Each vendor deals with multiple partner personas and each of these partner personas have a different requirement in terms of partner marketing and sales support. Vendors need to understand these varied requirements and support partners accordingly. When dealing with partners of different types, the partner ecosystem can become quite complex with each partner type requiring a different kind of support to be able to sell. Vendors must understand the needs of each partner type and offer them the right tools and support. The partner personas can be classified into 4 categories.
Marketing:
– This partner persona needs content, strategies and tools directed at prospects who are in the top of the funnel, more focused around lead-gen
– Example include landing pages, email campaigns, social media content, lead scoring and nurturing tools, 360-degree lead view
Sales:
– This partner persona needs content, strategies and tools that target middle and end of funnel prospects
– Example include case studies, competitive product comparisons, product/services guides, sales success stories
Owner:
– This partner persona needs a complete sales and marketing tool kit, including training and certification
SME:
– This partner persona is comfortable with the technical aspects of the solution, but needs complete sales and marketing support
The largely varying partner personas mean companies have to invest in partner marketing programs and tools that cater to the needs of every partner persona. One area where many companies go wrong is ignoring the partner personas when investing in a partner marketing program. Vendors often assume that a standard partner marketing program will work with all partners regardless of their persona. For partner marketing programs to be successful, they need to be tailored to suit the different kinds of partner personas that the vendor’s partner ecosystem has. By doing that, companies can expect-
Greater partner engagement
When the company’s channel marketing program suits the partners, provides them with that they need, they are more likely to engage with the company’s brand
Greater partner sales and revenue
A more effective partner marketing program translates into better marketing and sales numbers for the company.
Leveraging partner data to understand partner persona better and to improve partner engagement and relationships
The company’s knowledge of partner persona plays a key role in the success of the channel relationships. Having access to accurate partner data can help companies build channel-friendly partner programs. Insight into partner behavior, intent, strengths and weaknesses allows vendors to tweak their partner program to make it easier to market and sell the company’s products. It also helps vendors to identify patterns, if any, in their partner pool. For example, if all partners of a particular category or market type are consistently unable to perform, it probably means there’s a problem with the partner recruitment criteria that needs to be evaluated.
Partner recruitment
Partner persona helps in multiple ways when it comes to improving partner recruitment efforts. For example, Having potential partner persona can help companies target their partner recruitment efforts towards the right partner. Partner persona data related to top-performing existing partners can help companies identify the ideal partner profile–one that works best for them. Understanding potential partner persona can also help vendors understand potential partner behavior and adjust their partner recruitment strategy accordingly
Driving partner engagement
When companies have access to partner persona, they can use the information to drive partner engagement. Vendors can optimize their to-partner marketing efforts, partner programs, and partner training and certification modules to elicit maximum partner engagement with their brand.
Business planning
Access to partner persona can help in better business planning. Understanding how the existing partner network is performing can help companies plan their channel growth better. It also helps companies and partners collaborate effectively in joint business planning activities.
Prioritization & automation
Companies with in-depth insight of partner persona will be able to better understand and prioritize internal resources and tools. One of the key challenges in the channel-based sales model is, partners often feel they lack the support they need from companies on the sales and marketing front on a consistent basis, beyond the initial, onboarding phase. With partner persona understanding, vendors will be able to identify the critical areas where partners need their support and also understand the strengths and weaknesses of each partner and the partner pool in general. This helps them focus their resources, tools, and technology on areas where they are needed the most.
Companies need to look at partner marketing objectively and find out what REALLY works and stick with it. The whole idea behind investing in partner marketing is to help your partners sell more and generate more business for you. To be able to do that, you need to understand your partner personas well and provide them with the kind of marketing and sales support they need. It’s time to ditch the one-size-fits-all approach to partner marketing programs and adopt a persona-centric approach.
