All About Partner Marketing

SiriusDecisions Day 1: Change, Collaborate and Relationships

 

Yesterday the 2013 SiriusDecisions Summit kicked off in San Diego. The event includes more than 1,500 B2B marketing and sales professionals from around the world. Here is a quick recap of some of the highlights from day one.

The event began with a series of case study presentations from various organizations including “Growing Channel Partner Revenue – Sage’s Journey to Improved Results” presented by Ken Romley, Zift Solutions CEO, and Mary Abdian, CEO and President of Macabe Associates. In addition to the key steps to improve marketing through the channel, it was great to hear Mary share her experiences leveraging the Zift Solutions platform to support her relationship with Sage. She shared how she has been able to grow her business while saving time and money using key marketing tactics including nurturing campaigns for prospects/customers, website content syndication, event promotions and ad retargeting.

Zift Solutions Named "Cool Vendor" By Gartner

 

Zift Solutions was recently named a “Cool Vendor” in Technology Go-to-Market by Gartner, Inc. in a report published on April 17. Needless to say, we're all very proud of this achievement and excited about the innovations we have planned for our product roadmap.

The report highlights companies who are able to help IT vendors get more from their sales and marketing investments. 

What's cool about being a cool vendor?

So, why should you even pay attention to Gartner's report? For almost 10 years, Gartner has evaluated over 1,400 cool vendors, and it's stamp of approval has been good indicator of a recipient's future success. Here's why:

And the winner in marketing is…

Winners Who Know How To Combine The Right Stuff

Earlier today Gartner gave out its CRM excellence awards. For integrated marketing performance the two winners were Eaton and Autodesk. Gartner felt that these companies did the best job at combining multiple marketing tactics to deliver exception results.

In Eaton’s case, their campaign, “Things Have Changed” combined tactics including print, banner advertising, email, direct mail, social media, desk toys, sweepstakes, and a specialized website SwitchOn.eaton.com.  With this integrated approach, Eaton identified $2M worth of new opportunities and added 12,000 leads.

Autodesk’s marketing innovation was around adding a gamification aspect to their trial software. Players earned badges and points as they moved through the trial, these accomplishments were shared across social media sites (earning additional points), and a leader board was set up so players could see how they stacked up against their peers. Emails were sent to encourage players to continually make progress. End result: Autodesk had over 600 trial users play the game (a 10% increase) and, with those trials, usage was up over 50%.

Congrats out to both companies.

And, if you can indulge me in one self promoting observation, their recognition as marketing leaders is especially gratifying knowing that both companies have chosen to work with Zift Solutions in bringing their marketing expertise out though their channel communities.

Channel Focus Conference: Day Two

 

It was another busy day at the Channel Focus North America with Latin America conference.  It was definitely the day of Partner Marketing.  

It started with Shaun Jones, VP Marketing, IBM Software – Business Partner and Mid-Market with his inspiring keynote, “What’s the Role of the Vendor in Enabling More Effective Partner Marketing?”  He challenged the audience to re-think their requirements for channel partners when it comes to marketing.  Not only do you need a true marketing owner at the partner organization, but you also need to provide the necessary training to ensure they are successful marketers.  Much like you do when it comes to educating partners about your products and technology, you must do the same with your marketing strategy and tactics.  He also discussed the importance of providing a mix of multiple tactics in order for your Through Partner Marketing to be successful.

Channel Focus Conference: Day One

 

It was a jammed, packed day at the Channel Focus North America with Latin America conference in Miami today. In it’s sixteenth year the conference brings together leading channel executives to debate the future direction of Channels in the IT/Telecom industries and to share the key strategies/tactics they are using to drive their indirect businesses.

Here are some of the highlights from day one.

It started with breakfast and a great keynote, “Today’s Channel, A Reality Check” from Bill Griffin, VP Worldwide Channel Sales at Autodesk. He focused on three key areas important to success for suppliers.

Meet our new VP of Marketing!

Zift Solutions would like to welcome David Buffaloe to our executive team as the VP of Marketing. You can learn more about his background from the Zift Solutions Executive page.  

David will be a regular contributor to our blog, so we recently spent a few minutes with him to learn more about his background and what brings him to Zift Solutions.

3 Ways Shared Analytics Helps Gain Control & Visibility into your Channel

Not too long ago, the direct sales teams, internal to the vendor, were receiving far more attention than any indirect/channel business. Vendors are starting to realize that using a direct sales force is prohibitive in comparison with the cost of using channel partners. So vendors are now investing huge resources into channel partner marketing.

Partner channels are very complex and in order to understand them, channel marketers have to base their decisions from real numbers and not rely on trial and error.

Easy SEO Tips for Channel Partners & SMBs (Part 1)

So Easy A Caveman Can Do It!

 

We understand that most channel partners we work with have limited time and resources to spend on marketing or optimizing their websites (hence the reason we provide a channel partner marketing automation platform).

Don't fret, we're here to help. Here's a list of easy SEO tips for you to implement today. 

Social Media

If your business (no matter what size) is not engaged in social media, then you’re missing a trick.

Social networks allow you to connect with you audience and initiate conversations, rather than talk at them – allowing you to quickly react to potential customer questions, PR issues, and conversations related to your industry. Furthermore, it allows you to become the thought leader on the subject matter, develop your brand and humanize your company.

How 2013’s Emphasis on Marketing Effects Partner Programs

Data Driven Marketing
Comes Of Age

If you’ve been following the press about marketing, you’ve seen the stories. A few weeks ago the CMO Council declared 2013 as, “The Year of the Marketer”. Forbes is publishing articles like, “Why 2013 Is The Year Of The Marketer”.   And, the CMO Council’s benchmarking report found an amazing 82% of marketers believe they already have what they need to achieve senior management’s top-line revenue growth goals.

Interest on Wall Street has also been heating up.  With recent acquisitions of Pardot by ExactTagret, MarketingPilot by Microsoft, and Eloqua by Oracle, B2B marketing platforms are going mainstream with inclusion into the leading Enterprise Software Suites.

I believe all this activity is happening because the role of data in marketing has, not only been recognized, but has also been proven out by the results of the early adopters. Tools and business processes have matured to the point where it is no longer cost prohibitive to track marketing interactions, scientifically test different messaging, and systematically optimize the results.

16 Landing Page Tips to Improve UX and Conversions

Improved Conversions Is Easier Than Being Dosed With Gamma Radiation

Last week, we talked about ways to increase leads and conversion rates. This post stressed the importance of increasing your content output, the granularity of campaigns and number of landing pages in order to improve email and SEM/PPC campaigns.

In this post, I would like to go over the important landing page elements needed to improve the user experience (UX) and the number of conversions. 

So, if you looking for ways to increase B2B or B2C leads/sales from your landing pages, while improving the impression your visitors have upon your brand - then consider these tips: