It’s time for March Madness and 68 women’s and men’s college basketball teams are looking to conquer their bracket matchups in pursuit of a national championship. Much like a successful basketball team working in unison to win a game or tournament, a championship caliber channel marketing program starts with thinking in terms of solutions, not tools, to deliver a superior customer experience and desired outcomes.
To develop the right gameplan for your channel program solutions, here are three considerations:
1. Holistic
2. Integration
3. Measure
Holistic
The most successful teams, regardless of the sport, are the ones that work as a cohesive unit. That’s how the elements of a channel program should work as well. Channel programs that have disparate systems and application are inherently inefficient. The best programs are those that create a seamless experience for brands and channel partners alike. Brands should challenge their channel providers to demonstrate how the various elements of their program are integrated to create a holistic solution and deliver desired outcomes.
Integration
With a holistic solution in place, it’s important to determine how a brand’s channel program is being executed. Like a successful basketball team that knows how to execute all phases of a gameplan, if the elements of a channel program are not integrated between online and offline activities, the user experience tends to breakdown and lead to “turnovers” in the day-to-day delivery of the program. For brands, it’s important to understand how their channel provider connects their program elements with fundamentally sound execution of support, whether that’s fulfilment services or phone, email or chat support.
Measure
The ultimate measure of a competitive game is the final score. Keeping score in channel programs is easier said than done. Oftentimes, data sources are in disparate systems, especially when a program is not truly integrated, so it’s critically important to have reporting capabilities that work like the score that results from a three on two fastbreak. Ensuring your brand’s program has the appropriate measures or key performance indicators in place provides the ability for all stakeholders to have visibility to the “scoreboard” and understand how the channel team is performing.
The scoreboard should be the result of developing a gameplan up front to determine what outcomes should be measured, how they will be measured and, finally, how they will be reported to the team. It’s also important to note that a brand’s team consists of different stakeholder groups and each segment may need different types of reporting. A brand’s channel program provider should be able help define the outcomes and corresponding measures and deliver the accompanying scorecards.
For basketball teams, a well-choreographed half-court offensive set or masterful three-quarter court press after a made basket leads to positive results on the court. Similarly taking a solution-based approach to channel programs helps lead brands and their channel partners to their desired outcomes.
About Channel Fusion
For 20 years, Channel Fusion has provided brands and their
channel partners with a wide variety of solutions and industry expertise. We
continue to invest in the overall ecosystem of our channel marketing offering
to ensure our clients provide their partners with an optimal customer
experience. Our core technologies and configurable platforms are supported by a
team of customer-centric “Fusers.” Let us know if you’d like to
learn more about how we deliver desired outcomes for brands and their channel
partner