Trade Promotion Marketing

Last week I had the opportunity to provide some navigational assistance to an affiliate of a franchise company utilizing our ad builder software.  The business owner was looking to order some customized loyalty cards.  At the time of our conversation, he was slightly agitated with his parent company and expressed frustration over the fact that he had to take time out of his day to order the loyalty cards himself.  His opinion was that all the 'marketing stuff' should be done by the national marketing team for him.  

His comments caught me off guard and I found myself thinking about his words long after our call ended.

First, I was shocked to hear that he was annoyed with the opportunity he had been given to customize and purchase marketing materials for his own business.  Who better to make decisions like that than the individual monitoring his own revenues and expenses?  With that freedom, business owners like him can ensure their inventories are in line with their business' operational needs and cash flow.

Second,  the process to order his cards on our local marketing software was quick and easy.  It took less than five minutes for him to customize, preview, and order the cards.  With the customization flexibility provided through our print ad builder, he was able to make critical decisions for his advertising material like what coupon offers to use based on what works best in his market.

From this business owner's reluctance to take control of his own marketing activities, I realized there are two very distinct cultures that franchise companies can create within their brands based on their approach to local marketing execution.  
 
If a franchise company makes all the marketing decisions on behalf of their affiliates for promotions, materials, methodologies and executions, they are merely enabling their franchisees to become so dependent on their brand that they lose the perspective and initiative to take ownership of their own marketing strategies.  I've caught wind of this scenario on a few phone calls when a business owner says something like, 'I never know what our promotions are going to be month to month' or, 'I don't have a marketing budget to use at my discretion. It all goes to the national fund'.

How tragic that these parent companies would thwart the efforts of their affiliates to become savvy marketers through experimentation in their own markets and hands-on education. Taking too much control over the marketing directions of local affiliates results in lost opportunities through the dollars that could have been invested in a leaner fashion, targeted to the individual preferences and habits of local populations.  It can also be very frustrating for the individual store owners who see their advertising budgets whisked away each month to support national advertising funds.

I've recently been writing a series of co-op advertising blog posts in preparation for a co-op marketing white paper I've been developing.  I'm happy to say it's done and live, you can check it out here:  http://balihoo.com/co-op-ad-program-white paper 

 

For those of you involved with trade promotion marketing, co-op advertising or channel marketing software - whether on the manufacturer or reseller side - I would love any feedback you can provide around this whitepaper (svaughan at balihoo dot com).  

Thanks in advance! 

I'm a member of the linked-in group "Channel Management Experts" and receive a daily-digest of the conversations that happen within the group.  Multiple topics are addressed including product launch marketing, trade promotion marketing and co-op advertising to name a few. 

Yesterday, someone asked the question, "What are your most successful channel partner or reseller recruitment strategies?" 

There were several answers, but I thought that Alejandro Penaloza from Infomentis nailed it when he summed up his lengthy response as: 

"In the final analysis, what channel partners really want are sustainable channel programs that will enhance cash flow and expand working capital"

Exactly Alejandro, that's right on.  Too many reseller programs (especially in the co-op advertising arena) are so heavily focused on delivering value to the national brand that they forget to include value to the resellers. 

Where does your trade promotion marketing program deliver value? 

In my last three blogs, I  have covered the more obvious target demographics of Soccer Moms, Boomers, and Tweeners. The next hot target demographic grabbing attention is the Hispanic population.

Part of Hispanics' appeal is their increasing spending power, experts say. "They make up 23% of the nation's purchasing power," says Peter Koeppel, president of Dallas-based Koeppel Direct, a direct response media company. "Their propensity to spend in cash rather than use credit is appealing to businesses as well," Koeppel adds.

This group is recognized as having diverse spending habits based on different geographical roots. Marketers are taking note however, and have discovered trends that are now being utilized with local advertising efforts as local marketing ideas take these trends into consideration.

Trade promotional marketing and product launch marketing are both using mobile marketing which is hot with hispanic consumers. They are also utilizing the fact that traditional mediums are dominated by this group boasting dozens of tv and radio stations in markets and more than 200 publication nationwide. With more than 40 million Americans making up this consumer group that is spending more than 700 billion on goods a year, we are sure to watch the demand for this audience grow as their population and impact on future commerce continues to grow.

Be sure to check out my next blog, Marketing Hot Target Demographics-#5, as I wrap up this top five.

One of the products Balihoo delivers to our customers is a complete Co-op marketing solution. 

As we've discussed this offering with multiple product manufacturers and how it fits into their overall trade promotion marketing efforts, one of the surprising things we've discovered is how often it's not integrated with their product launch marketing efforts. 

The objectives are simple - when you launch a new product into the market, it's critically important that your dealer network is informed and prepared to effectively market that product at the local level.  Many manufacturers do a great job of this from a product availability, training and sales perspective.  However, we're discovering that this is often not the case when looking at their co-op marketing program. 

Enabling your dealer network to effectively market your new product at the time of launch is one of the most overlooked areas we've discovered.  Combining your national efforts with strong local efforts creates a product launch marketing effect that is highly effective. 

The advice is simple:  when launching a new product, integration with your co-op marketing solution should be near the top of your list.  Effective co-op marketing can be the key differentiator between a lackluster product launch and a highly-successful one. 

In fact, we believe so strongly in this that we've been offering our co-op marketing software to some manufacturers as a point-solution to support a single product launch.  It's a great way for them to try it out while at the same time supporting their product launch marketing effort. 

Interested?  Check out our Integrated Co-op Marketing whitepaper or contact us to find out how we can help. 

One of the core principals of Lean thinking is 'Decide as Late as Possible'.   Like many aspects of Agile and Lean thinking, they can often be taken at face value and lead to less than optimal outcomes, leaving the organization with a sour taste in their mouth but with the correct application there is power.

In uncertain environments better results can be achieved with an options-based approach, delaying decisions as much as possible until they can be made based on better facts rather than uncertain assumptions and predictions.  This is of course a continuum, not an end.  If you wait too long to gather facts the organization can become paralyzed, and you may miss the opportunity.  An iterative approach with short cycles promotes this principal, giving a team the ability to adapt to changes quickly and also and correct mistakes which might be costly if discovered after long development cycles.

We had a great example of this principal in action just recently.  Back in early December a few of us got together to talk about possible product strategies for the IFA (International Franchising Association) Conference to be held in the first week of February 2010.   We batted around a few ideas, and as it started to get closer to Christmas we felt that we had to make some decisions soon given that the holidays were upon us, and that we now only had a little over a month to get ready.  However nothing seemed to be clicking yet. 

After the holidays in early January we decided that introducing a social media offering within our local marketing software tool would be the ideal launch platform for the event.  Social media was everywhere, but how to combine it effectively into a local marketing strategy is the question that franchisees are asking.  Everyone in the room thought it was a great idea   - The only problem was that we had less than 4 weeks until the start of the conference!

At this first meeting a quick sketch was made on a piece of paper of the new offering that would allow a local store marketer to publish a message and send it to Twitter, Facebook, an email list and a mobile phone list.  They could then use this message with a shortened track-able URL link to a customized web based landing page for more details about the offer (all designd to tie into their existing local advertising).   

Within 3 weeks we took the hand sketch and converted it into a ascetically pleasing, fully functioning prototype of the offering, that we deployed to the production version of our local marketing software on its regular bi-weekly release schedule the day before the conference started.  We actually even had all the development work done more than a week prior to this point, so it wasn't an all night-er for our engineering team the day before!  So what happened?  The sales team at the conference promoted and used it on the trade show to produce one of our largest lead gen opportunities in months. 

Just-in-time decision making is critical to allow a business to make the highest value decisions with the least amount of cost or waste.  Yes, its a fine line between just-in-time and too late, but you will never get good at it until you practice.  Think Lean!

Like many consumers around the world, I've been watching the Olympics on a daily basis.

 

My routine for the last week has been to relax in my family room, with my dog at my feet, the fire burning in the background, multi-tasking between my work on a small laptop perched against my knees and maneuvering through a day’s worth of DVR captured Olympic coverage.

 

Given my full schedule, I've had to be selective in my Olympic viewing. Have I had time to watch cross country skiing? No. Do I pause to catch the latest curling match? No.

 

And, of course… with four quick clicks of the yellow, "skip ahead" button on my remote,  I bypass the commercials.

 

That being said, there are two brands that have jumped out at me…. Fischer Skis and Head Skis. I've never  Nordic skied, so I can't comment much on Fischer other than to assume they have a big market share in Nordic skiing, evidenced by the big yellow Fischer Ski logos prominently displayed in every possible slow motion angle on Ski Jumping.

 

I do know Alpine skiing however. Head Skis has me puzzled. They've received some great coverage in these Olympics. Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller both ski on Head skis, which is evident to us consumers during slow motion replays, end-of-race interviews, and reporter commentary on ski equipment.

 

Now, I've been a consumer of ski equipment for a long time (I ski weekly, I used to ski instruct, etc.)… and I'm now a consumer of ski equipment for my two daughters as well (and will be for another ten years)….  If you asked me to name fifteen ski brands, Head would not have made the list.

 

Why is that? I did a search on Bing (and on Google) for "Head Skis Boise" to see where in Boise one might be able to go check out a pair of Head skis. Based on the lack of search results, it's logical to infer that buying Head skis in Boise is not an option. Upon further laborious research on the Head website,  I finally determine there are two retailers of Head Skis in Boise. One of which is Greenwood's Ski Haus. (I happen to coach soccer for one of the owner's daughters).

 

So, my questions are:

• How is Head leveraging this week's Olympic coverage?
  
• Why doesn't Head have more consumer share of voice?
• How is Head going to convert consumers like me into revenues and raving fans?

 

Head is apparently banking on establishing a relationship directly with the consumer, through their website, social media, etc. They seem to lack interest in marketing to individuals on a local basis via their specialty retail channels (they aren't alone).

 

I'm a fan of direct brand-to-consumer relationships, but I believe there is a massive opportunity for brands like Head to build market share and to more effectively market locally via their specialty retailers. Most brands just struggle with the complexities of making that a reality.

 

Here is a very basic, simple example of a local marketing idea that could be utilized by a brand like Head.

 

• Head produces a professional direct mail marketing template that features Head products/brand messaging on 50% of the piece. The other half of the ad can be branded by the local retailer. The message of the piece leverages the recent success of the Olympic athletes.
• The direct mail is mailed to a highly targeted demographic list of local consumers, and has a call to action to drive the consumer into the store.
• Head agrees to pay 75% of the marketing costs of the direct mail, which means the retailer is getting 300% more marketing exposure for their marketing dollar than if they'd tried to market without the help of Head.
• Head sells more skis, Head builds market share, the retailer captures more customers and revenues, the consumer is excited because they have the same brand of skis that the Olympic skiers use.

Based on my experience of talking to many new brands each month about their marketing, brands have many (historically legitimate) reasons why local marketing is a challenge. These reasons happen to be the same with every brand I talk to.

• Local retailers lack marketing expertise and are overwhelmed with the myriad of marketing media available.
• Brands have offered to do this for their retailers in the past, and the retailers only use 40% of the money available to them.
• Administering this "co-operative advertising" process is a real challenge for the brand and a deterrent to the retailer
• The brand's CFO is putting tremendous pressure on the marketing organization to reduce their co-op/mdf marketing spend. Obviously because there is no ability to measure a positive ROI (otherwise, they'd want to invest more, correct?)

Suffice it to say, these reasons are no longer valid (at least, not for Balihoo's clients).

 

There should be a race by brands to harness the local marketing capabilities of their specialty retail channels to build customer market share on a very intimate/local basis…. Head, K2, Atomic, Rossignol, Salomon, Blizzard, Nordica… the first one to figure this out will have a unique competitive advantage.

 

Will Head's revenues increase as a result of the success of their Olympic Athletes? Probably…. Will it be exponential and will they become a market share leader for years to come? Potentially, if they crack the code on how to leverage their specialty retail channels to drive local marketing.

Want to learn how?  Check out our Local Marketing whitepaper or our Co-op Marketing whitepaper, they can get you started. 



Kewords:  trade promotion marketing, local advertising, local marketing ideas, local marketing software, co-op marketing software. 

While catching up on some local news, I came across an article by Michael Roizen, M.D., and Mehmet Oz, M.D. The article features some interesting tips to keep you brain sharp (luckily, I already do all of these things:):                       

Fill your cup. Coffee (six cups a day) can reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease by more than 20 percent.

Rise to the challenge. Hit a tough problem first thing in the morning? Good! Constant mental challenges are Miracle-Gro for your mind.

Walk to lunch. Regular, moderate exercise cuts dementia odds in half.

Order up some Mediterranean food. Eating more fish, fruits, veggies, whole grains and legumes than most Americans do (not difficult!) reduces your risk of Alzheimer's by up to 40 percent. (This also means avoiding added sugars, syrups, trans fats, saturated fats and any grain but 100 percent whole grain.)

Spice it up. Indians have 75 percent less brain dysfunction and Alzheimer's at the same age as Westerners. The reason: It's thought to be the curcumin-derivative turmeric found in curry (and inexpensive mustards).

Savor a little chocolate. Chocolate keeps your brain happy, possibly by keeping your arteries young.

Slice it (on the ping-pong table). Playing a sport that requires fast changes in direction improves balance and memory.

Practice. Playing music bolsters language areas of your brain. Bonus: You can be bad at it (keep the day job!) and still benefit.

Pop some DHA and D. DHA is the omega-3 fat that helps keep brain cells young. Get 600 mg a day from fortified foods or DHA supplements. And add 1,000 IU of vitamin D-3 to help keep the arteries going to your brain younger, too.

Tags: Trade Promotion Marketing - Local Advertising - Local Marketing ideas

Here at Balihoo, I get the opportunity to work closely with our media team.  I observe and learn from them while they develop media strategies for our clients on a daily basis.  I’m continually impressed by the time and commitment they put into each advertising media plan they create.  They are extremely committed to researching every media type in local advertising markets in order to reach our clients’ diverse audiences.  The alternative media vehicles they research particularly fascinate me and have caused me to pay closer attention to the creative ways brands promote their products or services in my life.  I can always appreciate an ad that catches my attention due to its particular location, delivery or behavior.

A prime example of one of these innovative media vehicles happens to be just that, a vehicle.  Well, kind of – it’s a vehicle for horses, anyway, and happens to be owned by a good friend of mine.  This friend competes professionally in the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association and travels the country year-round to compete in the biggest rodeos in the world.  He and his horses have traveled on nearly every main roadway through every state in the western three quarters of the continental United States.  He also happens to be part of a unique but growing group of cowboys who are sponsored by inspired companies looking to support one of our country’s most cherished western traditions. 

These partnerships are very beneficial to both parties.  The cowboys typically wear the brands’ logos on their competition attire while their trucks or horse trailers display brand decals.  This sort of advertising delivers invaluable brand exposure from the big screens of our country’s largest sporting event venues to its vast network of interstate highways.  The cowboys, in turn, are supported in their never-ending quest to reach the next rodeo and compete without the worry of expensive entry fees and fuel prices. 

My friend is sponsored by Celadrin, a joint supplement company out of California.  The partnership is a good match, and I applaud Celadrin for making rodeo a part of their integrated marketing strategy.  What a great opportunity for them to get their logo, web address, and retailers' names on a vehicle that will travel their entire trade area year-round.   Further, they are associated with a successful athlete of an extremely physically demanding sport.  Rodeo cowboys exude ruggedness, athleticism, and raw grit, all of which is admired by the large audiences professional rodeos draw.   My friend’s endorsement of their product makes sense because he uses it on a daily basis and strongly believes in its benefits, so it’s an easy sell for him when talking to friends and fans, alike.

I encourage all companies to think outside the box and consider new and innovative ways to deliver their message to their audience.  I’m not sure if I’ll see a rodeo cowboy sponsorship make its way into one of Balihoo’s recommended advertising media plans, but based on our team’s meticulous approach to scrutinizing local marketing ideas, I wouldn’t be surprised if something equally as creative and original showed up.

Here's a press release we sent out earlier today: 

Balihoo Partners with Trade Promotion Management Association (TPMA) 

Leading co-op marketing software provider joins the premier membership organization dedicated specifically to the practice of trade promotion marketing

Boise, ID (Jan. 7, 2010) — Balihoo, the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands, announced today that they have joined the Trade Promotion Management Association (TPMA). 

“With the launch of our Integrated Co-op Marketing Solution, it simply makes sense to partner with the leading industry organization in the market,” said Pete Gombert, Balihoo’s CEO. 

Balihoo’s solution combines creative customization, local media execution and co-op funding into a single Integrated Co-op Marketing platform to give product manufacturers and their resellers a single location to manage all co-op marketing activities. Embedded in Balihoo’s Local Marketing Automation platform, this represents the industry’s first closed-loop co-op marketing solution that functions across all advertising and marketing mediums.

“TPMA is very pleased that Balihoo has chosen to join. Our members include many of the most innovative and highly-regarded service providers in the trade promotion space, as well as leading retailers and their suppliers. Balihoo will fit right in,” said Bob Houk, TPMA Executive Director.

In addition, Balihoo has announced the availability of a white paper:  Integrated Co-op Marketing White Paper; Translating National Strategies into Local Execution.

Like most people in Boise, I’m an outdoor enthusiast. It’s a big part of why I chose to live here. With a love for outdoor activities comes the insatiable thirst for top of the line gear. Sure, call me a gear-head. Self admitted.

When it comes to purchasing the latest and greatest outdoor gear, I automatically gravitate to REI for two simple reasons. One, their customer service is second to none. And two, I’m a member of the REI co-op program. REI was established as a co-op providing members with an annual dividend check formulated from the member’s total purchases throughout the fiscal year. The use of co-op for retail stores is a simple concept that has worked incredibly well and is best seen by REI’s history of steady growth in a crowded retail sector.

So if it is so simple, why aren’t more brands using co-op for their retail distributors the way retail distributors use co-op for their customers? Easy answer. It’s too damn complicated. The paperwork and filing process associated with co-op reimbursement for distributors has been so cumbersome that, oftentimes, retailers will leave eligible dollars on the table at yearend simply because the co-op marketing program wreaks havoc on the retailer’s cash flow by the time they are finally reimbursed. The concept of co-op advertising works so long as it is easy to use and straight-forward.

Enter Balihoo’s new Integrated Co-op Marketing Solution: An easy solution to enable effective co-op marketing at a local level. For fun, let’s play out a brief scenario to show just how powerful co-op marketing can be.

Brand X releases a new lightweight soft-shell jacket with state of the art fabric technology and happens to offer a 75% co-op for all advertising dollars spent by retailers promoting the product. Brand X does this via Balihoo’s new solution. Retailer, REI in this scenario, decides to run a strategic local advertising campaign at their Boise location that features a co-branded advertisement with Brand X’s new product and REI’s logo. And for the sake of this story, the ad happens to be localized via Balihoo’s local marketing automation tool (yep, all located in the same online portal). Brand X loves this because their product is being marketed at the local level. REI loves this because it is simple and Brand X is helping pay for the ad real-time, meaning that there is no waiting or messy paper work associated with receiving reimbursement. Co-op is applied at the time an order is placed and full transparency is seen by all parties involved.

…Along comes a gear-head such as myself. I see the ad, and go to REI to check it out because I trust the retailer and the products they sell. Oh, and did I forget to mention that I go to REI because I love the REI member co-op program? I purchase the product, and go figure, I use my REI Visa to purchase the coat because it increases my eligible co-op amount on the product and thus results in a larger yearend dividend. I then receive my dividend check and the whole process starts over when I see another co-branded REI ad promoting a new Brand Y cycling shoe that REI just started selling. And guess what? Brand Y is offering a 90% co-op.

To sum it up, much like retail stores can drive consumer behavior via co-op, brand’s can drive retailer behavior using the same simple concept.

Co-op advertising. It’s a beautiful thing.

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

For those of you involved in Co-op advertising or co-op marketing programs, I wanted to make you aware of a new whitepaper we have entitled, "Integrated Co-op Marketing." 

You can access the whitepaper here:  Integrated Co-op Marketing

The overall concept of the whitepaper is that organizations who integrate the creative and financial components of their co-op marketing solution see significantly increased results from their channel marketing program.  We believe that by deploying sophisticated co-op marketing software an organization can dramatically increase reseller participation and success in their co-op marketing solution. 

Marketing software tools, specifically co-op marketing software, have made significant strides in recent years and this whitepaper will help you understand how to identify and deploy the most effective co-op marketing solution. 

Would love to hear any feedback! 

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

Sales promotion marketing, using co-op advertising funds, has typically been a very promotional-based type activity.  The brand builds the ad, in which the retailer plays a minor role, then a print ad builder is used to customize it for the retailer. 

However, as suggested by this Ad Age article, Walmart is taking a unique spin on these ads.  They're focused more on the product itself, with the retailer taking the back seat in terms of visibility.  It suggests that because Walmart has established a positioning of low-price leader, they're able to run these more brand-based (or product based) ads without the need for a heave dose of sales promotion marketing messaging. 

While interesting in and of itself as a general trend, I think it's important for product manufacturers to consider how this could play out in their co-op advertising programs.  Specifically, manufacturers need to consider the role their creative and creative templates play given this information.

Our recommendation to clients of our co-op marketing solution is that they need to develop creative templates that allow for a spectrum.  At a very basic level you can create two versions of your product ad - one where the retailer plays a starring role and one where the retailer plays a minor role.  Then, fund these templates at different levels (for example, 25% co-op for one version and 50% co-op for the other).  Approaching it in this fashion allows the retailer to implement their sales promotion marketing efforts in the manner the best suits them and they're rebated at a level that is comfortable to the product manufacturer. 

Of course, this approach assumes that you have a print ad builder (or other mediums) implemented in your co-op advertising program that can manage this level of specificity.  Balihoo's channel marketing software can handle that, I hope yours can too.   

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

Note:  This post originally appeared on the older Balihoo blog on 10/27/09. 

JUST in case you missed our announcement on PRweb or our News section (we like to be thorough) I wanted to let everyone know that we have some pretty exciting news today - we’re announcing the wide availability of our Integrated Co-op Marketing Solution. 

This is a big deal for us - we’ve had co-op functionality in our system for awhile, but for the first time we’re packaging it up nicely and making it widely available to all of our customers (and potential customers).  I’ve seen firsthand the delight on a reseller/distributor/franchisee face the first time they log into this co-op marketing solution and realize that they can manage both the creative and financial ends of their co-op advertising spend through one easy system.  The time savings and cost savings they realize are immediate and significant. 

And for the national brand running the co-op advertising program - the biggest deal here is the visibility they have into what’s going on at a local level.  Imagine being able to completely understand the local support of a product launch BEFORE it’s launched.  Or, view marketing activities at a local level to understand what’s working for your affiliates.  Invaluable. 

If you want to learn more about using a centralized system to manage a co-op program, check out our Integrated Co-op Marketing Software whitepaper at:  www.balihoo.com/icm

OK, enough about us, back to our regularly scheduled programming……

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

NOTE:  This was originally posted on the older version of the Balihoo blog on 10/20/09 by Marcie Blagden. 

Here’s an interesting blog posting - Co-op or MDF: Who cares? in which the author discusses the differences between Co-op advertising and MDF advertising programs and analyzes the current trend of  manufacturers to move more towards MDF-based programs. 

I agree with the author here – who cares as long as it’s successful? 

Regardless of the format of the program, more time and attention needs to be placed on building programs that are easy-to-use (both for manufacturer and distributor) and ultimately successful in the marketplace.  The MOST successful co-op advertising programs minimize the administrative efforts required by both parties while maximizing the return-on-investment (and time) of dollars placed into the system.

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing  

Co-op marketing solutions and co-op advertising program can be incredibly valuable and effective; however, unless they are clearly executed by all involved parties they can be reduced to simply an additional headache that never seems to perform quite as desired.

Consider the following:

• Do you really believe your co-op advertising budget is being well spent?
• Can you guarantee coordination of timing and messages for product launch marketing efforts?
• Are your resellers spending more time complaining about delayed reimbursements than working to achieve results in your upcoming key selling season?
• Have your competitors started to outflank you with more effective co-op advertising program - even though they offer an inferior product?
  
  
  Co-op Marketing Strategies: Building a Better Co-op/MDF Program

  View more presentations from Balihoo.

  

  

  Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing

Note:  This post originally appeared on Balihoo's old blog on 11/17/09

The Trade Promotion Marketing Association (TPMA) reports that there are approximately $50B in co-op/MDF dollars available in a given year, while only $30B are actually used. This means that 40% of the dollars that manufacturers make available to their channel to drive local demand generation go unused.

Let me rephrase that - manufacturers offer free money to resellers to drive their business and it’s only accepted 60% of the time. Does that sound right to you?  Does that sound like an effective co-op marketing solution?

As channel and trade managers, you should not accept this as the due course of business. My belief is that adoption rate - the % of your resellers eligible for your co-op program who actually engage - should be the key front-end metric you measure to understand the value of your overall co-op marketing solution. No, it certainly won’t replace the key back-end metrics of revenue and ROI, but on the front-end it is the main thing you should be looking at in your co-op marketing software. Why? Because your adoption rate can tell you so much about your program.

Getting a deep understanding of your adoption rate (over time) can help you understand:
- Are my salesforce engaged and being ambassadors for the program?
- Am I effectively communicating the program?
- Is the program easy-to-use?
- Am I providing enough flexibility within the program?
- Is the creative valuable to my partners?

So - tip of the day - track your adoption rate. If you see it anywhere below around 80%, you should be taking a deep dive to understand why your resellers are not taking advantage to move their business forward.  FYI - your co-op marketing software should be able to help here! 

 

Tags:  Channel Marketing Software, Co-op Advertising, Co-op Marketing Software, Co-op Marketing Solution, CRM Marketing Automation, Retail Marketing, Sales Promotion Marketing, Trade Promotion Marketing