Channel Partner Marketing: The Ideal Strategy

Businesses that are looking to add revenue streams to boost their bottom line may at some point come across channel partnerships and wonder if they would be a good source of income. But, what is channel partner marketing, and what is the ideal channel partner marketing strategy to achieve the best results? We’re covering the answers to both of these questions below.

What is Channel Partner Marketing?

Leading CRM platform Hubspot defines channel sales, or channel partners as a business model in which “a company sells through third partners — affiliate partners (who get commission on each purchase), resellers, value-added providers (who typically bundle your product with their own), or another entity that doesn’t work for it directly.” Channel partnerships are an effective and popular way to diversify your income while building long-term relationships with other vendors that can enhance or complement your current offerings to your users.

The Ideal Channel Partner Marketing Strategy

Channel partner marketing is a powerful facet of a successful partnership, but there is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing it. The wrong way is to simply add a bunch of links to your website in hopes of getting a referral commission of some kind. The right way is to be in strategic alignment with your channel partners. Regardless of what you or your partner is selling, it’s best to be on the same page in terms of what you both hope to get out of the partnership and how you will execute your marketing goals.

For example, some companies that work with channel partners have unique messaging and phrasing they prefer used in their sales copy. The partnerships that are the most successful have a synchronistic combination of (manufacturer) access to product experts and “corporate” marketing expertise with the (reseller) understanding/expertise on their customer/market.

How can you make sure that you’re in strategic alignment with your channel partners to ensure a successful marketing program? It all begins with communication.

• Reach out to your channel partner and outline the responsibilities and expectations of the partnership.
• Discuss the product/service that is being sold including why it’s sold a certain way, the current and future plans for the product, and the preferred method of selling the product.
• Leverage brand guidelines and marketing support for go-to-market (GTM) effectiveness. Most companies taking on partners have an idea of how they would like to take their products to market based on what they’ve seen work well. On the other hand, many resellers and affiliate partners know what their audience needs to hear in order to make the sale.
• Both parties should present their ideas for how to best market the product/service in question, and then develop a strong outbound or inbound marketing plan to drive awareness and bring in sales leads.
• From there, the next step is to execute the plans, and measure and report results, and then adapt where necessary to increase revenues for both parties.

Is your company seeking a partner to offer solutions such as Website Security, Remote Network Security, Risk Compliance, Data Protection, or Education and Training to your audience? SiteLock would love to discuss working with you. Learn more about our channel partner opportunities by visiting our channel partners page.