A perfect storm of new technologies, transforming business models, rapidly evolving competition, consumerization and economic forces have fundamentally changed the traditional supplier/partner relationship. Jay McBain, the co-founder and CMO of ChannelEyes, a channel mobile app platform, shares 14 channel marketing mistakes. How many of these have you seen – or made? See original slideshow at: http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/galleries/2013/11/14-channel-marketing-mistakes.aspx

1. 14 Channel Marketing Mistakes
A Channel Partners Slide Show
*List courtesy ChannelEyes co-founder and CMO, Jay McBain

2. About the List
It doesn’t come as a surprise to channel professionals that things are changing faster than ever across
the partner ecosystem. A perfect storm of new technologies, transforming business models, rapidly
evolving competition, consumerization and economic forces have fundamentally changed the
traditional supplier/partner relationship. Not only are things moving much faster, the relationships
have become significantly more complex. Ten years ago, a solid email, portal, phone, advertising and
events strategy was all that was needed to communicate effectively to partners and customers. Today
we have more than 30 marketing vehicles in play, and the level of noise and clutter is, at times, out of
control. Most of us were taught to measure ROI and then focus on the top two or three things that
drive results. The problem is that these two or three things aren’t working the way they used to:
Email newsletters aren’t getting opened or clicked through.
Beyond the usual suspects, Webinar and trade-show traffic are dropping.
• Advertising, whether print or digital, is not having the same impact as years ago.
• Portal traffic is at an all-time low – partners just aren’t coming in the same numbers.
While every situation is different – the following 14 Channel Marketing Mistakes are common
throughout our industry.
http://channeleyes.com/are-you-making-these-14-channel-marketing-mistakes

3. 1. Not Utilizing New Automation Tools
for Email and Newsletters
The recent surge in marketing automation
popularity has not yet worked its way into
channel communication. The ability to set
automatic triggers based on a partner’s
behavior results in a new level of insight.
Scoring each individual partner based on
their actions can improve future
communication and content to be more
relevant and focused. The win here is
implementing a drip campaign across the
channel catering to each person based on
where they are in the marketing/sales
funnel.

4. 2. Too Reliant on the Partner Portal
for Communication
Surveys completed in the past six months
show that 95 percent of partners do not
regularly use partner portals. In fact,
unless they are forced to log in for deal
registration or mandatory education to
keep their status, many partners do not
come at all. Channel marketing and
communication has increasingly become a
push versus a pull exercise.

5. 3. Not Taking Advantage of Communities
The partner ecosystem is large and diverse, with
dozens of different specialties, business models
and types. There are many sub-communities that
have formed to serve these differences. These take
the form of associations, online forums, social
media, media groups, vendor and distributor
groups, user and peer groups. Communities tend
to be more focused and specialized and have
people that support each other with common
interests and challenges. What makes them
powerful is the ability to influence through the
implied endorsement of the larger membership. In
many cases, participation is the only cost of entry.

6. 4. Too Focused on the Home Run
Channel marketing has become a game of
singles. The “dandelion” approach to
marketing relies on distributing multiple
seeds across as many flowers as possible.
We are in the attention economy now, and
not taking advantage of the different
marketing vehicles across the different
community platforms is suppressing your
impact. Spend less time thinking up the
“next big campaign” and more time
executing in more places.

7. 5. Expecting Too Much from Social
Social media is no longer the “new”
platform and has proven not to be the
utopia that was once promised. That being
said, social is very important and is a core
platform for communicating with the
channel. It is a place to amplify content,
handle real-time conversations and extend
branding and promotion. Running an
optimal mix of five to six social platforms as
part of the 30 overall vehicles is key. Social
media will provide a number of singles for
your brand – never aim for the fences or you
will strike out.

8. 6. Not Having or Sticking to
an Editorial Calendar
Having a pre-published editorial calendar is not just
for the media. Organizing the avalanche of
information your brand needs to communicate over
the next 12 months can be daunting. When you roll
it up into monthly themes this task becomes much
easier. Depending on the size of your organization,
this can be weekly or quarterly as well – timing is
less important than a solid plan. All of the 30+
marketing vehicles roll out of the theme each cycle.
For example, the press release can be the basis for
the blog which turns into a Webinar. These three
assets provide the content for social posts for the
time period as well as customizing events, videos
and incentives.

9. 7. Producing Too Much Boring or
Sales-Related Content
Content marketing is becoming one of the
most important tools for recruiting and
nurturing your channel. Finding your brand
voice and sharing your domain knowledge
with your partners on a consistent basis will
build trust and keep them plugged in.
When combined with No. 6 (sticking to an
editorial calendar), a solid piece of content
will amplify itself across numerous
channels and give multiple ways to
repurpose throughout the time period.

10. 8. Underutilizing the Media
Some vendors look at the media as a source of
advertising and not much else. Over the past
number of years, industry media have been
forced to expand their offerings and deliver
more value to their readers and sponsors.
Getting access to their community of readers
through co-marketing, sharing your updates
and content, Webinars, events and
newsletters can be a very effective way to
reach your established and prospective
audience. It can be surprisingly cost-effective
as well with the right level of negotiation,
time commitment and bundling.

11. 9. Thinking Direct Mail Is Too Expensive
Most companies have abandoned direct mail over
the past few years as the number of marketing
vehicles have exploded. Depending on the size of
your Channel, sending physical mail to partners can
be a cost effective way to connect. Keep in mind
the average age of Channel professionals has grown
every year since the 1980s and this demographic
tends to prefer face-to-face, mail and phone calls to
electronic communication. Sending out unique sales
kits can be done for only a few dollars per partner
(or prospect) and may cost less than attending a
tradeshow. Plus, you can achieve a high open rate
and your competitors are likely not doing it.

12. 10. Segmenting Partners Into
Revenue Tiers Only
You have likely learned in your channel career
that segmentation is key to running a good
program. While that is still true, many
segmentation models are very limited and don’t
categorize important attributes of strong
partners. Newer ways of optimizing partner
programs include share of wallet, product
specialties, job role and other behavioral
persona-type information. Being able to target
individual employees in each partner company
based on their interests, behaviors and
requirements to support your brand should be
the goal of every channel marketer.

13. 11. Expending Too Much Effort on
Partner Recruitment
A balanced approach to channel
management includes focusing
equally on partner acquisition,
nurturing and growth. The
messaging and tactics are very
different for these three stages and
a non-personalized newsletter and
portal experience isn’t optimal.

14. 12. Underperforming Trade Shows
This is an area where a lot of opportunity (and money)
is wasted by vendors and distributors. Some of the
common errors include:
• paying for platinum status without getting much
more than a logo on a page in return
• paying for a breakfast/lunch/party and getting small
signage that no one notices
• thinking that booth hours are where the real action
happens when it usually happens in the hallways and
the hotel lobby bar late at night
• not having a plan covering pre-show, show-withinthe-show and post-show tactics
• spending too much money on trinkets and giveaways
• not having a visible leader in your business that can
seek out the media and develop strategic partnerships

15. 13. Renewing Tactics Year to Year
Without Justification
Channel marketing managers are famous for the
“master spreadsheet” outlining all of the
approved tactics for the quarter or year. In most
cases, 80 percent of the budget is already spent
on renewing previously run activities. Back to the
dandelion approach in No. 4 (too focused on the
home run), one of the questions to ask on each
line item is “what if I spent 50 percent of the cost,
would I still get 90 percent of the benefit?” This is
true for most event planning, advertising and comarketing activities. Opening up some room in
the budget will allow for testing of new tactics,
platforms, communities and initiatives.

16. 14. Not Taking Advantage of Mobile
Some dramatic changes have happened in
the past couple of years in the channel. More
than 90 percent of partners now carry a
smartphone and/or tablet. Sixty-one percent
of these partners report that they prefer to
use the mobile device as a primary source of
information, engagement and tools for
business. With over half of all Internet traffic
now coming from mobile devices, many
channel vendors and distributors do not have
a viable platform to leverage and grab a
competitive advantage.

17. About the Author
Jay McBain is the co-founder and CMO of ChannelEyes
– a channel mobile app platform. The core product,
ChannelCandy, is a custom-branded and secure mobile
app designed for vendors, distributors and associations
to deliver channel highlights, company news and sales
tools into the hands of partners. It is reinventing
channel communication for leading companies in the
industry. ChannelCandy runs on iPhone, iPad, Android
as well as all mobile Web-enabled platforms such as
BlackBerry, Windows and the PC Web Browser. Learn
more at www.channeleyes.com.

18. Thank you for viewing 14 Channel
Marketing Mistakes
Visit www.channelpartnersonline.com to view our extensive library of on-demand
slide shows and other resources.
*List courtesy ChannelEyes co-founder and CMO, Jay McBain