If you are a part of your channel marketing team, you may have been approached to create assets for channel partners, or you could be just starting to help channel managers improve partner programs. Providing assets to channel partners is a great way to boost their sales teams and improve the odds that they can close deals quickly. But how do you know you are providing the best assets for your channel partners?
Successful channel management heavily depends upon your ability to syndicate and share content with your partners that is easy to access, relevant to the products they sell, and up-to-date. For a channel marketing team, continually updating and sharing content that works can be a daunting task.
What can you do to get started with an organized sharing and production method that makes sense?
Start out by taking a step back and reviewing your content library.
How many marketing or sales assets do your partners need?
Take time to review this with your Channel Manager. Channel managers have a lot on their plate, but discussing the request for content with them can help reduce your workload.
Here are questions you can ask –
What content are Channel Partners using the most?
This can be very useful for identifying what matters the most to channel partners. Your channel manager may have a good idea from their account calls and interactions with partners.
Are there any assets Channel Partners find less useful?
Channel partners may have complained in the past about any assets they don’t find helpful. If you can work with your channel manager(s) to identify your lowest performing assets, or have access to a handy asset rating and usage tool (like Mindmatrix!) you can check reports to determine the best assets to create.
Do you have enough sales assets for Channel Partners?
Check your inventory. You likely have sales assets partners can use, concentrate on those first. Even if your partners aren’t marketing effectively they still need tools for their sales team! Make sure that they can easily access an entire library of the most up to date sales materials.
Do any of the most successful Channel Partners have playbooks or sales plans you can review?
This can give you an idea of the most effective assets for your top performers. If you need to create anything new, concentrate on their recommendations first.
Do the assets you’ve made available have space for co-branding OR white labeling?
Depending upon how your partners sell, check to make sure you’ve shared assets with the proper amount of space allocated for their branding standards. Be careful to ensure they have space for logo, address details and most importantly–contact information! This is great for sales reps.
Are your assets up to date?
Finally, ensure that all of your marketing and sales materials that are available are up to date. Make sure partners have access to the latest versions to reduce support requests and frustration. Even if you are just getting started, taking an audit of what is needed and speaking with your Channel Manager is a great way to concentrate your efforts on the sales and marketing assets partners need the most.
Are you a marketing manager with any tips on how to prepare your assets for your Channel Program? Feel free to share.
About Mindmatrix
Mindmatrix is the only single, fully integrated platform offering complete marketing and sales enablement for direct and indirect sales.
Mindmatrix offers Partner Relationship Management (PRM) software, Channel Marketing Automation, Asset Management software, Sales Enablement software and Marketing Automation software for the complete enablement of your sales and marketing teams.
