How to CreatWith more and more businesses taking advantage of partner marketing, it has never been more important for marketers to learn how to create a channel partner program. In fact, in today's ever-active, multi-channel digital landscape, it has become nearly impossible to generate awareness, trust, and customer acquisition in a certain way, in a specific location, without calling to partners to increase success. Moreover, 63.5% of companies declare that partners contribute to their annual turnover 1 . Prioritizing partner enablement can put your business in the best position to succeed. Partners can be effective in adding to your total value proposition, better meeting your customers' needs, further differentiating your product from the competition, and helping to acquire more customers faster. They can even help fill gaps in your offerings or delivery, while extending your brand strength to potential customers. Intelligent partner management also helps marketers understand what can be attributed to each marketing factor and channel to explain influence on sales. More importantly, partners should help deliver a shared experience to your end consumer. Getting Started:
How to Create a Channel Partner Program Before we dive in, let's make some assumptions. First, your buyers research your brand before actually engaging with you. About 80% of a B2B buyer's journey is complete before a buyer contacts sales 2 . This is why it is crucial to build relationships with customers using the help of partners. Second, let's assume we're working on the same definition of partner marketing. What is Partner Marketing? Partner marketing leverages the synchronicities of two businesses – each with its own brand equity, core expertise, unique value proposition and distribution strength – to create strategic alliances to gain market share, the two companies could otherwise have a long and arduous acquisition process. How to The Latvia Phone Number List Business Contacts Email Lists. Latvia Phone Number Database. With our latest Latvia Phone Number Database, you will be able to take advantage of the many Create a Channel Partner Program Image 1 For example, a US-based software company is looking to expand into the EMEA region. Instead of moving employees, hiring, and providing in-depth training on GTM culture, processes, and strategy, as well as footing the bill for costly overhead associated with office expansion, the company decides to develop strategic partnerships in the EMEA region. These partners are experts in the region, have their own networks and the existing customer base of the target profile, and can be quickly updated on product offers. This will reduce the time and cost of acquiring and servicing customers in the EMEA region.
Additionally, this partnership provides greater marketing exposure which ultimately attracts new customers. In this case, the company is able to significantly reduce speed to market while increasing the quantity and quality of feedback from its target market, via experienced local partners. Another assumption we can make is that you are part of a B2B organization and are looking for ways to build strong, relevant and effective partner programs. So, with these assumptions in place, where do marketers start when it comes to developing a partner marketing plan? Step 1: Increase your audience: Increase the number of partners in your program Similar to running a referral program, partner marketing is partly a numbers game. Instead of limiting your program to a small niche group, you'll likely get better results with a broader reach. When companies open up their programs to different types of partners, the peaks of activity and the top of the funnel begin to expand. Here are 3 ways to cast a wider net when it comes to reaching more potential partners:
Promote your program: Don't rely on partners to come to you or hope that the right partners will find your program. Announce the launch of your program via dedicated emails to those already in your network, such as industry associations, to start seeing results quickly. And keep the momentum going by sharing a media statement on LinkedIn or issuing a press release for each new partnership developed. This exhibition is good for both parties and shares a united front with the public. Add a program overview landing page : Give partners a complete program overview by having a dedicated page to educate them. It also makes it easy to share URLs and refer to this page when promoting your partner program. Use a self-service registration page: Having a registration page allows potential partners to “sign up” and collect additional information, such as their company profile and other useful details. Once they submit an application through the registration form, you can choose to immediately provide access to your program or proceed with further manual screening. In any case, applications or registration pages significantly reduce the initial administrative time with potential partners who may not be suitable. Remember, for relationships you have established with existing partners, include them in your program to make participation turnkey. Although quality generally trumps quantity, it is important to choose the right partners that make sense for your business and for the end consumer.
There should be synergy and balance in the relationship between two different organizations with unique yet complementary offerings. Typically, when companies have the right messaging and relevant partner incentives that add to the top of the funnel, pass on leads, and even help close deals, a ripple effect is created. For partner marketing to work, it must benefit all parties. Step 2: Focus on attribution: Track all the leads your partners generate, as well as pipeline attribution and new dealsMost marketers today are interested in – okay, obsessed with – metrics, data, and analytics. And conversion tracking is just as important for partners. By giving partners visibility into your sales process, partners are empowered to see the prospect go through the entire lifecycle, not just pass on a lead. Top of the funnel: It's critical that you recognize your partner's efforts when a lead they generated converts on your website or is referred by the partner. If your partner program leverages automation, you can easily notify partners via triggered email notifications. Bottom of the funnel: When a partner's lead eventually becomes a paying customer, brands need to share the details with the partner. Often the sales cycle can be long, so reaching out to acknowledge the attribution is a great opportunity to validate their efforts and engage with them to continue promoting your products and servicese a Channel Partner Program