To-Partner Marketing: An Overview

To-partner marketing refers to marketing the value proposition of the partnership and the vendor's products/services to the channel partner. To-partner marketing is aimed at existing and prospective partners. To-partner marketing looks at partners the same way corporate marketing looks at customers. To-partner marketing is directed at helping vendors attract, recruit and retain partners. Before signing up a partner, to-partner marketing focuses on attracting them to become a part of the vendor's partner ecosystem. Content, messaging, marketing campaigns and efforts are directed towards educating the prospective partner and convincing them to see the value the partnership can bring to them. Often, vendors make the mistake of allowing to-partner marketing to take a backseat once the partner signs the partnership contract and is onboarded. However, for successful channel partner relationships, it is important that vendors treat to-partner marketing as a continuous process. Just like how companies wouldn't stop marketing to customers in order to retain them, vendors also need to have to-partner marketing software and campaigns in place so as to -

Typically the content and tools shared with channel partners as a part of to-partner marketing campaigns include research papers, information about the industry they operate in-such as industry trends, forecasts, analysis, stories about winning partnerships-such as case studies, testimonials, etc. To-partner marketing may also include workshops and courses that help partners boost their sales revenue- such as a webinar or training session on best practices to help them sell more and faster. Sharing information about new product/service launches, updates on vendor products/services, etc., also falls under to-partner marketing. In terms of helping partners see value in the relationship with the vendor, vendors may also share information about any updates to the partner program or any other benefits that the vendor may be offering to their partners.

To summarize, we can say that to-partner marketing is a process that starts when the vendor identifies a potential channel partner and continues throughout the relationship, covering partner attraction, recruitment, onboarding and retention. As with any form of partner marketing, one of the goals of to-partner marketing is also to help partners sell more, faster. But, that is secondary. The primary goal is to help potential and existing partners see value in the relationship. While the other forms of partner marketing may be focused on the end-customer, the spotlight of to-partner marketing is always on the partners. In to-partner marketing, the messaging, tools, content, strategy and campaigns are directed at helping partners understand the benefits they will derive from the partnership, from selling the vendor's products/services.

About us

Mindmatrix is a leading provider of PRM software, channel partner marketing software and sales ecosystems enablement solutions including partner portal software. Since its inception in 1998, Mindmatrix has been focused on helping companies sell more, faster. A pioneer of sales (direct & indirect) and marketing enablement technology, today Mindmatrix is the only company offering a fully unified platform (Bridge ™) that connects and enables sales (direct & indirect), marketing, alliances and partner ecosystems. Backed by Mindmatrix's innovation and expertise, Bridge expands sales ecosystem enablement beyond its traditional boundaries to cover not just Sales Ecosystem Enablement, but also Partner Marketing and Multi-vendor Solutions Management