First things first: what exactly is Through-Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA)?
Technically, it’s defined as “the practice of engaging channel partners to extend and amplify your marketing campaigns and activities” (Forrester Research). It really comes down to this:
So why focus on TCMA? Here are the three biggest reasons to get started:
1. Maximize Your Return on Investment (ROI).
If your company is like most, it’s already made a hefty investment in marketing tools, business processes and asset creation. By extending the ability to launch campaigns to your channel partners, you have greater ROI and ROMI potential.
TIP: If you’re concerned about controlling your brand, start by providing canned marketing packages with minimal customization. This will also give smaller or less sophisticated partners the ability to get started quickly without a lot of commitment from internal resources.
2. Extend the Reach of Your Marketing Efforts.
Delivering the right message at the right time to your target audience is the holy grail of marketing. Leverage the proximity of your channel partners to those potential customers. Your partners likely have contacts from local events or sales efforts that you don’t even know about yet. And by offering product-line or market-specific campaigns for these types of leads, you’ll both be winners.
TIP: We often hear that channel partners are leery of sharing their lead lists over concerns that another partner will somehow get hold of them. Alleviate this fear by committing to a security model where partners’ leads are segmented, and consider a lead registration system to create an audit trail.
3. Strengthen Your Relationships with Your Partners.
Though it’s not often the primary business objective of launching a TCMA initiative, developing and strengthening relationships with your partners is a by-product of the investment. Most often, successful partner onboarding and long-term loyalty can be attributed to the support a new partner receives when launching the brand in their local market.
I think of it as evolving the “if you build it, they will come” mantra into “if you build it, they will come, they will stay, and you will all grow!”
TIP: When launching a new TCMA initiative, new partners are often the most accepting of new processes and tend to overlook any missteps that occur during roll-out. Include new partners in focus groups or pilots to further strengthen your relationships, too.
So take the time to consider a through-channel marketing automation initiative. It isn’t as daunting as you might think.
