Most companies selling through the channel want their partners to generate demand for them. However, now that the world of marketing has gone digital and marketing has evolved into a science, it is quite difficult for most partners to drive marketing activities and generate demand in a consistent fashion. This is where through-partner marketing software (TPM) becomes essential.

Through-partner marketing software can significantly streamline demand generation activities by allowing a vendor to load a set of campaigns into a portal where partners can log in and easily carry out demand generation activities. Typically, most through-partner marketing software comes with a basic set of tools for specific activities like search marketing, social marketing, email marketing, event marketing and content syndication.

The key for a vendor is to make sure that campaigns loaded into a through-partner marketing software platform are complete and effective. Partners generally do not like experimenting with new campaigns, because they lack resources and time. Therefore, when a vendor loads up a set of campaigns into a through-partner marketing software platform, the campaigns must work. Otherwise, partners lose interest and program adoption drops very quickly.

In addition to loading up the right campaigns in the TPM software, another key requirement for vendors is to offer localized content. If a vendor is selling globally, it is very important to provide content not only in English, but also in other languages. And localization should not be limited to content alone. The entire user interface of the through-partner marketing software should be fully localized. Today, very few vendors can provide that, so when you are evaluating through-partner marketing software, you should make sure the user interface is fully localized and not just using Google Translation, which tends to introduce a lot of mistakes and errors.

Here’s another capability to look for when considering through-partner marketing software: Can it integrated with other channel marketing automation applications like CRM, ERP, incentives management systems and the like? Most organizations today have a number of such systems. If you plan to implement through-partner marketing software, be certain that the platform you choose fits smoothly into your existing infrastructure, and that you can track program performance end to end.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of TPM software is to provide real-time analytics. Using this capability, a vendor can quickly learn what is working and what is not, and replace or refine programs and campaigns to drive better results. When a campaign works, state-of-the-art through-partner marketing software also allows efficient scaling of that campaign, not just to multiple local markets but globally.

Most companies selling through the channel want their partners to generate demand for them. However, now that the world of marketing has gone digital and marketing has evolved into a science, it is quite difficult for most partners to drive marketing activities and generate demand in a consistent fashion. This is where through-partner marketing software (TPM) becomes essential.

Through-partner marketing software can significantly streamline demand generation activities by allowing a vendor to load a set of campaigns into a portal where partners can log in and easily carry out demand generation activities. Typically, most through-partner marketing software comes with a basic set of tools for specific activities like search marketing, social marketing, email marketing, event marketing and content syndication.

The key for a vendor is to make sure that campaigns loaded into a through-partner marketing software platform are complete and effective. Partners generally do not like experimenting with new campaigns, because they lack resources and time. Therefore, when a vendor loads up a set of campaigns into a through-partner marketing software platform, the campaigns must work. Otherwise, partners lose interest and program adoption drops very quickly.

In addition to loading up the right campaigns in the TPM software, another key requirement for vendors is to offer localized content. If a vendor is selling globally, it is very important to provide content not only in English, but also in other languages. And localization should not be limited to content alone. The entire user interface of the through-partner marketing software should be fully localized. Today, very few vendors can provide that, so when you are evaluating through-partner marketing software, you should make sure the user interface is fully localized and not just using Google Translation, which tends to introduce a lot of mistakes and errors.

Here’s another capability to look for when considering through-partner marketing software: Can it integrated with other channel marketing automation applications like CRM, ERP, incentives management systems and the like? Most organizations today have a number of such systems. If you plan to implement through-partner marketing software, be certain that the platform you choose fits smoothly into your existing infrastructure, and that you can track program performance end to end.

Finally, one of the most important aspects of TPM software is to provide real-time analytics. Using this capability, a vendor can quickly learn what is working and what is not, and replace or refine programs and campaigns to drive better results. When a campaign works, state-of-the-art through-partner marketing software also allows efficient scaling of that campaign,

Most companies selling through the channel want their partners to generate demand for them. However, now that the world of marketing has gone digital and marketing has evolved into a science, it is quite difficult for most partners to drive marketing activities and generate demand in a consistent fashion. This is where through-partner marketing software (TPM) becomes essential.Through-partner marketing software can significantly streamline demand generation activities by allowing a vendor to load a set of campaigns into a portal where partners can log in and easily carry out demand generation activities. Typically, most through-partner marketing software comes with a basic set of tools for specific activities like search marketing, social marketing, email marketing, event marketing and content syndication.The key for a vendor is to make sure that campaigns loaded into a through-partner marketing software platform are complete and effective. Partners generally do not like experimenting with new campaigns, because they lack resources and time. Therefore, when a vendor loads up a set of campaigns into a through-partner marketing software platform, the campaigns must work. Otherwise, partners lose interest and program adoption drops very quickly.In addition to loading up the right campaigns in the TPM software, another key requirement for vendors is to offer localized content. If a vendor is selling globally, it is very important to provide content not only in English, but also in other languages. And localization should not be limited to content alone. The entire user interface of the through-partner marketing software should be fully localized. Today, very few vendors can provide that, so when you are evaluating through-partner marketing software, you should make sure the user interface is fully localized and not just using Google Translation, which tends to introduce a lot of mistakes and errors.Here’s another capability to look for when considering through-partner marketing software: Can it integrated with other channel marketing automation applications like CRM, ERP, incentives management systems and the like? Most organizations today have a number of such systems. If you plan to implement through-partner marketing software, be certain that the platform you choose fits smoothly into your existing infrastructure, and that you can track program performance end to end.Finally, one of the most important aspects of TPM software is to provide real-time analytics. Using this capability, a vendor can quickly learn what is working and what is not, and replace or refine programs and campaigns to drive better results. When a campaign works, state-of-the-art through-partner marketing software also allows efficient scaling of that campaign, not just to multiple local markets but globally.

You must be saying, “What?” This article title makes no sense, right? Well, let me assure you: you’ve read it right. I firmly believe B2B marketing is taking over B2B selling, and I’ll explain why this makes sense.

The primary research of all the major analyst firms (including Forrester, SiriusDecisions and Gartner) definitively shows (doesn’t just assert) that more and more buyers are relying almost exclusively on online, digital engagement as they go through the buying process. In many cases, buyers proceed through the entire process without ever talking to a seller.

As consumers, all of us can relate to this phenomenon. For the vast majority of buyers, long gone are the days of getting a Sears or Land’s End catalog in the mail and then calling up an 800 number to place an order. In the consumer world, we go through the buying process online nearly 100% of the time. You can actually buy and sell a house that way, not to mention more routine purchases like cars and boats. The entire consumer experience is now online, and marketing runs that world. Sales departments take orders and provide support. So why should it be any different in the B2B space?

In recent history, the B2B marketing and selling environment has been quite divided functionally. The marketing world operated on a half-yearly and annual cycle, while sales operated on a quarterly cycle. Figuring out how to pass qualified leads generated by marketing to sales has always been a challenge. This is no longer the case in the B2C world, however. Why not? Because marketing runs pretty much everything, and B2C sales is all about fulfillment and customer support and care. Sales support and customer care include growing the relationship and educating the customer about potential recommendations and add-ons, but they are no longer primarily about closing the sale.

“But what about B2B sales?” you ask. “The B2B sales process is highly complex. How can you not have sales people interact with the customer?” Well, actually, when you ask B2B buyers this question, most will now say that they prefer doing research on their own until they reach the point where they are absolutely sure who they want to engage with. Larger business organizations sometimes go through a more complicated request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, and in that case the buying process looks quite different, but organizations that are directly evaluating what to buy and do not need an RFI/RFP process can get the information and support they need through marketing alone.

Yes, only marketing – because when B2B marketing is done competently, all of the questions a buyer has can be answered digitally via online assets. These assets might be of an overview of the product via data sheets, reference validation via customer success stories or actual product demos in the form of recorded videos. The irony is that when we think about the traditional buying process steps (awareness, interest, trial, purchase, repurchase), we still tend to believe that marketing generally stops at awareness generation and perhaps some level of interest creation, but in truth every one of these prospect/customer engagement steps can be digitized without the involvement of salespeople.

So, to be successful in today’s fully digitized B2B selling environment, you invest in digital B2B marketing to build trust and educate the buyer. This is where most of your investment will go, and because of that it makes sense that marketing runs the show. Whereas in the past, businesses selling to other businesses invested more robustly in sales and only incrementally in marketing, today and in the future the reverse is — or will be — true. You can bet on it.

Hopefully I’ve got your attention now, and maybe you’re at least willing to consider the notion that B2B marketing should be driving the sales process. It’s not that big a leap to imagine creating entirely digital engagement scenarios for a variety of ...

You must be saying, “What?” This article title makes no sense, right? Well, let me assure you: you’ve read it right. I firmly believe B2B marketing is taking over B2B selling, and I’ll explain why this makes sense.

The primary research of all the major analyst firms (including Forrester, SiriusDecisions and Gartner) definitively shows (doesn’t just assert) that more and more buyers are relying almost exclusively on online, digital engagement as they go through the buying process. In many cases, buyers proceed through the entire process without ever talking to a seller.

As consumers, all of us can relate to this phenomenon. For the vast majority of buyers, long gone are the days of getting a Sears or Land’s End catalog in the mail and then calling up an 800 number to place an order. In the consumer world, we go through the buying process online nearly 100% of the time. You can actually buy and sell a house that way, not to mention more routine purchases like cars and boats. The entire consumer experience is now online, and marketing runs that world. Sales departments take orders and provide support. So why should it be any different in the B2B space?

In recent history, the B2B marketing and selling environment has been quite divided functionally. The marketing world operated on a half-yearly and annual cycle, while sales operated on a quarterly cycle. Figuring out how to pass qualified leads generated by marketing to sales has always been a challenge. This is no longer the case in the B2C world, however. Why not? Because marketing runs pretty much everything, and B2C sales is all about fulfillment and customer support and care. Sales support and customer care include growing the relationship and educating the customer about potential recommendations and add-ons, but they are no longer primarily about closing the sale.

“But what about B2B sales?” you ask. “The B2B sales process is highly complex. How can you not have sales people interact with the customer?” Well, actually, when you ask B2B buyers this question, most will now say that they prefer doing research on their own until they reach the point where they are absolutely sure who they want to engage with. Larger business organizations sometimes go through a more complicated request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, and in that case the buying process looks quite different, but organizations that are directly evaluating what to buy and do not need an RFI/RFP process can get the information and support they need through marketing alone.

Yes, only marketing – because when B2B marketing is done competently, all of the questions a buyer has can be answered digitally via online assets. These assets might be of an overview of the product via data sheets, reference validation via customer success stories or actual product demos in the form of recorded videos. The irony is that when we think about the traditional buying process steps (awareness, interest, trial, purchase, repurchase), we still tend to believe that marketing generally stops at awareness generation and perhaps some level of interest creation, but in truth every one of these prospect/customer engagement steps can be digitized without the involvement of salespeople.

So, to be successful in today’s fully digitized B2B selling environment, you invest in digital B2B marke...

You must be saying, “What?” This article title makes no sense, right? Well, let me assure you: you’ve read it right. I firmly believe B2B marketing is taking over B2B selling, and I’ll explain why this makes sense.The primary research of all the major analyst firms (including Forrester, SiriusDecisions and Gartner) definitively shows (doesn’t just assert) that more and more buyers are relying almost exclusively on online, digital engagement as they go through the buying process. In many cases, buyers proceed through the entire process without ever talking to a seller.As consumers, all of us can relate to this phenomenon. For the vast majority of buyers, long gone are the days of getting a Sears or Land’s End catalog in the mail and then calling up an 800 number to place an order. In the consumer world, we go through the buying process online nearly 100% of the time. You can actually buy and sell a house that way, not to mention more routine purchases like cars and boats. The entire consumer experience is now online, and marketing runs that world. Sales departments take orders and provide support. So why should it be any different in the B2B space?In recent history, the B2B marketing and selling environment has been quite divided functionally. The marketing world operated on a half-yearly and annual cycle, while sales operated on a quarterly cycle. Figuring out how to pass qualified leads generated by marketing to sales has always been a challenge. This is no longer the case in the B2C world, however. Why not? Because marketing runs pretty much everything, and B2C sales is all about fulfillment and customer support and care. Sales support and customer care include growing the relationship and educating the customer about potential recommendations and add-ons, but they are no longer primarily about closing the sale.“But what about B2B sales?” you ask. “The B2B sales process is highly complex. How can you not have sales people interact with the customer?” Well, actually, when you ask B2B buyers this question, most will now say that they prefer doing research on their own until they reach the point where they are absolutely sure who they want to engage with. Larger business organizations sometimes go through a more complicated request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, and in that case the buying process looks quite different, but organizations that are directly evaluating what to buy and do not need an RFI/RFP process can get the information and support they need through marketing alone.Yes, only marketing – because when B2B marketing is done competently, all of the questions a buyer has can be answered digitally via online assets. These assets might be of an overview of the product via data sheets, reference validation via customer success stories or actual product demos in the form of recorded videos. The irony is that when we think about the traditional buying process steps (awareness, interest, trial, purchase, repurchase), we still tend to believe that marketing generally stops at awareness generation and perhaps some level of interest creation, but in truth every one of these prospect/customer engagement steps can be digitized without the involvement of salespeople.So, to be successful in today’s fully digitized B2B selling environment, you invest in digital B2B marketing to build trust and educate the buyer. This is where most of your investment will go, and because of that it makes sense that marketing runs the show. Whereas in the past,

You must be saying, “What?” This article title makes no sense, right? Well, let me assure you: you’ve read it right. I firmly believe B2B marketing is taking over B2B selling, and I’ll explain why this makes sense.The primary research of all the major analyst firms (including Forrester, SiriusDecisions and Gartner) definitively shows (doesn’t just assert) that more and more buyers are relying almost exclusively on online, digital engagement as they go through the buying process. In many cases, buyers proceed through the entire process without ever talking to a seller.As consumers, all of us can relate to this phenomenon. For the vast majority of buyers, long gone are the days of getting a Sears or Land’s End catalog in the mail and then calling up an 800 number to place an order. In the consumer world, we go through the buying process online nearly 100% of the time. You can actually buy and sell a house that way, not to mention more routine purchases like cars and boats. The entire consumer experience is now online, and marketing runs that world. Sales departments take orders and provide support. So why should it be any different in the B2B space?In recent history, the B2B marketing and selling environment has been quite divided functionally. The marketing world operated on a half-yearly and annual cycle, while sales operated on a quarterly cycle. Figuring out how to pass qualified leads generated by marketing to sales has always been a challenge. This is no longer the case in the B2C world, however. Why not? Because marketing runs pretty much everything, and B2C sales is all about fulfillment and customer support and care. Sales support and customer care include growing the relationship and educating the customer about potential recommendations and add-ons, but they are no longer primarily about closing the sale.“But what about B2B sales?” you ask. “The B2B sales process is highly complex. How can you not have sales people interact with the customer?” Well, actually, when you ask B2B buyers this question, most will now say that they prefer doing research on their own until they reach the point where they are absolutely sure who they want to engage with. Larger business organizations sometimes go through a more complicated request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) process, and in that case the buying process looks quite different, but organizations that are directly evaluating what to buy and do not need an RFI/RFP process can get the information and support they need through marketing alone.Yes, only marketing – because when B2B marketing is done competently, all of the questions a buyer has can be answered digitally via online assets. These assets might be of an overview of the product via data sheets, reference validation via customer success stories or actual product demos in the form of recorded videos. The irony is that when we think about the traditional buying process steps (awareness, interest, trial, purchase, repurchase), we still tend to believe that marketing generally stops at awareness generation and perhaps some level of interest creation, but in truth every one of these prospect/customer engagement steps can be digitized without the involvement of salespeople.So, to be successful in today’s fully digitized B2B selling environment, you invest in digital B2B marketing to build trust and educate the buyer. This is where most of your investment will go, and because of that it makes sense that marketing runs the show. Whereas in the past,

The entire world is getting digitized—from supply chain to manufacturing to service delivery to customer acquisition—but when it comes to the last mile of product and service delivery via a channel partner network, it is amazing to see that most companies haven’t deployed partner relationship management (PRM) automation to any significant degree. This leaves a lot of low-hanging fruit related to growth and productivity, but also neglects a crucial part of the vendor-partner relationship: partner satisfaction levels. That’s what we will explore in detail in this article.

Before providing specific recommendations, let’s briefly look at the lifecycle of partner relationship management (PRM). This relationship starts with an organization signing up to resell products and services from another. Just like any new relationship, in the case of PRM there it’s important to recognize there are certain expectations that partner organizations have with respect to a vendor’s program. Over time, as the partner organization learns how to sell, market and serve, it’s not uncommon for a number of issues or conflicts to arise, accompanied by a drop in partner satisfaction. As satisfaction drops, partner engagement drops, and eventually the partner organization stops selling the vendor’s products and services or reduces the transaction level substantially.

So what can a vendor organization do to sustain and increase partner satisfaction over time, and how can

PRM automation help?

Make it easy to find. Business relationships are complex, and vendors tend to rely on the partner organization to search through their partner portal to find various documents, programs, plans and other assets and features. Most partner portals are difficult to navigate, primarily because content is poorly categorized and laid out. A state-of-the-art PRM software platform should allow a vendor organization not only to provide various categories of content, but most importantly to deliver them on a mobile-friendly platform using partner-specific profile information. This way, the only content that a partner sees is relevant to that partner, and the partner is not overwhelmed with a plethora of content that it may or may not need.

Make it easy to learn. Learning applies to all aspects of a new relationship between a vendor and a channel partner. The first thing a partner organization needs to learn is how to apply to specific programs, get trained on new products and services, how to sell them and how to market and serve the end-customers. Partner relationship management (PRM) software can automate all of these processes end to end and make it very easy for a partner to learn about all aspects of the vendor’s products and services. Most PRM software today comes with an built-in learning management system (LMS), as well as additional tools related to partner sales management (PSM) that emphasize gamification, leader boards, rewards alignment and other features that enable and incentivize sales.

Enable customer acquisition. The commitment to resell a vendor’s products and services requires significant investment from a partner organization. Therefore, the more the vendor can help a partner to get in front of new customers,—and not just settle for providing additional solutions to their existing line of products and services—the better the chance that the early relationship between the vendor and the partner will be mutually beneficial. We often hear channel partners praise vendors who make it easy to attract new customers by providing effective marketing and sales automation capabilities via PRM automation platforms.

Grow existing accounts. Getting new customers is hard, but getting existing customers interested in new products and services is even tougher, and it can also pose risks. A partner may instantly lose credibility with an established account if they push new products and services that don’t work very well.

The entire world is getting digitized—from supply chain to manufacturing to service delivery to customer acquisition—but when it comes to the last mile of product and service delivery via a channel partner network, it is amazing to see that most companies haven’t deployed partner relationship management (PRM) automation to any significant degree. This leaves a lot of low-hanging fruit related to growth and productivity, but also neglects a crucial part of the vendor-partner relationship: partner satisfaction levels. That’s what we will explore in detail in this article.

Before providing specific recommendations, let’s briefly look at the lifecycle of partner relationship management (PRM). This relationship starts with an organization signing up to resell products and services from another. Just like any new relationship, in the case of PRM there it’s important to recognize there are certain expectations that partner organizations have with respect to a vendor’s program. Over time, as the partner organization learns how to sell, market and serve, it’s not uncommon for a number of issues or conflicts to arise, accompanied by a drop in partner satisfaction. As satisfaction drops, partner engagement drops, and eventually the partner organization stops selling the vendor’s products and services or reduces the transaction level substantially.

So what can a vendor organization do to sustain and increase partner satisfaction over time, and how can PRM automation help?

* Make it easy to find. Business relationships are complex, and vendors tend to rely on the partner organization to search through their partner portal to find various documents, programs, plans and other assets and features. Most partner portals are difficult to navigate, primarily because content is poorly categorized and laid out. A state-of-the-art PRM software platform should allow a vendor organization not only to provide various categories of content, but most importantly to deliver them on a mobile-friendly platform using partner-specific profile information. This way, the only content that a partner sees is relevant to that partner, and the partner is not overwhelmed with a plethora of content that it may or may not need.

* Make it easy to learn. Learning applies to all aspects of a new relationship between a vendor and a channel partner. The first thing a partner organization needs to learn is how to apply to specific programs, get trained on new products and services, how to sell them and how to market and serve the end-customers. Partner relationship management (PRM) software can automate all of these processes end to end and make it very easy for a partner to learn about all aspects of the vendor’s products and services. Most PRM software today comes with an built-in learning management system (LMS), as well as additional tools related to partner sales management (PSM) that emphasize gamification, leader boards, rewards alignment and other features that enable and incentivize sales.

* Enable customer acquisition. The commitment to resell a vendor’s products and services requires significant investment from a partner organization. Therefore, the more the vendor can help a partner to get in front of new customers,—and not just settle for providing additional solutions to their existing line of products and services—the better the chance that the early relationship between the vendor and th...

If your organization has built a patched-up partner management system by adding applications (or objects) to your existing CRM infrastructure, then it’s likely you are investing enormous resources to answer basic business questions. This is where a purpose-built partner relationship management (PRM) platform can significantly improve your business performance while reducing cost. How does it work? That’s what we will explore in this article.

Until recently, most companies selling through the channel relied on automating their partner management workflow by using their existing CRM infrastructure instead of deploying partner relationship management (PRM) automation. However, when you try to manage certain program-related activities—things like marketing, lead management, incentives management, training and so on—with this kind of patched-up infrastructure, you will encounter three main problems.

Lack of data flow – When you use an object-based (i.e., application-based) approach to expand your current CRM system as a PRM platform, it makes the flow of records—and therefore business intelligence—very hard to develop. This, in fact, is the fundamental reason you are not realizing your business performance, because your infrastructure is failing to give you the right information at the right time.

Enormous maintenance costs – Every time you want to make any addition or change to a part of the platform, you have to worry about what components you will end up breaking. Also, limited IT resources prevent you from making the changes you need to keep moving forward as your channel evolves and changes are required. This can quickly make your organization’s channel infrastructure obsolete.

Poor partner experience – If you have six different applications (yes, we have seen it) patched to an existing CRM infrastructure, it is highly likely that each of these applications have their own business logic flow and therefore different user interfaces. It becomes a nightmare for a partner to learn all these different apps.

If you are reading this, nodding your head and saying, “Yes that's us, but we can never get out of this mess”—well, the reality is that you can get past the mess, provided you have courage, vision and true commitment. But how?

Courage – To truly get out of the tangled web that you have woven over the years, you first need to muster organizational courage. Yes, I know. It's not easy, but the best approach is to engage multiple executive sponsors (cross-functional) and have this conversation. Lay out examples of poor partner experience, IT costs and change-management issues, but most importantly explain how these issues are affecting the organization’s ability to make the right decisions and perform at an optimal level.

Vision – Once you have been able to muster executive support to start an evaluation process of what the end state could be, reach out to vendors like ZINFI and analyst firms to build a vision of what your PRM infrastructure should look like. Focus the discussion on key business questions you need to answer on a dynamic basis and the objectives you need to satisfy. Don’t get carried away looking at PRM features. Instead, begin by prioritizing key processes that are ripe for automation.

Commitment – This is where a fully funded plan can make your vision a reality. When you have cultivated executive sponsorship, and you have created a vision of the end state and how it can drive profitable growth and a much better partner experience, now you need to focus on how to get there step by step. Your CRM didn’t get tangled up overnight; likewise, you can’t expect to untangle it in a quarter. Have a clear four-to-six-quarter implementation plan and then go at it in a focused manner.

Once you have a migration plan to transition from your existing patched-up CRM system to a unified partner management framework using PRM, then you will need to focus on a few additional details regarding the sequ...