Date: April 7, 2022
Author: Sam Oliff
Blogcast
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Last year, the typical U.S. company reported using an average of 110 SaaS applications. My question for you channel marketers out there is, how many of those were associated with your channel marketing programs? Three? Four? Five? More? How’s that working for you? What if I told you we could trim that down to one?
Disparity breeds discontent
In our conversations with brands and their channel marketing teams, we hear that they often deploy several applications to support their channel partners’ marketing efforts. Maybe there’s one for partner email marketing, another for social syndication, a third to provide content access, a fourth to support co-brandable assets and so on. Inevitably, with this many disparate systems, some stop getting used or updated by you or the partner — and without current information, they are rendered useless. So much for good intentions.
Frustration: Multiple, disparate applications frustrate partners. No one wants to remember the names of another four or five (or more) different systems, let alone the multiple login credentials and user interfaces. Remember, partners are busy and have few marketing resources. Disparate applications throw up obstacles and limit the time they can spend promoting your brand.
Inefficiency: If it makes you feel better, you’re not alone in application overload. U.S. employees tab through 13 apps 30 times every day, according to Asana’s Anatomy of Work Index 2021 report. Yikes. If that isn’t a productivity buster, what is? We understand that partner productivity isn’t necessarily your focus, but wouldn’t you rather have those partners focusing on generating leads and closing sales than opening and closing apps?
Opacity: And what about your own team’s productivity? How much time do they spend trying to aggregate meaningful data from disparate, disconnected databases? For you, the vendor, disparate applications effectively black out any visibility and cripple your ability to track and report on data across applications. Can you accurately calculate the ROI on your channel marketing investments when the answers lie in separate, disconnected apps?
Integration spreads the joy
When you ask people why they love their Apple devices so much, they’re likely to say, “Because they just work.” Attractive optics aside, Apple devices integrate all the functions a user is likely to need. Click on a date and create a calendar event. Tap a phone number and ring it. Choose Airdrop and share photos with your kids. Integrated things “just work” and we all need more things that do that.
Beyond creating a welcoming UI, integration promotes efficiency for both your and your partners’ marketing teams. They can all get things done more quickly and gain a clear view of all their activities from one spot.
StructuredWeb brings it home
The StructuredWeb channel marketing automation platform plays host to all the functions brands need to empower their channel partners — in one, integrated, all-powerful application. StructuredWeb’s platform empowers your team and your partners to seamlessly access and leverage the marketing resources you’ve worked so hard to assemble. We’re talking about:
- Single portal destination
- Customizable, cobrandable assets
- Lead and opportunity management
- Centralize digital advertising
- Syndicate your content, including videos, social media, web content and more
- Access ready-made multi-touch campaigns
All from one application! It’s time to give up four or five applications in favor of one, integrated channel partner marketing solution — StructuredWeb. Schedule a demo to see how StructuredWeb can power your brand’s channel marketing efforts.
