In my last blog "Why Marketing Enablement for the Channel," I discussed the importance of incorporating marketing enablement into a channel strategy.  Many companies have begun to recognize enablement as a key function to help with the flow of information.  This flow is critical as the relationship between a vendor and its channel partners can be a delicate one.  Channel partners are an extension of the vendor’s marketing and sales force and, in most cases, a serious source of revenue.  Marketing enablement, like sales and technical enablement ensure partners have information in a timely manner and that they feel part of a vendor’s trusted circle.  But the benefits go beyond just information flow.  Below I discuss five ways marketing enablement benefits the channel.

#1 – Improved Partner Experience:  As I mention above, the relationship between a vendor and its channel is a delicate one.  In most cases, partners are not selling one vendor’s products and solutions, but multiple vendor’s products and solutions.  It’s each vendor’s responsibility to make things easy for their partners.  But this isn’t always the case.  Vendors are often running at full speed internally
trying to get campaigns developed and new programs launched.  Add to it that some vendor’s product portfolios are deep and wide, making it even more difficult to find the right information at the right time.  Hence the rise of enablement functions like technical enablement, sales enablement and now marketing enablement.  These functions minimize partner’s frustration and help improve the partner experience.  Additionally, some partners don’t have sophisticated marketing departments.  This is when marketing enablement can really help a partner and decrease frustration.

#2 - Decreased Time to Market: Marketing enablement for the channel serves as the bridge between the internal marketing teams and the partner marketing teams.  This bridge can literally be like a highway, getting information to partners quickly, making it easier to find, and providing them with easy to use building blocks for success in their marketing efforts.  When partners have to go searching for the right campaign assets, or they need to find the right messaging on new products, new campaigns, or even new brand changes for a vendor, it takes time; time away from generating awareness, developing a pipeline of leads, staying in front of their installed base, and closing sales.  Directing partners, having a plan, making things easy to locate, understand, and utilize is critical to decreasing time to market.

#3 - Improved Communications: No partner likes to feel out of the loop, especially when they are trying to sell products and solutions for you.  As I mention previously, the channel should be considered an extension of the vendor’s workforce.  Therefore, communication is very important.  An effective marketing enablement team includes functions like events for partners, communications to partners, online engagement, and programs and tools.  This type of structure helps bridge the gap by providing predictable access to new material, updates on products, promotions, campaigns, and guidance to help partners succeed as well as a fresh and ongoing look at online and offline tools to make marketing easier.  Additionally, if partners are representing a vendor, it’s inevitable that they will be asked questions from customers.  Making sure they are prepared with the right answers and messages also helps decrease customer frustration and prevents partners from looking like they are disconnected.

#4 - Improved MDF Effectiveness: For vendors who distribute Market development Funds (MDF), it’s important that these dollars are
utilized effectively for maximum ROI.  In a time where budgets are increasingly scrutinized and often times decreased, giving away dollars to execute marketing can be a risky endeavor.  This is another reason why marketing enablement is a necessity.  Setting partners up to succeed, making sure they have clear guidance and best practices on how to execute marketing tactics, making sure they have current assets, access to tools and procedures, and even brand guidelines increases the odds of better ROI.  An effective marketing enablement program includes a concierge model that connects partners to vendor-qualified and -approved marketing agencies.  This means you know who is executing against your MDF dollars and you can limit the use of poor performing marketing agencies.

#5 – Increased Brand Protection: I can’t stress this enough, the channel is an extension of a vendor’s workforce.  This means in
a sense, regardless of whether they are selling one vendor’s solutions or multiple vendor solutions, they are representing the vendor’s brand, image, and reputation.  It is imperative that they understand what the brand means, understand logo usage, messaging, and legal guidelines.  The risk of them not understanding means they could misrepresent a product in the market, they could misuse a logo or tagline, and they could violate a legal policy that could put them and the vendor at risk.  Marketing enablement provides continuous guidance on branding guidelines and branded templates.  This is even more important to a vendor with multiple brands.  Protecting your brand and what it represents in the market is critical not only to your channel, but to your direct sales force and field personnel as well.  They are the ones who will most likely feel the impact of a misrepresented product or solution, company or brand.

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