Marketing Profs

“Status quo--you know, that is Latin for ‘the mess we're in.'”

-- President Ronald Reagan, 1981

What is needed to achieve better results from marketing through the sales channel?

That was the question we asked ourselves on behalf of a number of clients. Several brainstorming sessions later, we had come up with clever ideas, but realized they were simply variations of the same old tactics. In analyzing the issues surrounding channel marketing, we saw that there were a number of obstacles that keep pushing us back to the status quo.

How do all of us develop channel marketing practices that would put some life back into the by-the-numbers effort characteristic of so many campaigns? We strove to reinvigorate ourselves, our channel partners, and—most of all—end users.

We found that with a few basic yet important changes sales channel marketing not only became fresh again, but also gave us predictable sales growth and improved return on investment. And it all boiled down to one word—guarantee.

Channel Marketing Problems

The biggest obstacle with channel marketing is that the dealer, retailer, or independent agent does not implement the marketing program in the way it was envisioned by the marketer. This happens because channel partners are independent businesses with objectives that don't always match the marketer's.

For example, sometimes co-op dollars and/or market development funds are spent by the channel partner on advertising older product lines or used products that offer higher margins, rather than on pushing new products. This is a classic case of incompatible interests.

A second example is the use of in-store promotions. Too many times great in-store promotional efforts are run late, haphazardly, or not at all by the retailer and a significant investment in that campaign becomes wasted effort.