B2B partner marketing usually involves someone partnering up with another company so that they can sell products. Marketing strategies can come in many forms. You may have affiliate, which is an agreement that a company sends to your website, often by linking. You also have a distribution partnership too. With this, you will work with a company that sends customers to your site. With a dealership, you have someone who is licensed when it comes to your products, meaning that they are certified to sell them. Co-marketing is the last type, and with this agreement, two companies choose to market each other’s products. This can be done as a combined product or as a package deal.
What marketing partnerships are out there?
If you want to know what the different partnerships are then you should know that they can range from affiliate to distribution and co-marketing.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Differ from Partner Marketing?
There are some major differences between the two, which will be covered in this guide.
Do you Need a Partner Marketing Strategy and why?
You should have one as it means that you will be able to capitalise on your sales far more and that you can also make more money too.
Tips for Adopting a Solid B2B Marketing Strategy
If you want to do what you can to create a great B2B marketing program, then all you have to do is take a look below.
Start Small
Different partnerships require different levels of involvement. If you have an affiliate marketing partnership, then this is relatively simple. If you have a dealer partnership, then this is far more involved. If you are new to this and your company is smaller, then having a simpler partnership could benefit you. If you can make sure that this is the case, then you can then work up to having a more involved agreement if things go well. You can also start small with every new partner who you onboard and you can gradually work your way up so you can then create agreements with others. If you can do this, then you will soon see that it becomes easier to get the result you are looking for.
Set Mutual Goals
Setting clear goals and defining the KPIs that you have is so important. You need to learn how to measure your success because if you don’t then you may find that your marketing initiatives end up suffering. When it comes to marketing, it helps to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Setting SMART goals will help you out a lot when it comes to your site, and it will help you out greatly in the long run. One example of how to run SMART goals would be for you to increase the leads you get by 10%, rather than saying that you just want to increase your leads in general.
Set Up a Good Reporting Process
Another crucial strategy, if you want to create a solid B2B program, would be for you to make sure that you have some solid systems in place so you can then report outcomes. You also need to know where your leads are coming from, through your partners. If you can do this, then you will soon be able to reap the benefits. If you can add a UTM parameter to your URL then this will give you the chance to track which leads come from your sources. Google have a campaign URL builder that you can use here. If you can be mindful and you can measure the metrics that go on to impact your bottom line, then this will help you greatly.
Consider your Sales Funnel
When you look at involved partnerships, you have to make sure that you provide your team with the marketing materials they need for every stage of the funnel. If you’re not entirely familiar with a sales funnel, then you should know that it is a visual representation of your process. If you know that you sell accounting software, then it may be that you have top-of-the-funnel content and that this offers a lot of advice or accounting tips to small companies. At the bottom of the funnel, you may have advice for people who want to get some help choosing the right software in the first place.
Marketing Channels
In this day and age, there are more than 4 billion people who use the internet, and you also have 2 billion people who shop online too. If you do not have a strong online presence, then you could well be missing out on a huge range of potential customers. If you can invest in some good marketing channels, then this will help you greatly and you may also find that it helps you to rocket your bottom line. SEO involves using a lot of methods to get your site to the top and this is just one option that is available to you.