2016 State Of Channel MarketingCommunication, Segmentation And Context To Drive Channel Initiatives

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Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Ken Romley, Zift Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4Steven Kellam, CCI | Global Channel Management . . . . . . . . 5Tish Williams, KnowBe4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6Ali Din, dinCloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Heather Margolis, Channel Maven Consulting . . . . . . . . . . . 8 About Channel Marketer Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

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This is the year when technology and digital channels are going to enhance the way vendors communicate with their partners — and vice versa.

According to our panel of channel marketing thought leaders, the digital landscape will impact how vendors are segmenting leads for partners and ensure that messaging to buyers is relevant and contextual.

Read on to gain insight from our channel experts and consultants on how the channel will develop and evolve in 2016.

Communication Is Key Theme For Channel Marketing Initiatives In 2016

Ken RomleyPresident and CEO, Zift Solutions

The move to SaaS is driving huge channel changes that will continue throughout 2016, impacting what prospects want, how partners sell and how they are supported by suppliers. Integration will be a key focus for 2016.

Prospects seek complete, integrated solutions and a scalable payment model, leading to more emphasis on ongoing support and long-term profits as annuities build.

Integrated SaaS systems will supply a wealth of information and insight regarding what really makes channel partners more successful, providing the base for Big Data analytics to improve performance.

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Over the past two decades, Romley has co-founded and run a wide range of technology and Internet-based enterprises while leading innovations in marketing technologies.

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Steven Kellam President, CCI | Global Channel Management

Three trends in the marketplace — better content, clearer context, and a new sense of empowerment — are causing a marketing shift in the channel.

In the past, vendor content tended to be more for technical information designed for technical buyers. But smart companies have realized that the person who makes the technology buying decision is not always the most technically literate. Context is important, too. Buyers no longer want generic marketing messages or boilerplate answers to boilerplate customer questions. When buyers are satisfied with the information they have collected, they feel much more confident about making the decision themselves.

Kellam has experience in both the VAR space — having run a successful managed services IT business — and a background in manufacturing, where he built a channel of more than 2,000 partners.

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Tish Williams VP of Channel, KnowBe4

In 2016, marketing will shift more toward improved communication from vendor through to end user. It will focus more on visibility and collaboration with partners. SMB to mid-market companies are outsourcing their IT more and more, which fits with moving from on- premise to cloud-based services. It is cheaper and more cost effective for the client.

As a result, the channel trend is shifting from the low-margin “hardware” market to the high-margin “Cloud/SaaS” model.

This shift will increase the support channel partners will need to implement and understand SaaS products.

Williams has 20-plus years of experience within the channel marketing space. KnowBe4 is an integrated security awareness training and simulated phishing attacks platform.

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Ali Din SVP & CMO, dinCloud

Channel marketing in 2016 is not going to see a big shift as vendor channel marketing teams are not capable of extending digital marketing into the channel any time soon.

Vendors recognize the sales and marketing approach has changed over the years. A digital approach is a core component of maintaining reach and engagement. So, channel marketing has to go digital — albeit not 100%.

In a time when experimentation is critical, vendors’ channel marketing programs are inflexible and the channel team responsible for greenlighting marketing is stuck in the past. Only a few vendors have been able to truly enable their partners.

Din manages partner relationships for dinCloud and provides oversight on marketing and communication activities

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Heather Margolis Founder & President, Channel Maven Consulting

As always, through Partner Market is going to be a challenge for Vendors and Partners in 2016. But there’s hope.

We see a shift in the way that Vendors are viewing their through Partner Marketing segmentation.

It used to be that vendors gave their top-tier partners a certain amount of support for demand generation, middle-tier partners a lesser amount, and bottom-tier partners virtually no support . We are finally starting to see vendors look at their partners differently and segment based upon goals and current capabilities, or level of interest/engagement.

In her career, Margolis has led channel programs for companies such as EMC, EqualLogic and Dell.

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About Channel Marketer Report

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Channel Marketer Report is an online publishing network for channel marketers and executives, with content focused on the latest solutions, trends and strategies to help vendors, resellers and distributors optimize marketing, both to and through partner networks. Tapping into the power of the Web 2.0 environment, the Channel Marketer Report network is made up of a monthly e-newsletter, podcasts and video interviews, special reports, web seminars, and a content-rich web site at www.channelmarketerreport.com