Build Your Channel Marketing Plan

Channel Marketing is everything you do to help your channel partner create awareness and interest for your product or service. Your objective is to outline the most effective allocation of joint resources to achieve mutual revenue targets. Every channel marketing program should have a plan. Your plan focuses on your partner's customers and marketplace and includes items like:

• Public Relations
• Collateral Materials
• Trade Shows
• Web Presence
• Joint Events
• Training
• Brand Imaging

In creating your plan, there are three steps that need to be completed. First, you need to research the customers you are trying to serve. Secondly, complete an analysis of the research. Finally, an implementation plan needs to be completed that addresses all the issues from the research and analysis.

Research

The first step in the process is to complete the customer research. The customers you want to focus on have two critical characteristics. They have a need for the solution you are delivering and, they have the means to purchase. Your research should identify the following key issues:

• Number of Customers
• Type of Customers
• Customer Business Issues and Value Drivers
• How Customers Will Use Your Product
• Customer's Price Sensitivity and Buying Process
• Support and Service Requirements
• Political, Social, Technological and Economic Considerations
• Your Competition

Analysis

With the research results in hand, perform a standard S.W.O.T. review of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are exposed. Here are the key things you should consider:

• Select the key strengths that you can leverage and take advantage of them
• Identify the biggest weaknesses you have exposed and plan to reduce or eliminate their impact
• Address the top opportunities you have identified and compete for them
• Reduce external threats as much as you can

Implementation Plan

Then use the resulting information from the analysis to put together the implementation plan. Your customer research tells you where you are now. The S.W.O.T. analysis tells you where you want to be. Your implementation plan documents step by step how you will achieve the results.

The implementation plan should include at minimum the following:

• One-to-one actions, one-to-few activities, and one-to-many initiatives
• The internal impact of your plan and what you need to do inside your own company with workflow and budget in order to succeed
• Agreement with your channel partner on their role and resource contribution
• Project plan, assigned ownership, metrics, timing, team members and ownership of each action item
• Identification of the person with overall responsibility
• A schedule and method for reviewing and updating the plan

In conclusion, a channel marketing plan is critical to the overall success of your program. Use the 3-step process outlined above to guide your actions and you are on your way.

Related Articles

• Channel Partner Planning
• Recruiting Channel Partners
• Channel Management
• Channel Sales

Return From Channel Marketing To Home