Access the slide deck from the “Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014” Webinar. In addition to identifying growth initiatives in channel sales enablement tools and partner incentives, you’ll also gain insight into vendor channel strategies for the calendar year. Guest speakers include Todd Lebo, Senior Marketing Director for Ascend2, and Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer for Marketing Advocate.

1. Key Channel Marketing Trends for 2014
Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Marketing, Ascend2
Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer, Marketing Advocate
February 26, 2014
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blog.marketingadvocate.com

2. Guest Speakers
Todd Lebo, Senior Director of Marketing
todd@ascend2.com
@ToddLebo
Ian Pennell, Chief Sales Officer
Marketing Advocate
ianpennell@marketingadvocate.com
@TPMASoftware
Host: Courtney Wiley, Vice President of Marketing
Marketing Advocate
courtneywiley@marketingadvocate.com
@wileyccoyote
2
Copyright © 2014, Marketing Advocate. All rights reserved.
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3. Lead Gen* Still Focus in 2014, Brings New
Shift to Digital Platforms
90%
Percentage of Marketers Planning To
Increase Digital Spending
80%
70%
79.90%
60%
50%
40%
30%
67.00%
20%
10%
0%
Lead generation
Thought leadership
B2B marketers as a whole
Customer acquisition
2014
2013
Channel marketers
This YOY increase results in a greater portion of budgets going to
digital. In 2014, 38.7% of B2B marketers say they will spend 30%
or more on digital, up from 30% the year prior.**
*Source: The Channel Company and Holger Schulze, group owner of the 50,000member B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn.
**Source: Ad Age’s 2014 B2B Outlook: Marketing Priorities & Plans Survey
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4. In the Channel, Lead Gen Does Not Equal
Lead Conversion
Decline in lead conversion represents a
known gap in the sales cycle for channeloriented firms. How do channel marketing
execs plug the gap?
4
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5. The Holy Grail of Channel Demand Generation:
Quantity + Quality
Increase number of leads
Improve quality of leads
What are the MOST
IMPORTANT OBJECTIVES
for your inbound marketing
strategy in the year ahead?
Increase conversion rate
Increase product awareness
Increase website visits
Improve search rankings
Reorient your marketing enablement program to target line-ofbusiness customers.* Partner marketing enablement is all the rage.
Forrester’s data shows clearly that the buying center is shifting away
from the IT organization to the line of business decision-maker.
Increase quality by targeting the LOB buyer persona.
Increase retention rate
Improve analytics/reporting
Reduce marketing costs
0%
*Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Cloud Channel Trends, 2013-2014
Enterprise
20%
40%
60%
SMB
Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate,
published Nov. 2013, N=519
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80%

6. Automation Provides A Strategic Opportunity to
Compete in the Channel
Almost half of survey respondents
employ limited use of MAPs today
Marketing automation is
leveling the playing field
for smaller companies.
But don’t invest in marketing automation for
the sake of investing. Partner with an agency
vendor whose specialty is channel demand
generation.
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Extensive use of marketing
automation
Limited use of marketing
automation
Enterprise
We don’t use marketing
automation
SMB
Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate,
published Nov. 2013, N=519
6
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7. Creating Content is Not Only the Most Effective
Tactic, It’s Also the Most Difficult to Execute
Content creation/marketing
What are the MOST
DIFFICULT TACTICS to
execute for inbound marketing
purposes?
Most channel partners’ marketing content and sales pitches are
oriented to the technical buyer (i.e., the IT organization).* Vendor
channel professionals need to teach and equip their partners to: a)
market and sell service values (service levels, on-demand variability
accommodation, etc.), and b) market and sell to the business decisionmaker (business value, business outcome, economic model, etc.).
Lead nurturing and scoring
Search engine optimization
Use of marketing automation
Social media/networking
Blogging or guest blogging
Press and public relations
Outbound mktg integration
Social sharing buttons
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
*Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Cloud Channel Trends, 2013-2014”
Enterprise
SMB
Source: Inbound Marketing Benchmark Survey, Ascend2 in partnership with Marketing Advocate,
published Nov. 2013, N=519
7
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8. Marketing Limitations Reported by Channel VARs,
Execution is Key To Success
Source: Forrester Research, Inc., “Tech Channel Marketing Trends 2012”
8
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9. One Trend NOT Seeing an Increase in 2014:
Partner Use of Self-Service Tools
Source: IPED Partner Enablement & Marketing Study, The Channel Company
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10. Hard incentives for marketing activities and results in your partner program. Most channel
GTM companies incentivize their channel partners solely for revenue generation (i.e., the
ultimate “effect”), whereas they may be better served by incentivizing the “cause” (i.e., partners’
marketing activities and results). While some may think of market development funds (MDFs)
as an incentive, MDFs are really at best an indirect support mechanism. Better you carve out
additional margin discount points or back-end rebates for partners’ marketing performance.
10
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11. Through-Partner Marketing Automation (TPMA)
Encapsulates Today’s Trends
A Proprietary Digital Demand Generation & Channel Sales Enablement Process





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Local, custom audiences
Curated content
Considered purchase
Automated nurture campaigns personalized to prospects to stay top-of-mind
Brand-reseller collaboration
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12. Key Takeaways
•
2014 brings greater shift to digital platforms in the channel
–
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
12
Marketing automation effective, levels the playing field
Buying center is shifting away from IT to LOB
Look for GTM orgs to incentivize partners’ marketing performance
There exists a conversion gap in the channel demand gen
funnel that can be plugged
Limitations reported by partners map directly to today’s channel
marketing trends
TPMA drives quantity and quality, helps to achieve top 3 goals
for channel marketers: lead gen, thought leadership, new acq
Content marketing done well can yield great results
Partner self-service tools are not enough, execution enablement
key to success
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13. About Marketing Advocate
Marketing Advocate accelerates revenue growth through the channel with its Through-Partner
Marketing Automation (TPMA) software. The company’s industry-leading TPMA solution
drives effective B2B channel marketing for many of the world’s largest brands, including HP,
IBM, Microsoft, and NetApp. By maximizing lead efficiency, generating sales-ready leads, and
building pipeline, Marketing Advocate helps global organizations turn channel marketing into a
revenue driver. The company was recently recognized as a 2013 Gartner “Cool Vendor” and
showcased as a corporation that is innovating sales and marketing techniques to help global IT
providers go to market more effectively. For more information, visit MarketingAdvocate.com.
sales@marketingadvocate.com
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