partners. Most organizations can divide their partner community into three segments:

• Beginners and Sole-Providers: These partners typically have limited resources and will need more support to develop and execute on CMA successfully. They may rely entirely on their supplier to build and execute a marketing plan.
• Gold Status Partners: These partners are still developing and often lack the resources or training to execute CMA successfully. They will require a support plan and clear communication regarding the benefits and capabilities of CMA to use new tools to their full capacity.
• Top-Tier Partners: These partners generally are large enough to have a marketing staff and available resources to support an array of CMA applications provided by their suppliers. They require minimal support and often achieve the highest rates of success from CMA.

Time for the Tough Questions

Once you’ve segmented your partners, it’s time to ask yourself some tough questions:

• How do you engage with partners today? Understanding your current engagement level, be it high-touch or hands-off, is essential before moving forward with CMA. Organizations with strong ties to their partner communities typically see higher partner adoption rates and stronger outcomes with CMA.
• Do your partners understand the value of marketing? This will help determine their marketing maturity level and whether or not you may need additional support to show partners exactly how to use the CMA tools you intend to provide to be more effective marketers.
• What resources do your partners have on hand? Ask yourself what types of resources are required to support your marketing plan – and if your partners actually have the resources they need to do so internally. If not, you’ll need to provide additional support.

By segmenting your partners and asking yourself direct questions about your current engagement level along with their marketing maturity and on-hand resources, you and your partners will be much better positioned to proceed and succeed with CMA.

Learn more about developing your partner engagement plan and all 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Success by downloading the complete eBook here:

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Unfortunately, CMA isn’t an instant win for everyone and far too many channel organizations rush hastily into CMA only to be disappointed. Without proper insight, planning and coordination, CMA can magnify rather than solve the very challenges it is designed to address.

Our latest eBook uncovers The 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Automation. Think of it as a guide to ensure you and your channel partners get the most from CMA from the start. It’s our hope that this exciting new resource will help you avoid the pitfalls that can undermine CMA success and chart a direct path for capturing and capitalizing on the promises of CMA. Over the next few weeks, we’ll also provide small glimpses into the eBook here at Channel Chatter. So let’s start at the beginning.

Cornerstone #1: CMA Success Starts with Vision & Strategy

Organizations who want to acquire and implement CMA as quickly as possible – without defining their strategy or taking time to understand just how they will use and measure CMA’s expansive capabilities on their own – are the most likely to be frustrated with new technology and disappointed with their CMA results. Far from a simple Band-Aid for problems, CMA should be a measured and carefully thought-out process.

Without vision and strategy, CMA programs falter and may even fail. Alternatively, channel organizations with strong vision and strategy for CMA, including formulating partner engagement and content execution plans as well as CMA operating models, are much more likely to succeed. Before moving forward with any of the tactical or operational components of CMA, take time to develop and communicate a well-defined vision and strategy for CMA across your entire organization.

Learn more about developing your partner engagement plan and all 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Success by downloading the complete eBook here:

The post The 4 Cornerstones of Channel Marketing Automation Success (Part 1 of 4) appeared first on Zift Solutions.