We’re kicking off another interesting project this week at hawkeye. One of our financial service clients has come to us with a really big question… ”Can we (and frankly, should we) use our customer’s online behavior to trigger an offline follow-up communication?” Our first step is going to be diving into millions and millions of rows of click stream data so that we can wrap our heads around what types of reasonable triggers we can come up with. We’ll be looking at things like frequent visits to our site within a short time frame, or maybe clicking on a product specific banner ad. From there, we’ll be building a strategy around what to do with the triggers we’ve defined. What channel(s) do we use? How quickly do we follow-up? How specific is our messaging? All along the way, we’re going to be walking a very fine line between taking advantage of the “hotness” of the lead, and the risk of our client’s customers feeling that we’re being too intrusive with our marketing efforts. Should be a lot of fun!
It’s not a revelation when we read that channel partners often feel frustrated, because IT manufacturers fail to understand their business. This is partly due to the partner being bombarded with communication and services that are not best suited to help them grow their business. It doesn’t matter whether this lack of understanding is perceived or real … perception is reality.
Partners complete lengthy partner program registration forms, participate in vendor surveys and/or speak regularly to their account managers in order to inform vendors about their business. Combine this with the information available through POS data and the web stats generated every time a partner logs into a partner program, and it’s no surprise that they feel frustrated when this information is being overlooked. What is surprising is the lack of precision and insight observed in channel marketing when compared to other industries that embrace direct marketing—industries that typically collect less data about their customers.
When you add everything up, channel marketing has the potential to be a rich direct marketing opportunity. Read more…
I’ve had the privilege of playing a wide variety of music with a wide assortment of musicians. I’ve played in rock bands, pop bands, church bands, jazz quartets, jazz big bands, funk bands – you name it. I even played on the late, great Buddy Rich’s drums at Interlochen Arts Camp in the late 70’s. I went to college at the University of North Texas (a renowned jazz school) to study music, but switched majors to marketing when I realized that the musicians were in a different league than I. For the past 25+ years I’ve had what us musicians call a “legit” job, and I only play a handful of gigs a year which I thoroughly enjoy.
While on a plane recently, I began to think about the lessons I’ve learned over the years while playing in bands and how it relates to channel marketing. What does playing in a jazz band have to do with channel marketing? You may be surprised. Grab your “axe” and let’s get started!
1. Have a solid marketing plan or road map (The set list)
When you’re in a band, you live and die by your set list – the list of songs you are going to play. It’s your game plan for the night or gig, and it becomes what your band is known by. Your set list is your “sound”.
The application: A set list is your channel marketing plan or roadmap. Does it need polishing or a refresh? Any marketing plan should be a living document that is focused yet allows for you to be flexible. The same goes with the set list. It should be complete, but allow for flexibility for the occasion and the audience. Read more…
I just finished reading, “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle. While this book doesn’t discuss the challenges of channel marketing, it does parallel the business environment faced by channel marketing professionals today – that is, doing more with less.
Budget decreases. Resource cut-backs.
Budgets and resources are tightly constrained within each of our client’s organizations. As a result, partner program benefits have come under intense scrutiny, as marketers decide how to Read more…
