s9800121

Topics

Through-Channel Marketing Support Earns Partner Loyalty, Survey Finds

A recent survey by OneAffiniti, a through-channel marketing support company, discovered that vendors can win the loyalty of a large percentage of their partners by offering marketing support programs.

Monetary incentives were tagged as the most popular motivator by two-thirds of the respondents. But 40% of the partners said that offers of marketing services make them more loyal to a brand.

“It’s notable that a third of the resellers didn’t describe cash incentives as likely to make a difference for them,” commented OneAffiniti  in a recent blog. “Brands would be wise to pay attention to the 40% of partners who cite marketing services as a key loyalty motivator.”

Partners looking for marketing help tend to be small to mid-size players — companies that don’t have the time or expertise to craft or execute marketing campaigns around the materials provided by the vendors, noted OneAffiniti. To get more partners to appreciate the value of “marketing assistance,” vendors must offer much more than access to a partner portal. Rather, brands need to “offer to conduct marketing on their behalf,” OneAffiniti noted.

Overall, the survey confirms that incentives continue to be critical to winning partner loyalty. Just over 80% of the channel organizations that responded to the survey said they’ll remain loyal to a brand that offers partner incentives. 71% said they are likely to focus more resources on selling a brand’s products when a partner incentive programs is in place.

In addition to monetary incentives and marketing services, invitations to exclusive vendors events, vendor purchasing credits and partner recognition awards and certifications were tagged as popular incentives by about a quarter of those surveyed.

The survey, which included 525 channel partners globally, was conducted this past September.

 

Share

PinIt