Channel Incentives: Marketplace Best Practices  

In a rapidly growing cloud market, enterprises of all sizes demand more services at an increased pace. Line of Business and IT admins are now joining forces to make technology decisions, and the multiple touch points require cloud providers and partners to be well equipped to address prospects’ questions on the spot. The agile cloud product development cycle requires marketing services to become agile as well.

To cater to SMB customers as well as large enterprises, it is crucial for organizations to set up the right program and platform to monitor funds, investments, incentives and utilization of programs effectively. Manual processes and systems or those that are built in silos will no longer be a sustainable and scalable way to address this growing market.

Building synergy

To make the most of a newly created Marketplace program, you should build internal and external synergy early on to partly align the objectives and expected outcomes of the program. It is important to allow enough time to obtain buy-in from the appropriate stakeholders before launching a marketplace option.

Your proposal for a channel incentives Marketplace program should highlight what you are planning to accomplish and why it is significant to the overall business. It should also include a competitive and financial analysis, as well as key partners’ feedback.

To help build the right value proposition for all stakeholders, here are 10 tips to remember:

1.         Offer a Marketplace as an integrated service with MDF/co-op fund management

2.         Consider processes, communication requirements, and coordinated planning

3.         Roll out locally, but think globally by having a defined workflow process

4.         Choose a centralized platform that enables automation, reporting, and analytics

5.         Consider your partners’ capabilities and input

6.         Be flexible in the assessment and evaluation of your marketing services

7.         Offer what you know is impactful and has made you successful

8.         Retire what is not needed or used, and measure success using reports and metrics

9.         Drive behavior with the right reward system, and be transparent

10.       Establish a benchmark to measure against, so you can track your progress

Customers and resellers gravitate toward vendors who are ready to set them up for success. This is your chance to help your teams and your partners become more successful.

Let us know what your challenges are!

About the Author

Deb Broderson comes to Perks with 30 years of diverse experience leading channel marketing, marketing operations and program management teams within the technology industry. Deb has provided strategic direction to Fortune 500 clients, developed and executed global, multi-channel, go-to-market strategies and created worldwide field marketing organizations. Deb has worked on both the agency and client-side of the business, providing a well-rounded perspective to client challenges. Deb was honored as one of the Top 50 Channel Chiefs in North America by CRN.

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