ZINFI Technologies, Inc.

Most channel partners don’t have a marketing department, a marketing specialist, or even an outsourced marketing provider, and even if they do, these resources tend to operate not as marketing strategists, but more as vendor interface managers - handling multiple vendors and a variety of product lines. This is where a partner marketing concierge comes in.

It is fair to say that most channel partners don’t really have the capabilities to execute vendors’ marketing programs or even specific campaigns effectively. What’s more, most channel partners don’t receive enough market development funds (MDF) at the right time to hire dedicated resources for a specific campaign or program. While some large distributors and a few, very large channel partners may receive funding for certain marketing resources on an annual contract; this is more of an exception than the rule. It looks like an impossible dilemma, but there is an easy way around this: provide the channel with partner marketing concierge services in bite-sized chunks.

Setting aside their lack of marketing resources, most channel partners don’t even have any kind of marketing automation infrastructure to drive a flow of leads in a consistent fashion. As a result, most partners, if they do any kind of marketing at all, tend to default to running events from time to time, coupled with random email or telemarketing campaigns. When these don’t produce leads or results, partners get frustrated with marketing and abandon their own efforts, as well as ceasing to engage on co-marketing efforts with vendors.

Over the past decade - following the lead of larger organizations like HP, Cisco, IBM and other major players - mid sized IT vendors have also started providing marketing tools, campaigns, assets and collateral to their channel partners. However, lack of dedicated resources on the channel means that adoption of these assets is very rare. The only way to overcome this impasse is to provide partner marketing concierge services to the channel base as an add-on capability. While the first step in enabling channel partners should always be the introduction of an end-to-end integrated channel marketing automation platform, without the provision of additional marketing enablement services, for the most part the potential of these platforms remains unrealized.

While top tier partners usually have access to market development funds (MDF) (please read our article What Can You Do to Drive Your Market Development Funds Utilization?), most do not take a strategic approach towards marketing. They tend to engage on transactional campaigns like email marketing or event marketing, which may work for small and medium deals but fail to deliver for higher value solution selling. We have recently seen some of the larger IT vendors starting to provide partner marketing managers to channel partners via their field organization, but this is not a scalable model above and beyond a handful of partners.

So, if your channel is doing 80% of their sales via 5-10% of your partner base, and the revenue generated per partner is in excess of a few million dollars per year, then dedicating marketing personnel to specific channel partners can provide ROI. However, that leaves hundreds or thousands of partners with no meaningful marketing support. (Further information is available in our article – How Partner Profiling Can Increase Your Channel Sales.

One resource-efficient way to resolve this issue is to provide outsourced partner marketing concierge services which partners can acquire on a temporary basis - say for a quarter or two - for an affordable, modest sum that could vary anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars and is funded by vendor MDF. When a vendor aligns their market development funds (MDF) process behind such a concierge effort, they can create a menu-based marketing catalog, incorporating pre-approved campaigns and activities which partners can select and execute independently, requiring very little support from the vendor’s sales or marketing organization.

Using a outsourced partner marketing concierge service, a channel partner will be able to run integrated campaigns using various types of marketing tactics, e.g., search marketing, social marketing or social content syndication, web content, event marketing and email marketing. If needed, a partner marketing concierge provider can also enhance the program by providing telemarketing or tele-prospecting services, setting up appointments with qualified leads that partner sales teams can engage with and close.

This outsourced partner marketing concierge structure is gaining rapid popularity in small and mid sized IT vendors, following the lead of larger IT vendors who have already deployed this structure across all geographies. ZINFI’s Partner Marketing Concierge services can enable a small and mid-size IT vendor to rapidly deploy one or more campaigns globally and fund them with market development funds.

Most channel partners don’t have a marketing department, a marketing specialist, or even an outsourced marketing provider, and even if they do, these resources tend to operate not as marketing strategists, but more as vendor interface managers – handling multiple vendors and a variety of product lines. This is where a partner marketing concierge comes in.It is fair to say that most channel partners don’t really have the capabilities to execute vendors’ marketing programs or even specific campaigns effectively. What’s more, most channel partners don’t receive enough market development funds (MDF) at the right time to hire dedicated resources for a specific campaign or program. While some large distributors and a few, very large channel partners may receive funding for certain marketing resources on an annual contract; this is more of an exception than the rule. It looks like an impossible dilemma, but there is an easy way around this: provide the channel with partner marketing concierge services in bite-sized chunks.Setting aside their lack of marketing resources, most channel partners don’t even have any kind of marketing automation infrastructure to drive a flow of leads in a consistent fashion. As a result, most partners, if they do any kind of marketing at all, tend to default to running events from time to time, coupled with random email or telemarketing campaigns. When these don’t produce leads or results, partners get frustrated with marketing and abandon their own efforts, as well as ceasing to engage on co-marketing efforts with vendors.Over the past decade – following the lead of larger organizations like HP, Cisco, IBM and other major players – mid sized IT vendors have also started providing marketing tools, campaigns, assets and collateral to their channel partners. However, lack of dedicated resources on the channel means that adoption of these assets is very rare. The only way to overcome this impasse is to provide partner marketing concierge services to the channel base as an add-on capability. While the first step in enabling channel partners should always be the introduction of an end-to-end integrated channel marketing automation platform, without the provision of additional marketing enablement services, for the most part the potential of these platforms remains unrealized.While top tier partners usually have access to market development funds (MDF) (please read our article What Can You Do to Drive Your Market Development Funds Utilization?), most do not take a strategic approach towards marketing. They tend to engage on transactional campaigns like email marketing or event marketing, which may work for small and medium deals but fail to deliver for higher value solution selling. We have recently seen some of the larger IT vendors starting to provide partner marketing managers to channel partners via their field organization, but this is not a scalable model above and beyond a handful of partners.So, if your channel is doing 80% of their sales via 5-10% of your partner base, and the revenue generated per partner is in excess of a few million dollars per year, then dedicating marketing personnel to specific channel partners can provide ROI. However, that leaves hundreds or thousands of partners with no meaningful marketing support. (Further information is available in our article – How Partner Profiling Can Increase Your Channel Sales.One resource-efficient way to resolve this issue is to provide outsourced partner marketing concierge services which...

Most channel partners don’t have a marketing department, a marketing specialist, or even an outsourced marketing provider, and even if they do, these resources tend to operate not as marketing strategists, but more as vendor interface managers - handling multiple vendors and a variety of product lines. This is where a partner marketing concierge comes in.

It is fair to say that most channel partners don’t really have the capabilities to execute vendors’ marketing programs or even specific campaigns effectively. What’s more, most channel partners don’t receive enough market development funds (MDF) at the right time to hire dedicated resources for a specific campaign or program. While some large distributors and a few, very large channel partners may receive funding for certain marketing resources on an annual contract; this is more of an exception than the rule. It looks like an impossible dilemma, but there is an easy way around this: provide the channel with partner marketing concierge services in bite-sized chunks.

Setting aside their lack of marketing resources, most channel partners don’t even have any kind of marketing automation infrastructure to drive a flow of leads in a consistent fashion. As a result, most partners, if they do any kind of marketing at all, tend to default to running events from time to time, coupled with random email or telemarketing campaigns. When these don’t produce leads or results, partners get frustrated with marketing and abandon their own efforts, as well as ceasing to engage on co-marketing efforts with vendors.

Over the past decade - following the lead of larger organizations like HP, Cisco, IBM and other major players - mid sized IT vendors have also started providing marketing tools, campaigns, assets and collateral to their channel partners. However, lack of dedicated resources on the channel means that adoption of these assets is very rare. The only way to overcome this impasse is to provide partner marketing concierge services to the channel base as an add-on capability. While the first step in enabling channel partners should always be the introduction of an end-to-end integrated channel marketing automation platform, without the provision of additional marketing enablement services, for the most part the potential of these platforms remains unrealized.

While top tier partners usually have access to market development funds (MDF) (please read our article What Can You Do to Drive Your Market Development Funds Utilization?), most do not take a strategic approach towards marketing. They tend to engage on transactional campaigns like email marketing or event marketing, which may work for small and medium deals but fail to deliver for higher value solution selling. We have recently seen some of the larger IT vendors starting to provide partner marketing managers to channel partners via their field organization, but this is not a scalable model above and beyond a handful of partners.

So, if your channel is doing 80% of their sales via 5-10% of your partner base, and the revenue generated per partner is in excess of a few million dollars per year, then dedicating marketing personnel to specific channel partners can provide ROI. However, that leaves hundreds or thousands of partners with no meaningful marketing support. (Further information is available in our article – How Partner Profiling Can Increase Your Channel Sales.

One resource-efficient way to resolve this issue is to provide ...

Email marketing remains a powerful growth channel when built on relationships, relevance, and genuine value delivery. The question of whether digital outreach through inbox campaigns has died depends entirely on execution strategy. Organizations that combine personalized messaging with permission-based approaches continue generating measurable returns from their campaigns.

The debate about whether email marketing has become obsolete resurfaces every year as new communication channels emerge. Social media platforms, messaging applications, and AI-powered chatbots have all been positioned as replacements for inbox outreach. However, the data consistently shows that well-executed campaigns continue delivering strong return on investment across industries.

The real issue is not whether inbox campaigns work but whether organizations execute them with respect for recipient preferences. Unsolicited bulk messages sent to purchased lists without personalization rightfully earn the label of spam communications. Permission-based outreach to engaged audiences who voluntarily subscribed remains one of the highest-converting digital channels available.

This article explores why relationship-driven email marketing thrives while interruptive mass blasting has rightfully become obsolete today. Understanding the distinction between these approaches helps organizations build campaigns that recipients actually welcome and engage with. The key lies in combining inbox outreach with social engagement, content value, and intelligent audience segmentation strategies.

Key Takeaways

Email marketing succeeds when built on permission-based relationships and genuine value delivery to engaged subscribers.

Unsolicited bulk messaging to purchased lists has rightfully become obsolete and damages sender reputation severely.

Recipients open messages from known individuals at significantly higher rates than generic organizational sender addresses.

Social marketing creates the relationship foundation that makes subsequent inbox outreach relevant and welcomed by prospects.

Personalized content aligned with demonstrated interest categories dramatically improves open rates and engagement metrics consistently.

Compliance with anti-spam regulations like DMARC authentication standards protects sender reputation and deliverability rates.

ZINFI's integrated marketing platform combines inbox campaigns with search and social tools for comprehensive demand generation.

Why Does Relationship-Based Email Marketing Still Deliver Strong Results?

The fundamental characteristic of inbox outreach is that it represents an interruptive process within a recipient's workday. When messages arrive from unknown organizations, most recipients delete them without reading any of the content. Data consistently shows that messages from recognized individuals receive significantly higher open rates than generic addresses.

This pattern reveals why relationship-based email marketing continues thriving while impersonal mass blasting has become ineffective. People relate to other people, not to faceless corporate identities sending automated promotional content at random intervals. When recipients know and trust the sender, they are far more likely to open, read, and act on messages.

The success of inbox campaigns is fundamentally linked to relational approaches where trust precedes promotional messaging. Organizations must earn the right to appear in someone's inbox through demonstrated value and genuine professional connections. Building these relationships requires consistent delivery of relevant content that addresses specific audience needs and interests.

Companies that treat their subscriber lists as communities rather than target demographics achieve dramatically higher engagement rates. Personalized subject lines, segmented content, and respectful sending frequencies transform campaigns from interruptions into anticipated communications. This relationship-first approach ensures that digital outreach through inbox channels remains a viable and profitable strategy.

How Does Social Marketing Create the Foundation for Effective Inbox Campaigns?

The critical question for email marketing strategists is how to build relationships with prospects before any direct interaction. Social marketing channels have evolved dramatically over the past decade to fill this relationship-building gap effectively. Most prospective buyers now search online for solutions, exploring vendor websites, category topics, and search engine results.

When prospects land on a company website through organic search or social media engagement, a unique relationship-forming opportunity. Capturing their company name and interest category through newsletter signups provides essential personalization data for future outreach. This voluntary opt-in confirms genuine interest and provides permission to send relevant content directly to their inbox.

Armed with demonstrated interest data, organizations can tailor email marketing subject lines and content to match specific topics. A prospect who expressed interest in firewall solutions should receive communications highlighting that category prominently in headers. The message body can include adjacent topics like networking switches or security solutions that might also interest them.

Every subsequent website visit driven by inbox campaigns generates additional behavioral data for further content personalization. Automatically configuring and pushing relevant content based on browsing patterns deepens the relationship with each interaction. This social-to-inbox pipeline transforms cold outreach into warm, permission-based communication that recipients genuinely value and anticipate.

What Separates Effective Inbox Campaigns From Harmful Spam Practices?

Email marketing crosses into spam territory when messages are unsolicited, irrelevant, and sent in bulk to unfiltered recipient lists. Purchasing contact lists from third-party vendors and sending wholesale blasts without knowing recipient preferences constitutes interruption marketing. As marketing thought leader Seth Godin famously warned, this approach abandons invitation marketing for aggressive interruption tactics.

The consequences of spam practices extend far beyond low open rates and recipient annoyance with unwanted messages. Recipients who mark messages as spam directly damage the sender's domain reputation across major inbox service providers. Accumulated spam complaints can result in complete blacklisting, preventing even legitimate messages from reaching intended recipients effectively.

Regulatory frameworks have tightened considerably around unsolicited commercial communications in major markets worldwide. Canadian anti-spam legislation requires recipients to proactively opt in before senders can legally correspond with them electronically. Organizations that ignore these regulations face significant financial penalties and lasting reputational damage within their industries.

Legitimate email marketing operates on fundamentally different principles than mass blasting approaches that damage the entire channel. Permission-based subscriber lists, clear opt-out mechanisms, and content aligned with demonstrated interests define professional practices. Organizations following these standards maintain strong sender reputations and achieve engagement rates that justify continued investment.

How Should Organizations Integrate Inbox Outreach With Other Digital Marketing Channels?

Email marketing achieves maximum effectiveness when integrated with complementary digital channels rather than operating in isolation. Search marketing drives initial discovery while social engagement builds the relationship foundation that makes inbox outreach relevant. Direct mail, video content, and microsite experiences provide additional touchpoints that reinforce messaging across the buyer journey.

The winning combination typically includes search engine optimization for discovery, social platforms for relationship building, and targeted campaigns. Each channel serves a distinct purpose within the overall demand generation strategy while reinforcing messages from other channels. This integrated approach ensures prospects encounter consistent, relevant messaging regardless of which channel they engage through.

Content syndication across channels amplifies the reach and impact of every piece of marketing material an organization produces. A whitepaper promoted through social media drives newsletter signups, which enable targeted inbox follow-up with related content. This cross-channel reinforcement creates compounding engagement that single-channel strategies simply cannot replicate for B2B organizations.

Organizations that master channel integration transform email marketing from a standalone tactic into a strategic growth engine. Inbox campaigns become the connective tissue linking discovery, engagement, nurturing, and conversion across the entire marketing funnel. This holistic approach delivers significantly higher returns than any individual channel operating independently within the marketing mix.

How Is ZINFI Empowering Channel Organizations With Integrated Email Marketing Solutions?

ZINFI provides an integrated marketing platform that combines inbox campaign management with search, social, and content distribution tools. The platform enables channel organizations to execute coordinated multi-channel campaigns from a single unified interface efficiently. ZINFI's approach ensures that every marketing touchpoint reinforces the relationship-building strategy that drives sustainable demand generation.

Automated Campaign Orchestration. ZINFI enables coordinated multi-channel campaign execution with intelligent scheduling and audience segmentation capabilities....

The short answer is – maybe. It really depends whether you are trying to use email marketing to reach a stranger or to contact someone either you know or who knows you. The whole notion of opt-in email marketing evolved almost a couple of decades ago but email marketing is often viewed as spam because so very few people actually follow the rules. Too often we see email marketers sending out emails to a broad list of recipients that they have procured either from multiple sources or from random traffic to their website.The real characteristic of email marketing is that it is an interruptive process. Suppose you are in the middle of your workday; you are waiting either for a phone call or you are actually making a call or in a conference call and an email arrives. If you look at it and see that it is from an organization you don’t know, for the most part you simply delete the email without reading it. Data shows, however, that when an email comes from an individual, even if we don’t know them, there is more likelihood that people will open it a lot more than an email coming from John Smith than one from a generic email ID such as “Marketing”, “Sales” or “Tech Support”. Why is this? Because we relate to people. It follows that, if the recipient of the email knows you, they are far more likely to open the email than if it came from a stranger. The success of email marketing is heavily linked to relational or relationship marketing. But the question is, how do you build a relationship with a potential prospect when you have not previously interacted with that individual? That’s where social marketing comes in.Over the last decade, and especially over the last 5 years, various channels of social marketing have evolved. Today, most prospective buyers of solutions tend to look online for what they need. They search based on vendor names, or on category topics, but once they start searching they tend to focus on the set of sites that are presented to them through search engine results pages (SERP). If your company crops up within the top 10,15 or 20 results, chances are that a prospective buyer will click through to your site, as long as the topic they are searching for is aligned with the theme of your website or blog. When a prospect lands on your website, you have a unique opportunity to start forming a relationship.It is very important for you to capture two sets of information from prospects: their company name and the nature of their interest category. You can do this very easily by giving them the option to sign up for a newsletter. If they do sign up, you have confirmation of their category of interest. This enables you to start sending these prospects value-added email content focused on that specific topic of interest. If you are sending an email newsletter you can tweak the subject line to more closely reflect the topic in which the prospect was interested, even if the body of the newsletter will contain other articles or other topics. For example, if you are a hardware manufacturer selling networking products, switches, routers and firewalls, and the prospect expressed an interest in information on firewalls. Then the follow on communication should highlight firewalls in the subject line.You still have the freedom in the body copy of the newsletter or email marketing piece to include other articles on routers or switches or a security solution, because the prospect may also be interested in other, ancillary areas. Whenever prospects land on your website as a result of your email marketing efforts and navigate to topics that interest them, you need to be able to automatically configure and push content that is relevant to that specific reader. Providing information of value to the end user is an important step in building a relationship, keeping the reader engaged, and coming back to your site for more.

The short answer is – maybe. It really depends whether you are trying to use email marketing to reach a stranger or to contact someone either you know or who knows you. The whole notion of opt-in email marketing evolved almost a couple of decades ago but email marketing is often viewed as spam because so very few people actually follow the rules. Too often we see email marketers sending out emails to a broad list of recipients that they have procured either from multiple sources or from random traffic to their website.

The real characteristic of email marketing is that it is an interruptive process. Suppose you are in the middle of your workday; you are waiting either for a phone call or you are actually making a call or in a conference call and an email arrives. If you look at it and see that it is from an organization you don’t know, for the most part you simply delete the email without reading it. Data shows, however, that when an email comes from an individual, even if we don’t know them, there is more likelihood that people will open it a lot more than an email coming from John Smith than one from a generic email ID such as “Marketing”, “Sales” or “Tech Support”. Why is this? Because we relate to people. It follows that, if the recipient of the email knows you, they are far more likely to open the email than if it came from a stranger. The success of email marketing is heavily linked to relational or relationship marketing. But the question is, how do you build a relationship with a potential prospect when you have not previously interacted with that individual? That’s where social marketing comes in.

Over the last decade, and especially over the last 5 years, various channels of social marketing have evolved. Today, most prospective buyers of solutions tend to look online for what they need. They search based on vendor names, or on category topics, but once they start searching they tend to focus on the set of sites that are presented to them through search engine results pages (SERP). If your company crops up within the top 10,15 or 20 results, chances are that a prospective buyer will click through to your site, as long as the topic they are searching for is aligned with the theme of your website or blog. When a prospect lands on your website, you have a unique opportunity to start forming a relationship.

It is very important for you to capture two sets of information from prospects: their company name and the nature of their interest category. You can do this very easily by giving them the option to sign up for a newsletter. If they do sign up, you have confirmation of their category of interest. This enables you to start sending these prospects value-added email content focused on that specific topic of interest. If you are sending an email newsletter you can tweak the subject line to more closely reflect the topic in which the prospect was interested, even if the body of the newsletter will contain other articles or other topics. For example, if you are a hardware manufacturer selling networking products, switches, routers and firewalls, and the prospect expressed an interest in information on firewalls. Then the follow on communication should highlight firewalls in the subject line.

You still have the freedom in the body copy of the newsletter or email marketing piece to include other articles on routers or switches or a security solution, because the prospect may also be interested in other, ancillary areas. Whenever prospects land on your website as a result of your email marketing efforts and navigate to topics that interest them, you need to be able to automatically configure and push content that is relevant to that specific reader. Providing information of value to the end user is an important step in building a r...

Lackluster returns from a marketing campaign are common, but understanding why this is the case is not always clear-cut. Traditionally, poor results are usually attributed to three failures - ineffective targeting, improper implementation (failure to use integrated marketing), and diffused messaging without a clear call to action. In this article, we will focus on the approaches and tactics.

Marketing Automation platforms today allow any business to pick the right tactic for the right segment. Assuming you know whom to target (very important), the next step is to understand how your targets buy and to pick the right approach for engagement.

From time to time we get calls from prospective B2B clients who just want price details and a high-level services summary. Almost every time this happens, it turns out that they are just looking for information to fill a hole in a comparative vendor chart, and we don’t have a chance to bid for that deal because the inquirer usually has already made up their mind. On the other hand, when we can engage with prospects at an early stage through an integrated marketing process and build relationship and trust, we close opportunities almost two out of three times. When we engage at the last stage, we close one out of ten times - because very likely we were the 2nd or 3rd choice vendor, based on information over which we have little direct control. This is true for all organizations and this is where appropriate marketing plays a big role.

Whether we are a business or a consumer buyer, we all pretty much go through a classic purchasing process. Almost all of us go through the traditional cycle of awareness, interest, trial, purchase and repurchase. The engagement process for each varies quite a bit depending on what segment of buyers we are targeting and what kind of products we are offering via an integrated marketing process. These are the two primary selection factors that need to be remembered:

Customer Segment, e.g., Small Business (<100 employees), Mid Market (100-1,000 employees), Enterprise (1,000 to 10,000 employees) & Large Enterprise (>10,000)

Solution Types, e.g., requires involved purchase (complex solutions) or uninvolved purchase (simple transactions)

How you use integrated marketing approach to promote transactional products to a small business is very different from the way you promote solutions to large enterprises. The marketing and sales processes for both vary considerably and picking the right approach is critical in engaging the buyer at the right stage.

Before we take a deep dive into the topic of alignment of integrated marketing tactics with customer segments and solution types, let’s visit the purpose of integrated marketing. As Philip Kottler once said, "Marketing simply does two things - build brands and drive demand".

Now what is brand building? It’s nothing but relationship building, which leads to the setting of price premiums and lead generation for future engagements. Most branding activities tend to be awareness-centric, and this is where public relations activities come into play. It’s complicated at the front end (awareness-building) of the funnel because the communications channels have become very fragmented - though the later part of the buying process for business still follows a more predictable structure.

Before you worry about awareness-building tactics, the first question that needs to be answered is, what is the purpose of the campaign? Is it building a brand for the future, or is it about driving demand within a much shorter time frame? While branding activity through multiple communications channels certainly impacts the probability of closing a transaction, what can also drive brand awareness is sales. The more you sell, the more people are using your products and services, and that increases general awareness among the very important target group: users. Don’t forget that, in today’s social media environment, both good and bad user reviews spread quickly. So, actively managing customer experience and providing superior value has a big impact on brand building. For more information on this topic, please read our article 5 Not-to-be Missed Opportunities for Growing Customer Revenues.

Once you have settled on the objective of your integrated marketing campaign - strategic (branding) or tactical (demand generation) - the next important stage is to focus on aligning the tactics with solutions. The outline below gives a simple summary of how to align various tactics for solution and segment selling. Let’s go through each tactic one by one, but remember that taking a multi-tactical approach is critical for certain segments both to build a brand and drive near-term demand.

Awareness Tactics- Organic search, paid search, social media, content channels, press releases, articles, etc. all play a consistent role in driving awareness for all segments (SMB, Midmarket, and Enterprise).

Interest Generation Tactics- eBooks, short webinars, informational videos, and podcasts also work well for all segments. Face-to-face events work quite well for the mid-market and enterprise segments.

Trial or Demo Tactics- Online demos for software and onsite demos for hardware are traditional B2B sales tactics. However, onsite demos and pilots are expensive, so it’s important to have referral cases so that a prospect can deploy similar environments without undue investment of resources and come to a proper conclusion. In many cases, potential clients are willing to run a paid pilot.

Repurchase- The SMB segment can be reached through telemarketing close to expiry time, but for most mid-market and enterprise sales, the renewal process starts well ahead of the contract expiration date. For a deeper dive into the topic, please read our article on 5 Not-to-be Missed Opportunities for Growing Customer Revenues. Large account sales renewals with the same provider are based on three primary criteria: how happy the customer is, what the switching cost is likely to be, and how many choices are available. It’s incredibly important for a provider to understand these criteria for them to continue to be the supplier of choice.

Based on the current state of the market, integrated marketing, i.e., use of search, social, email, events, collateral and other marketing tools, is the only way to ensure that campaigns are effective and to align the right tool for the right segment. ZINFI’s Partner Marketing Management (PMM) platform provides a plethora of integrated marketing tools, which when coupled with ZINFI’s database and marketing concierge services enable an organization to build demand in a focused and confident way.

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Lackluster returns from a marketing campaign are common, but understanding why this is the case is not always clear-cut. Traditionally, poor results are usually attributed to three failures – ineffective targeting, improper implementation (failure to use integrated marketing), and diffused messaging without a clear call to action. In this article we will focus on the approaches and tactics.Marketing Automation platforms today allow any business to pick the right tactic for the right segment. Assuming you know whom to target (very important), the next step is to understand how your targets buy, and to pick the right approach for engagement.From time to time we get calls from prospective B2B clients who just want price details and a high-level services summary. Almost every time this happens, it turns out that they are just looking for information to fill a hole in a comparative vendor chart, and we don’t have a chance to bid for that deal because the inquirer usually has already made up their mind. On the other hand, when we are able to engage with prospects at an early stage through an integrated marketing process and build relationship and trust, we close opportunities almost two out of three times. When we engage at the last stage, we close one out of ten times – because very likely we were the 2nd or 3rd choice vendor, based on information over which we have little direct control. This is true for all organizations and this is where appropriate marketing plays a big role.Whether we are a business or a consumer buyer, we all pretty much go through a classic purchasing process. Almost all of us go through the traditional cycle of awareness, interest, trial, purchase and repurchase. The engagement process for each varies quite a bit depending on what segment of buyers we are targeting and what kind of products we are offering via an integrated marketing process. These are the two primary selection factors that need to be remembered:* Customer Segment, e.g., Small Business (<100 employees), Mid Market (100-1,000 employees), Enterprise (1,000 to 10,000 employees) & Large Enterprise (>10,000)* Solution Types, e.g., requires involved purchase (complex solutions) or uninvolved purchase (simple transactions)How you use integrated marketing approach to promote transactional products to a small business is very different from the way you promote solutions to large enterprises. The marketing and sales processes for both vary considerably, and picking the right approach is critical in engaging the buyer at the right stage.Before we take a deep dive into the topic of alignment of integrated marketing tactics with customer segments and solution types, let’s visit the purpose of integrated marketing. As Philip Kottler once said, “Marketing simply does two things – build brands and drive demand”.Now what is brand building? It’s nothing but relationship building, which leads to the setting of price premiums and lead generation for future engagements. Most branding activities tend to be awareness centric, and this is where public relations activities come in to play. It’s complicated at the front end (awareness-building) of the funnel because the communications channels have become very fragmented – though the later part of the buying process for business still follows a more predictable structure. Before you worry about awareness building tactics, the first question that needs to be answered is, what is the purpose of the campaign? Is it building a brand for the future, or is it about driving demand within a much shorter time frame. While branding activity through multiple communications channels certainly impacts the probability of closing a transaction, what can also drive brand awareness is sales. The more you sell, the more people are using your products and services,

Lackluster returns from a marketing campaign are common, but understanding why this is the case is not always clear-cut. Traditionally, poor results are usually attributed to three failures - ineffective targeting, improper implementation (failure to use integrated marketing), and diffused messaging without a clear call to action. In this article we will focus on the approaches and tactics.

Marketing Automation platforms today allow any business to pick the right tactic for the right segment. Assuming you know whom to target (very important), the next step is to understand how your targets buy, and to pick the right approach for engagement.

From time to time we get calls from prospective B2B clients who just want price details and a high-level services summary. Almost every time this happens, it turns out that they are just looking for information to fill a hole in a comparative vendor chart, and we don’t have a chance to bid for that deal because the inquirer usually has already made up their mind. On the other hand, when we are able to engage with prospects at an early stage through an integrated marketing process and build relationship and trust, we close opportunities almost two out of three times. When we engage at the last stage, we close one out of ten times - because very likely we were the 2nd or 3rd choice vendor, based on information over which we have little direct control. This is true for all organizations and this is where appropriate marketing plays a big role.

Whether we are a business or a consumer buyer, we all pretty much go through a classic purchasing process. Almost all of us go through the traditional cycle of awareness, interest, trial, purchase and repurchase. The engagement process for each varies quite a bit depending on what segment of buyers we are targeting and what kind of products we are offering via an integrated marketing process. These are the two primary selection factors that need to be remembered:

* Customer Segment, e.g., Small Business (<100 employees), Mid Market (100-1,000 employees), Enterprise (1,000 to 10,000 employees) & Large Enterprise (>10,000)

* Solution Types, e.g., requires involved purchase (complex solutions) or uninvolved purchase (simple transactions)

How you use integrated marketing approach to promote transactional products to a small business is very different from the way you promote solutions to large enterprises. The marketing and sales processes for both vary considerably, and picking the right approach is critical in engaging the buyer at the right stage.

Before we take a deep dive into the topic of alignment of integrated marketing tactics with customer segments and solution types, let’s visit the purpose of integrated marketing. As Philip Kottler once said, "Marketing simply does two things - build brands and drive demand".

Now what is brand building? It’s nothing but relationship building, which leads to the setting of price premiums and lead generation for future engagements. Most branding activities tend to be awareness centric, and this is where public relations activities come in to play. It’s complicated at the front end (awareness-building) of the funnel because the communications channels have become very fragmented - though the later part of the buying process for business still follows a more predictable structure. Before you worry about awareness building tactics, the first question that needs to be answered is, what is the purpose of the campaign? Is it building a brand for the future, or is it about driving demand within a much shorter time frame. While branding activity through multiple communications channels certainly impacts the probability of closing a transaction,

Growing Customer revenues are a top priority for most B2B IT solutions providers. New customer acquisition is one way of accomplishing this, but we all know that winning new accounts in today’s hyper competitive IT market is really hard. So what else can drive this growth? The simple answer is: taking better care of existing customers. I know it sounds obvious, but the reality is, very few IT solutions providers have client management resources that are focused on growing existing relationships and do a good job with installed base selling.

In our work with IT resellers we see a consistent set of characteristics among those who are successful and are capable of growing Customer revenues. Here is a brief summary of what we believe to be the ‘success DNA’ of solution providers who have successfully grown their revenue through installed base selling.

Focus on quality of service- IT is not a hit and run business. The days of shipping a product and going dark until the next time the customer needs something are gone. Even – or especially - for small to mid-sized IT solution providers, it’s important to put some energy towards building a technical team that is highly focused, trained and certified and able to solve problems. The quality of the service resources you provide to your customers will drive the ongoing relationship, so hiring resources on the cheap or economizing on training and certifications is not a long-term strategy: eventually, it always backfires. Investing in competent technical resources, and paying good market rates is a winning formula for installed base selling.

Understand the business scenario- Whether you are selling a server as a transactional product or a SaaS application, it is very important to understand your customers’ overall business, their IT pain points and the usage pattern of their current solutions. The goal for installed base selling is not to sell something at any cost: it is to understand customers’ business goals so that you can recommend a set of solutions that will truly help them. Many IT solution providers claim they are trusted advisors, but to advise wisely you need to know your client well.

Understand the competition- We are all tempted to say that we are better than the competition, but the reality is that, for the most part, our competitors are just as smart as us. Very rarely in today’s market is there a market niche for which there is only one provider. Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain a broad perspective - understanding how your competition might want to help your customers, focusing constantly on service expansion and quality improvement, and not placing all your dependence on relationship-based engagement is vital for installed base selling.

Solve for today but build for tomorrow- While it’s a given that you need to make sure you deliver what your client asks for, be analytical: think through whether they are asking for the right solution or product, and what else they might need to achieve the expected result, or better. For example, the simple addition of a maintenance contract - especially for hardware - is the most common missed opportunity. IT providers sometimes think that if they sell a maintenance contract, the client may go directly with the technology vendor in case of faults or breakdowns. On the contrary. End customers buy maintenance contracts to protect their investment, but when repairs are required, its an opportunity for the service provider to re-engage with the client and for further installed base selling.

Build domain expertise - Many times we hear from IT providers that they are a general service provider – “We sell all things to all people” - especially in SMB segment. But, can you really be great at everything? Are you at risk of mediocrity by not specializing? The complexity and variety of IT solutions and software, and the relevant certifications, make it unlikely that one provider can be a universal expert unless they are a huge organization like CDW. So, why make it tough on yourself by being overly generic? A streamlined, focus on a particular segment or client type, such as legal, accounting, retail or education is becoming prevalent in most markets for good reason: it allows a provider to focus and build expertise and expand locally and, ultimately, regionally. Once you have built domain expertise, it is easy to underscore your market knowledge by running special events like ‘lunch and learns’ or webinars, or tele-prospecting for your installed base selling. Achieving domain expertise allows you to build your reputation, establish confidence with your customers, and win referrals that will expand your business.

Resellers who focus on understanding their customers, do a great job in a specific segment and differentiate themselves based on quality and expertise will be able to grow their accounts not just by word of mouth and reputation, but also through true social selling.

ZINFI’s Partner Marketing Management (PMM) Platform includes customer survey tools, allowing resellers to undertake a formal survey of their installed base selling effort. For information on other tactics for social selling, please refer to our blog article, 7 Social Selling Tools You Need To Be a Super Salesperson. This article covers Social Marketing, Social Selling, Email Marketing, CRM, and other necessary tools for being successful in installed base selling.

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