Attention & Authenticity

Richard Heene, the father of the six year old “Balloon Boy”, got what he wanted…attention. This whole week we have heard about Heene and his antics, but at what cost? It is easy to get attention. Reality TV and the internet have created the ability for anyone to get attention. As a marketer, one of our responsibilities is to generate awareness for our company, products, and services. But that is not our sole responsibility. We all carry the responsibility of authenticity, as well.

I believe that marketers are really storytellers. We develop campaigns that tell a specific story to a specific audience. Our goal is ultimately to get the audience to purchase what we are selling, but it all starts with a story. We talk about being the fastest, smartest, biggest, smallest, or easiest. Whatever our “-est”, we build stories that demonstrate why it has value to our customers. The hard part is not telling a story, but telling an authentic story. This, to me, is branding.

Making unrealistic or inauthentic claims will ultimately damage your brand, your reputation, your sales, and your business. In the past few weeks we have seen a number of announcements from major IT vendors regarding their channel programs. Oracle and Avaya quickly come to mind. Both of these companies are telling a “channel friendly” story. The problem is that, in the past, neither of these companies has demonstrated the behaviors consistent with their claims. While the new programs appear to be positive from a channel perspective, the jury (in this case, solution providers) is still out. They want to see if the stories are authentic. I don’t want to be negative on either Oracle or Avaya, because I believe they are moving in the right direction and certainly companies can become outstanding channel champions after a period of less channel commitment. HP comes to mind.

One of my tenets to effective channel management is “mutual commitment”. This is not something that can be accomplished with a single initiative. Establishing mutual commitment takes time and consistency. That consistency spans your entire organization. It is not enough for the channel leader and channel managers to demonstrate their commitment to the channel. The executive team, sales organization, service and operations, marketing, and customer care teams all need to be part of the commitment, as well. When you achieve this level of commitment, you will have an authentic story.

Cisco, as an example, tells an authentic channel story. For years, Cisco has demonstrated commitment to the channel and greatly benefits from their consistency. Even when they mess up (yes…it is true…sometimes even Cisco makes mistakes), the channel is much more willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Those that have not demonstrated the consistency in their channel strategy and commitment will likely find a much less forgiving channel.

Channel leaders…tell your stories, but make sure that you are not “Pulling a Heene” for some short term gratification at the expense of your long term relationships.

Managing Uncertainty

It is not about intuition. It is about what you do with it.

I fear that my last blog post about heuristics missed the mark. I received a few comments that made me realize that perhaps I suggested that having intuition or experience was a necessary part of relationship marketing. Of course it is…and many helped point that out.

What I was trying to convey was that while “art & science” is required to build effective relationship marketing campaigns, it is more than just making assumptions, having intuition, or knowledge from past experiences. You must have a process (some refer to it as the heuristic method) in which to take your historical, and sometimes qualitative, data and apply it into something meaningful and tangible. The Peyton Manning example was an attempt to highlight the method, not the intuition. My guess is that Manning uses some kind of checklist as he surveys the defensive scheme in front of him. Maybe something like:

• Is it a blitz package?
• Where is the Strong Safety?
• Are they playing zone or man-to-man?
• What have they done in this situation before?
• Etc…

Manning takes this information, adds in the “scientific” data (down, distance, score…), and gets the answer he is looking for. His intuition and knowledge is put through a process and aids in determining the right execution strategy.

We have all done this at one point or another. Think about buying a house or choosing a university. Every time that I have purchased a house, my wife and I have created a list of “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves”. We then weight their individual importance and grade each home on each of the selection criteria. There are certainly some things that are absolutes like the price range or number of bedrooms. But there are also more subjective criteria like location, traffic patterns, quality of schools, or number of kids in the neighborhood. Based on our intuition and past experiences we can make a reasonable assessment of each of these less tangible criteria. The results are not perfect, but close enough because we trust our heuristic method.

Anyone that has developed and reviewed an RFP has likely used some kind of heuristic method.

Let’s take a look at Relationship Marketing. In most cases we have absolute data (revenue, profitability, growth, rate of growth, share of wallet, etc). This is data that cannot be disputed. We also have less tangible information. Our intuition may tell us that the relationship is still strong, even though the absolute data indicates otherwise…or visa-versa. The challenge is then twofold:

• Can we trust or intuition?
• How do we apply those heuristics into a process that will help us with managing that relationship?

The art of relationship marketing (heuristics) is applied to the science (loyalty scoring, or whatever measurement you use) to get as close to perfect as possible. This is what I mean by saying that the art and science are not mutually exclusive…they have to go together.

So, experience and intuition matter, but not nearly as much as what you do with it.

Your Next Channel Leader

If you were hiring for a channel leadership position (Director or VP level) what professional and personal qualities would you look for?

I am interested in the adjectives that best describe a channel leader, not the "generic" candidate requirements from a job description; for example:

· X number of years of industry specific experience
· X number of years of channel program management and development
· Proven ability to work across functional organizations
· Experience with content development (brochures, whitepapers, communiqués)
· Coordination and collaboration with sales organization
· Excellent presentation skills
· Proven ability to build new relationships at CXO levels

All of the requirements above relate to specific experiences and past performance. Don’t get me wrong…these are extremely important considerations and should absolutely be part of the selection criteria. What I am interested in, however, are the individual qualities that make a great channel leader.

What are the adjectives or descriptive phrases that best sum up the qualities of a great channel leader?

Let me know your thoughts and I will post the results in a subsequent post. I think we can all benefit…whether you are looking for new gig, looking to hire, or in the business of helping companies build their channel.

Belief, Truth, and the Power of Observation

Observation is what separates belief from truth.

It is unclear who invented the Scientific Method, although much of the credit is given to John Stuart Mill, a social, political, and scientific pioneer of the 1800’s. It is likely that the method had roots as far back as the year 1,000, but Mill is credited with formalizing the structure. Regardless of its origin, the Scientific Method has withstood the test of time, because its premise is based on the power of observation.

I am fortunate to have a seventh grader that has reintroduced me to the Scientific Method, but for those less fortunate to share in the joys of middle school homework, here is a brief re-introduction:

There are basically six steps to the method:

1. Ask a question about a phenomenon
2. Make observations about the phenomenon
3. Hypothesize an explanation
4. Predict a consequence of the phenomenon
5. Test the prediction (usually in some controlled environment)
6. Make a conclusion using data acquired

The beauty of the Scientific Method is that, if done properly, biases can removed from the process. Too often in the workplace, many of our actions are based on biases that could alter our decisions. If committed to the Scientific Method, we are able to base our actions on “truths” instead of “beliefs”. This can be extremely difficult to do, especially when our belief systems can be so profound. Have you ever had a “discussion” with someone whose political beliefs are different than your own? These are usually debates where the Scientific Method is missing. The result is typically an “agreement to disagree”…not the result you want when a business decision is on the line.

The relationships we have with our channel partners are often based on beliefs. Sometimes the relationships change and our judgment can be clouded because of an historical bias. This is often the case when a good relationship turns sour, or when a poor relationship becomes solid. We need some methodology to see through the bias so that we can we can make decisions based on current observations and data.

Channel management requires the investment of resources to build a more effective and profitable channel ecosystem. Every investment is critical, especially in today’s economic environment. Using analytics to measure relationship trends will provide data (observations) that will help guide those investment decisions. Do you have a method to identify and observe a phenomenon, question it, hypothesize an explanation, and test the theory? If not, then are you making biased channel investment decisions?

Ch...Ch...Changes

I am frequently asked about the best way to measure the relationship between a vendor and their channel partners. It is not uncommon for companies to try to assess the relative strength or weakness of their channel relationships by looking at a single point in time. For instance, they may look at total revenue, margin, market share, share of wallet, or number of customers to gauge the value of the relationship(s). Relationships, however, are not static. Every relationship has ebbs and flows, which should dictate how you manage them at any given moment. To effectively market to your channel partners, you need to carefully consider the following:

CHANGE: This is perhaps the simplest calculation. Basically, you take two points in time (A and B) and look at what has changed during that elapsed period of time. Has revenue or profitability increased or decreased? Have we gained share of wallet? So while it is good to know your revenue at a single point in time, it is better to understand whether or not revenue has increased during a period of time.

VELOCITY: Velocity considers the rate of change. For example, let’s say that during a period of time, Partner X increased revenue from 100,000 to 150,000. Calculating the change would tell you that there was a $50,000 increase in sales. During the same period of time, Partner Y increased revenue from $25,000 to $75,000…also a $50,000 increase in sales. While both Partners increased sales by the same absolute amount ($50,000), the velocity was quite different.

ACCELERATION: Acceleration considers the rate of change in velocity. This metric offers an effective way to measure specific actions taken to affect velocity. For instance, let’s assume that a Partner relationship has turned sour and, as a result, there has been a decline in revenue over a period of time. In fact, over multiple periods of time, revenue has declined at an increasing rate. To mitigate the downward spiral, you implement an aggressive program designed to re-engage the Partner. By examining the rate of change in velocity, you can effectively measure the effects of the program.

The “scientific” and ongoing management of channel performance data is essential, because it will help formulate the most effective initiatives to either mitigate or exploit current opportunities. To me, the biggest challenge is to consider multiple variables simultaneously. In the above examples, we only considered one variable…revenue. While this is ok to illustrate the principles, it is not realistic, however, as there are many variables to consider. The “new” channel marketing model should be to effectively measure the change, velocity, and acceleration of multiple variables simultaneously and quickly implement effective campaigns to take advantage of what the data tells us.

If you want to know the strength of each of your channel partner relationships, you need more than a “picture” or single snapshot in time. You have to know and understanding how the relationship is changing, why it is changing, and how quickly it is changing. Companies that are able to gather and analyze this data will be in the advantageous position of building stronger and profitable relationships with their partners.

Is All of This Talk About Social Media Real?

Yesterday I had a conversation with a like minded channel professional about social networking. There seems to be a pretty large number of company leaders that view social networking as business tool to be somewhat of a fad. It seems pretty clear to me that the data indicates that it is certainly not a fad. While there remains kinks to be worked out and business models to be developed, social networking is rapidly becoming an integral part of marketing and customer relationship management.

Just this morning I stumbled across blog post (and subsequent research) from the Gilwell Group that you should check out. This research not only addresses the premise in the previous paragraph, but it is also directly related to B2B channel management. I highly recommend that you check it out here. Take a look at the SlideShare presentation as well.

Where Does Social Media Fit?

As many have concluded before, the use of social media as a stand-alone strategy will not be as effective as the use of social media as part of an integrated effort. As I reflect on the role of social media on building better, more profitable channel relationships, I think that it plays an important role in the beginning and at the end of the process. A high level view of the process would look something like the graphic on the left.

Data is collected, organized, and analyzed at the beginning of the process. Data can be quantitative (ie. POS information) or qualitative. It is important for organizations to review and stay abreast of the discussions happening in the social media realm about your company. LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and others are places where there is tremendous amount of discussions happening everyday about your company, your competition, and your industry. This can be invaluable and timely qualitative information that should included in the early stages of your channel marketing process.

Finally, once you have used the data to identify an opportunity, followed your development process diligently, and created your content, it is now your job to engage your partners. Using traditional communication vehicles like email, portals, and newsletters should be part of the communication mix, but these are typically pushed (intrusive) methodologies. Your ability to truly engage and have conversations with your audience will come in with more “synchronous” communication methods. Obviously, anytime that you can engage in person with your customer the better, however this can be time consuming and expensive. The use of social media will enable you to engage your partners more quickly and through your trusted network. Social media will also give the added benefit of exponential reach that a face-to-face discussion will not offer.

Social media should play an increasingly important role of both your channel marketing strategy and the tactical execution.

Lighting The Fuse

The key to effectively build a string of mini-explosions is to reach the individuals that have reach and influence beyond your own. Actually, it is more than just reach and influence. They also have to be willing, able, and motivated to share your message with others that they think will benefit from what you have to say. No problem, then. All you have to do is find those people that find your content so compelling that they are willing to share your information (sometimes at a risk to their personal and/or professional reputation) with other people in which they have some level of influence.

Piece of cake, right?

Not exactly.

These people are often called “Sneezers” because they help spread your content/message...creating the viral effects of social media. They are hard to identify and reach. Even if you could identify them, their attention would be very difficult to get as there would be significant competition.

The BIG question, then, is how do we reach and motivate these Sneezers and get them to help spread your content. First, and foremost, you have to have something they care about. For example, my Mom would not be a Sneezer for this post about social media, but if I was writing about cooking a Bundt cake, she would be a great Sneezer. So you have to target your content to the right communities of individuals. The key is to not be too narrow. Since you may not know who the Sneezer will be, you will have to cast a big net.

The next step is motivation. Why would a Sneezer feel compelled to share your content? This really comes down to being part of communities that share a common purpose. LinkedIn Groups are wonderful examples of these types of communities. I belong to some very large groups, as well as some pretty small groups. The smaller groups are more narrowly focused, but tend to be more passionate about the topic. The larger groups have a smaller percentage of active participants, but those that are active tend to have broader sphere of influence.

The graphic below shows how this would work. The mini-explosions occur within each community as a Sneezer reaches another community…one in which he/she has some influence. In turn, another Sneezer reaches another community. The process continues as long as the content has some value to the next community. The mini-explosions create the viral effect of social media because you have successful caught the attention of the Sneezer who is motivated to share.

TNT

Still working on this idea, but I wanted to get some reaction to the thought. It seems that social media offers a unique blend of Trust, Network, and Time (TNT). Using micro-blogging as an example, one would have a trusted group of followers. Those followers would have their own trusted group, etc. This is where the network comes in. In theory, even with a small group of followers, you would have exponetial reach through your network. LinkedIn works the same way. Because of the asychronous nature of micro-blogging, time to communicate and engage is greatly reduced, especially when compared to traditional media.

Social Media = TNT

As a stand alone strategy, social media will offer the benefits of trust, network, and time. Unfortunately, this will not necessarily translate into sales and revenue. Other channel sales and marketing tools are required to bring the benefits of social media to a revenue producing strategy. It is absolutely necessary to have fully-integrated channel marketing plan. Because of the benefits of trust, network, and time that social media offers, it can/should be a critical executional element of the plan.

Celebrate Good Times...Come On!!!

We ask a lot from our channel partners and they demand a lot from us. It can be a challenge for each of us, but the benefit we receive from working together to get that additional contract or satisfied customer is worth the effort. I think it is ok, in fact necessary, to celebrate our mutual successes. Here are some ideas about how to celebrate with your channel partners:

The Big Incentive: Often there is a “big” reward for a channel partner achieving a certain goal. Some examples:

Growth: Many companies choose to offer a Growth Incentive for partners achieving an annual revenue target. The most common is the growth rebate where a vendor offers a percentage rebate for a channel partner reaching a specific revenue target. Let’s say a vendor challenges a partner to grow revenue 20% year-over-year. In exchange for the growth, the vendor offers a 10% rebate on that growth. The resulting 2% goes straight to the channel bottom line. In some cases, this can be quite substantial. Please note that some industries (ie. Insurance) frown on these types of contingent payouts, while other industries are more accepting.

Recognition Trip: Companies may choose an exciting location for an annual celebration with top partners. While considered by some to be a “boondoggle”, these events can be quite productive. While it is nice to get away and enjoy a nice destination, I recommend that you take this time, with your captive audience, to engage in a learning opportunity. It is a perfect opportunity for executive teams to discuss the status of the market, new business opportunities, and potential issues to address.

The Sales Incentive: The Big Incentives are nice, but they are typically only beneficial to the most senior levels of the organization. For example, few channels will distribute the gains from a growth incentive to their sales teams, preferring to take profit instead. As such, it is important to recognize the outstanding individual efforts of your extended sales force. There are countless ways to accomplish this with gift cards, redeemable points, and cash. Remember, these are the folks that make it happen for your every day.

Public Recognition: I mentioned in my previous post about the Hierarchy of Motivations, that channel partners have a social need that you need to address. Recognizing extraordinary accomplishments in service excellence, innovation, and program execution in a public forum is a great way to celebrate your channel partnerships. A small token (like a plaque) coupled with a press release satisfies the social need and demonstrates your commitment to the partnership, for example.

The Little Things: These are really the biggest things because they matter most. A well written and sincere Thank You note is almost a thing of the past, and yet is perhaps the best way to recognize your partner. Everybody likes to be recognized for the long hours, hard work, and commitment we put into a project or relationship. It is shameful to not share your appreciation. You can also send a quick email to “the boss” letting him/her know how much you appreciate the efforts of an individual or team. Don't forget the little things.

These are just a few ideas and frankly, the more creative you can get with your "Celebration Programs" the better.

Hierarchy of Motivations - Channel Actualization

Sorry for the somewhat academic sounding title, but channel motivation is something very few companies truly incorporate into their plans. The expectation seems to be for channel marketing to develop marketing “programs” that will motivate the channel and the channel sales teams to sell more stuff. Not a bad goal and certainly selling more stuff is a good thing. Creating a truly motivated channel, however, requires more than a few incentive programs. Maslow created the Hierarchy of Needs to demonstrate that in order to get to “self-actualization” the individual must pass through a series of stages. Apparently you cannot just decide one day to be self-actualized. Who knew?

It got me thinking about channel motivation and wondering if a channel relationship can just become “actualized” or if there were stages that the relationship must go through to reach Nirvana. Not being a trained psychologist, I thought of the two motivations we often see in the workplace; the carrot and the stick. Certainly, Donald Trump has used this approach for his reality show, The Apprentice. I think there is more, though. What truly motivates a channel partner is not too different than what motivates an individual:

Survival: Channels (like people) will do what it takes to survive. This often leads to a “path of least resistance” behavior. Channels will behave in a way that helps them survive. This why effective lead generation and deal registration programs are embraced by the channel. Incentive programs and channel ramp initiatives will also help satisfy the “survival” motivation.

Social Need: This is an emotional need. Channel partners want to be recognized in their communities and business circles as successful and thriving business practices. Their success is directly related to the perception of their customers and partners. Channels have a social motivation. Channel designation programs, for example, offer a recognition brand for their excellence. The reason many companies offer a tiered designation structure is to motivate their partners to invest in the relationship and gain the next level of designation.

Need to be Valued: As I have mentioned previously, channel partners want to be engaged and involved. They want their input on product and solution development, marketing programs, and service level agreements to be heard and valued by the vendor. The community of Linux developers and contributors to Wikipedia are emotionally connected to these products and services because they feel valued. Companies that embrace this “need to be valued” motivation through engagement programs (similar to the trends in channel education), will benefit by creating an emotional connection with their partners; ultimately creating switching costs.

Channel-Actualization: The Utopian channel relationship is one in which there is mutual commitment, mutual growth, mutual profitability, and brand between the channel and the vendor. As Maslow would describe it…the relationship is everything that is can be. Of course, this is a state where there is perfect communication, action, and results.

The Channel Hierarchy of Motivations would look something like this:



The goal in building channel motivation campaigns should be to reach the top by building a suite of programs and initiatives designed to move your partners up the hierarchy. Focusing exclusively on the lower stages is table stakes as this is where your competitors are also focusing their efforts.

Disclaimer: I apologize for the psycho-babble in this post. Perhaps it sounds a bit “too fluffy”, but I do think that you have to go beyond incentive programs and lead generation to truly motivate your partner community. Would welcome your thoughts…

Engaged Channel Education

Educators are successful when they engage their students.

Politicians win elections when they engage their constituents.

Companies profit when they engage their customers.

The discipline of channel education should be focused on engagement. If we, as channel marketers, are able to better engage our channel partners in our educational programs, we will be successful. Certainly, products and services with better quality and more market demand will have a leg up on their competitors. But all things being equal, companies that better engage their channels will gain mindshare, commitment, and loyalty.

The most exciting aspect of building an engaged channel education program is that technology is enabling new approaches, which in turn is changing the landscape. Organizations that embrace these new "engagement" tools will benefit. While traditional channel education methods are still prevalent, these newer methodologies are rapidly becoming the standard.

The "old/traditional" educational methods all share two common traits; they are "pushed" on the audience, and the content is one size fits all. Perhaps one can argue that webinars and brown bag sessions are more interactive and not necessarily just "pushed", but they do not allow for joint content development and customization. As such, there is a limitation on the engagement value of these tactics. True engagement occurs with the active participation of the student, not just during the delivery of the content, but in the content development, as well.

I am not suggesting that we should abandon the traditional approach as there is still value in many of these approaches. What I do recommend is that we implement the engaged methodologies. The balance is definitely shifting as our customers (students) demand the value of participation.

Educate, Motivate and Celebrate

I have blogged about this before (http://channelconnexions.blogspot.com/2008/05/educate-motivate-celebrate.html), but I felt that a little more detail is in order.

Channel Marketing is in the business of educating, motivating, and celebrating. Some describe the function a bit differently (Attract, Enable, and Drive, for example), but I think if you can be innovative and disciplined in your approach to channel education, channel motivation, and channel celebration, you can create differentiation in your relationships. The important thing to recognize is the need for INNOVATION and DISCIPLINE.

Too often, I see channel marketing that still uses the same programs and tools over and over. Not only does this fail to motivate your partners, it does not create any competitive advantage or switching costs. The most successful channel marketing initiatives are new and create and build buzz. It is very difficult to compete with the Cisco's and Microsoft's of the world, especially in their ability to engage the channel. Copying their programs absolutely will not get it done. Try new ways to educate, motivate, and celebrate.

While it is critical that you innovate, you should not do it at the expense of discipline. You need a strategy and a process and you need to stick with them.

If you don't have a strategy...any campaign will get you there!

Whether you use a process similar to the one I have used (http://channelconnexions.blogspot.com/2009/07/connexions-process.html) or you have your own, it is very important to stick with it. The discipline won't guarantee success, but a lack of discipline will likely end in failure.

Over the next few days I will offer up some thoughts on each of education, motivation, and celebration.

Pyramid vs. Diamond

Channel designation structures often follow a pyramid structure like the picture on the left. It makes sense that at the highest level of the structure there is more exclusivity...only the best of the best sit at the top of the pyramid. In this case, the Platinum partners make up only about 10% of the total channel population. Next is the Gold designation and finally, almost 60% of the designated partners fall into the Silver level. Companies that are just building their channel ecosystem should follow this structure, especially if they have limited geographic coverage. Unfortunately, too many companies stop here...with the pyramid. I think there is a better way.

One of the goals of channel management should be to move lower designated partners up the pyramid to higher designations. Isn't it better if your Silver partners increase their level of competency and capabilities to the Gold level. Of course it is...they become more invested and loyal as they move up the designation hierarchy and are better able to serve your mutual customers. If that is the case, however, and you want to maintain the pyramid structure, you will need to be constantly recruiting new partners at the lower levels. Again, this is fine if you are just building your channel ecosystem, but what about for an established channel structure? More recruitment means more channels, which very likely will cause channel conflict, over distribution, price erosion, and decreased channel satisfaction. Not good.

I think that over time the structure has to change to more of a diamond shape. The highest levels maintain their exclusivity, but there becomes a smaller number of designated partners at the lowest level because you are helping them move into the middle (Gold) tier. There is no need to over distribute and continue to recruit partners. The form simply takes the shape of a diamond. At this point, recruitment is reserved for replacing poor performance partners enabling you to manage channel conflict.

How you manage your structure will depend on where you are with your channel coverage model and the optimal number of partners you need to be successful. Don't get stuck in the pyramid, when a diamond may be all you need.

Different Types of Channel Relationships

There are two different relationships that require your attention. OK...there are more than that, but two major categories of relationships that every channel leader must constantly consider.

The first is the relationship between you (and your channel partner) and your end user. The second is between you and your channel partner. How you manage and market within these relationships is very different and requires very different approaches.

In the first case, companies typically establish a designation structure...usually with multiple tiers. For the sake of argument, let's say they use precious metals (platinum, gold, silver). The end user can choose their solution provider and understand that the vendor/manufacturer has recognized the channel based on some sort of achievement. In theory, a Platinum partner has achieved a greater standing with the vendor/manufacturer than a Silver partner, and therefore, offers some additional value to the end user.

Channel managers will work to build a channel ecosystem based on these designations. It is not uncommon for their to be a greater number of Silver partners than Gold partner, and, likewise, a greater number of Gold partners than Platinum partners. The result is a pyramid of designations:

(more on this strategy later...there might be a better way to think of the Pyramid)

The second category of relationships that require the attention of the channel leader is between you and your channel community. I don't think that same designation structure is useful in this category because it really says nothing about loyalty and the change in relationship over time. As such, you might have an extremely loyal Gold partner whose relationship is getting stronger over time versus a Platinum partner whose relationship (for whatever reason) is fading. How you market to these channel partners should be very different and really has very little to do with their external designation brand.

Channel Managers should consider another way to classify their partner community when managing this category of relationship. It should be based on loyalty, and more importantly, on the change of loyalty over time. The relationship map would look like this:

Very different than the traditional pyramid structure used in managing relationships with the end user. The basic concept is that how you sell and market to a Fader should be very different than how you sell and market to an Up & Comer...regardless of their external designation.

Most companies tend to focus on the pyramid and do not have the infrastructure and data to effectively manage "the curve".

Is Channel Marketing Changing?

I hold the opinion that channel marketing (as a function) has become stale, with very little innovation over the past few years. This is why I started Channel Connexions. Recently I stumbled across the following from TreeHouse that I thought was interesting.

I have previously mentioned that I believe one of the roles of channel marketing is the "education, motivation, and celebration" of the channel. TreeHouse uses different nomenclature, but basically agrees. Can the use of social media be used as a means to educate, motivate, and celebrate your channel ecosystem? I think so.

More on the opportunities to change channel marketing in subsequent posts...stay tuned!

Connexions Process

Here it is all together. If you are interested in more information you can contact me at jeff@channelconnexions.com or visit http://www.channelconnexions.com/.

I like this process because it is a system that is flexible and applicable to many different situations.

Learning

The last step in the Channel Connexions Process is "learning", which is really based on the measurements used to gauge the relative success of each channel campaign. I think it is important to understand that the ways in which marketing measured is changing. It used to be that we used "Awareness, Consideration, and Purchase" as the success measurements in a marketing campaign. The approach is fine with a mass marketing campaign, but with a true, targeted 1:1 relationship management initiative, we should be focused on customer attraction, retention, extension, and loyalty. This holds true from a channel perspective, as well.

Today, it is fairly common practice to use SEO measurments and targeted advertising to "attract" new business. Retention (engagement) and extension require newer metrics and involve the examination of data over a period of time. For example, revenue growth is good know, but it is more useful to understand the change in revenue growth velocity. This information offers additional insight into each customer/channel, and enables you to make better decision about future marketing campaigns. By managing channel attraction, engagement, and extension, you will increase channel loyalty and accelerate the positive rate of change in loyalty.

ACT

It is pretty evident that mass marketing is rapidly being replaced by more targeted communications. As discussed in the previous blog post, the application of "active" data analytics is enabling companies to focus their messaging to a very well defined community. There are many benefits to this, not the least of which is a better ROI on your marketing spend. This is extremely important especially when dealing with a large channel ecosystem which potentially thousands of indirect sales representatives.

While some of your channel partners might be exclusively sell your products or services, it is more likely that will multi-source from a number of vendors. Your challenge is to position your portfolio effectively as the lead solution. To accomplish this you will need to win the mindshare battle. Mass marketing (spray & pray) will not provide you with the mindshare needed.

The hierarchy in the image is a great way to look at your communication strategy. Your goal should be to establish a unique relationship with each of your channel partners and, even, each of the channel sales representatives. By engaging each of them in interactive conversations with your channel marketing programs you can build an emotional connection with the individuals. This, in turn, creates loyalty and switching costs, well beyond what can be accomplished with mass marketing.

While this is difficult and will take time to develop, the emergence of new technologies is making Stage 5 communications much more realistic, even for smaller organizations. Social networking is enabling new business relationship management applications and variable data management techniques for email and print-on-demand solutions are more readily available.

The channel management reality is that you have to be better and more creative in your channel marketing strategy. A "me-too" approach will not adequately differentiate you from your competitors and make winning mindshare very challenging. Channel executives should be willing to push the envelop with a focus on building relationships through unique communication strategies.