Why Marketing Enablement for the Channel?

In my last blog The Evolution of Enablement, I discussed the role of marketing enablement as a hand-in-glove function to sales and technical enablement. Today I want to explore what marketing enablement means to the channel and why is it so important in the partner:vendor relationship.
 
Let’s say you’re a sales manager. You want to know that you have the facts and information you need to represent your company and its products accurately and effectively to close a deal. Having the most up-to-date information is critical to your success, but this can be increasingly difficult as the continuous barrage of newsletters, press releases, launch material, competitive intelligence chatter and sheer volume of email make it challenging to keep up. Add to that, the shift in mobile and cloud technologies that have ushered in the movement to the 3rd platform, the rise to social media in business, and the shift to the new buyer’s journey as we know it; all of this can leave even the most seasoned sales pro feeling overwhelmed.
 
Now let’s say you’re not just any sales manager -- you’re a sales manager for a channel partner representing someone else’s brand; even more disconnected from the vendor company you’re representing while also dealing with your own company’s barrage of information. Now multiply it by the number of vendors with which you work closely with. Then what?
 
Many companies have begun to recognize this issue and have started implementing new programs and teams to help with the flow of information. The relationship between a vendor and its channel partners can be a delicate one. While channel partners are not vendor employees, they are an extension of the vendor’s marketing and sales force and, in most cases, a serious source of revenue. So ensuring partners have information in a timely manner and that they feel part of a vendor’s trusted circle of business partners is paramount.
 
In a recent blog, What is Marketing Enablement?, the author defines marketing enablement as ‘when the sales team does things to HELP MARKETING to further drive alignment between the two functions.’ And while I agree with this to some degree, I feel it’s limiting marketing enablement to an internal function driven by sales activity to ‘enable’ the marketing team.
 
In a channel model, marketing enablement is an external function that requires finesse and a deep understanding of a day-in-the-life of a partner. Channel partners must be treated as an extension of your workforce, not just for sales, but as representatives of your company, its brand, messaging, voice, products and solutions, and ultimately the customer experience. Enabling them means providing guidelines, assets, training and funds so they know how to and are able to build awareness, increase demand, and generate leads for you thru both outbound and inbound marketing initiatives.
 
So remember that feeling of being overwhelmed by the barrage of information? Your partners are feeling it too. When it comes to the channel, helping partners quickly sift through information, providing them easy access to tools and resources, and helping in their marketing planning efforts to ensure successful execution is crucial and must be built into any channel strategy. While a lot of partners have in-house marketing teams, some smaller partners do not. Often times the sales and account manager is doubling as the marketing lead. Ensuring they have and know where to find the tools, information and resources they need to be successful plays a pivotal role in your own company’s success as well. Why? Because your channel represents you and your brand. It’s not enough to just give your partners a canned presentation and the technical data sheets and let them fly and be free and hope they are successful.
 
In today’s business world, we need to take it a step further. We need to help partners in promotion, research, campaign creation and execution; all of the ‘leg work’ that helps the partner get the lead that turns into that sales meeting. It’s about their representation at the meeting. It’s about making sure partners understand marketing trends and have the right tools to execute against them. Even for the larger partners who do have a marketing team at their disposal, making sure they have the tools they need could really help accelerate their efforts and improve ROI of the funds your company has invested in doing business with them.
 
When you are working with the channel, marketing enablement isn’t just about internal sales and marketing alignment -- it’s everything a vendor must do to market to, through and with its partners, which will help them sell. It’s about training, access, and execution. Its everything a partner needs to not only align to your company, but to feel supported and feel like you have a vested interest in their success.
 
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