Incorporating partner websites

One of the most important benefits of affiliate programs is that they provide information on marketing techniques and tools that can improve business. Affiliate programs offer businesses a number of options to improve their business. Of these, incorporating partner websites are among the top options to make businesses more profitable. This is because partners can boost sales through these websites and this increases profits for a business.

In addition to boosting sales, partner websites provide information related to various deals, products, sales status and other important things. All this information is regularly updated and all the partners in a channel can access it. As partners are able to access the required information from one source, it becomes simpler to coordinate and function as a whole.

Many businesses also use their partner websites to link it to their own website. This makes it possible for partners to display a brand name. In turn, this instils more confidence in customers and this helps to boost sales on partners’ websites. As the partners are in collaboration with the business, eventually it is the business that gets increased sales and profits.

According to Scott Dodds, the firm’s SMB head, Microsoft as an organisation have not succeeded in explaining to their partners what to sell to the customer base. Scott expressed his concerns during a partner network event at Wembley, London.

The absence of poorly designed websites has been cited as one of the reasons for this occurrence. Scott also highlighted the fact that they need to provide clear instructions pertaining to the various products offered by the organisation.

Microsoft’s partners need to be distributed of a wide assortment of products including their new OS Windows 7. They will also have to undertake other duties such as selling unified comms, social networking tools, cloud computing, BI tech and mobility. This particular task is indeed a challenge to the marketers, considering the current economic conditions.

According to Clare Barclay, Microsoft’s UK partner strategy director, Microsoft have finally realised the need to re-design the partner website to make it simpler and user-friendly. The restructuring of the partner website is expected to help the company in a positive manner.

Just like companies have learning management systems for customers, these systems are now available for partners as well. Partner learning management systems are used in technology-oriented, value added, high-process and business-to-business environments. You can usually find these partner learning management systems in various industries because they are a cost-effective way to provide performance support to a company’s services and products.

Are these learning management systems different from customer support settings?

Although partner support operations are in some ways similar to customer support settings, there are a few distinct features. Partners are usually the ones that add more value to the services and products offered by a company. Due to this, partner learning management systems exist today.

Partner learning management systems can help to create various partner campuses which can be customised to meet the needs of the end user. It can also be used to monitor and track the activities of partners rather than the use of spreadsheets. This makes it easier to manage a partner distribution channel, keeping a business and its partners happy.

In this presentation I examine effective methods for collaborative, closed loop marketing to, through and with your partner network.

The presentation covers ways in which to deliver tangible results and generate actual sales including;

• Improved, targeted communication
• Greater emphasis and investment in closed-loop demand generation and fulfilment
• Optimized lead management and deal registration programs
• “Rapid response” bid management
• Greater collaboration in sales and marketing activities between vendor and partner to ensure better cooperation and cohesion and maximize return on joint investment
• More effective MDF and co-op programs
• Tracking and reporting return on investment

If your marketing budget is under pressure and you are under pressure to improve results from your channel partners then this is the presentation for you. If you prefer to view the slides off-line, you can also download the presentation.

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