We’ve all heard the statistics of the changing buyer’s journey. The traditional funnel-based marketing model is dying, being replaced by a cyclical model that emphasizes continual engagement with the customer well beyond the sale. These changes are no less important in their effect on partner marketing.
The shift to a continual marking cycle has stymied partners. Vendors are also feeling pressure to create intuitive solutions to help partners become more adept at every phase of marketing.
In our most recent webinar, we delved into the multi-faceted topic of partner marketing with Jennifer Schulze, vice president of Marketing Transformation, Partner and SME Marketing at SAP, and Peter Thomas, president of global demand generation provider Averetek. We discussed issues ranging from where partners need the most help from vendors to ways vendors can help improve partners’ standing as true providers of solutions.
Customer Buying Behavior
Both agreed the change in customer buying behavior is a big challenge for partners. It’s not an insurmountable challenge. It does, however, require a lot more effort.
“You have to be easy to find. It’s important to be out there,” Schulze said. “But after they’ve signed the contract, you need to keep them. So for every stage you need to do different things and you need to create different pieces of content to be effective.”
That means ensuring the right kind of marketing is being utilized at the right time. To that end, vendors should create marketing plans and resources that speak to every stage of the buyer’s journey for their partners. It’s not enough to simply provide newsletter templates or co-branded brochures. In fact, during the webinar we showed a graphic that listed the types of marketing content appropriate for each stage of the continuous customer lifecycle so that vendors can help partners prepare the materials they will need at each stage.
Is the vendor responsible?
But, is it really the vendor’s job to provide the right kind of marketing—and that level of hand-holding? We believe vendors have the responsibility to help their partners with marketing as much as possible. “We understand the concept of marketing is not core to any of these partners. They’re used to implementing and consulting. It is our responsibility to help them do it better and offer tools to make it more turnkey,” Schulze said.
However, the majority vendors aren’t delivering marketing materials, tools and resources for all phases of the buyer’s journey, which is problematic for partners.
“Partners need the most help in the attract and convert stages: who are we, what solutions do we offer … basic awareness stuff,” Thomas said. “[Vendors] tend to spend a lot of time building content that's in the closing stage: ‘Why choose this solution amongst all others?’ The problem is the partner hasn’t earned the right to present that piece to the prospect without going through the attract and convert stages. It's almost like showing up at someone’s door for a blind date and proposing marriage.”
"Those that teach earn the right to sell."
So, then, we get to the million-dollar question: Should vendors fund marketing materials for those attract and convert stages, when the materials discuss a problem or technology in a more general sense? Or should they stick to creating content for the closing stage (or consideration or preference stages, if you will), where the content must speak to the vendor’s product or solution in specifics?
This is where the friction comes between marketers and the C-suite, Thomas said. “The executives don’t want to pay for something that doesn’t assert their own brand. But they also understand that’s how research starts, and they know that those that teach earn the right to sell. If you can position your partners as teachers, you don’t have to worry about losing to a competitor because the partner is teaching them and creating a great, trusted relationship. That’s what creates the sale.”
At the end of the day, it has to be about helping partners articulate their brand effectively. “As vendors we need to find that balance to help them sell more effectively on their own with their own solutions,” Schulze said.
What do you think? Are you helping your partners become trusted advisors with better marketing? Leave a comment below.
