What is Cloud Marketing?

Cloud Marketing is traditional marketing combined with Software as a Service. It consists of migrating all marketing assets to exist online in customized portals. Placing these assets online makes them easy for all parties involved to create, modify, use and share. From a channel perspective, no one (VAR nor vendor) has to have experience or training with the technology that supports them. It's all supported by a third party, like SharedVue, devoted to the maintenance of the platform.

Cloud Marketing is Traditional Marketing combined with Software as a Service.

So why use cloud marketing for your channel? Simply put, your channel partners don't have the time and resources to do their own marketing. Thus, the more marketing activities you can automate, the better off your partners will be. Some key ways to automate marketing activities are with content syndication and automated email communications on behalf of your channel partners.

The partners benefit because they get instant, customized help and expertise from vendors that is based on market research and brand quality. The vendor benefits because partners are communicating a succinct, cohesive and consistent marketing message at all customer touch points.

Current Practices vs Cloud Marketing

Currently, the most efficient way Vendors distribute product, training and marketing information to VARs is through Partner Portals. These portals – owned and updated by the vendor – are websites, or a page on an existing site, where all partners can log in with a unique username and password. Once logged in, partners have to navigate around and find the information they want or need. Then, they are able to take that information and do something with it, such as placing it on their website. The vendor is able to update this information as needed in one, central location.

The problem with Partner Portals is that though they are efficient for the vendor, they aren't for the VARs. Every time there are updates for new products or training materials, your channel partners have to take action. This process can become tedious for channel partners, especially considering 63% of all channel partner organizations have no marketing manager.

With a Cloud Marketing strategy, VARs are not forced to go through a large, generic Partner Portal. Instead, each VAR is given access to a SharedVue Partner Console tailored to their specific relationship with vendors. In this custom console, VARs are able to simply go in and select which bits of information they want to appear on their websites and it appears there automatically. This makes effective time to market zero. If VARs do not have time to log in to select content, there is simply an offering that is automatically syndicated directly to their websites, no customization necessary. There is never any manipulation of the messaging or branding and it blends with the partners' brand images.

Increasing Leads & Profit

Cloud Marketing generates money in two main ways:

1. It costs less to obtain a qualified lead, minimizing customer capital investment.
2. Partners' sales staffs are more enabled to close leads and have a larger pool of leads.

In addition, rich call-to-action messaging and Web marketing nurture the lead automatically. Content on partners' websites never goes out of date or loses message and brand integrity because the vendor simply has to update the content in one central location – the cloud. Absolutely no maintenance is required from the partners. It is automatically updated each time there is a new product offering or promotion from the vendor. Since more customers are able to see a consistent message, the product and partners appear to have more credibility, thus nurturing the customer and increasing the chance of purchase.

Additionally, promotions are placed in front of the customer as soon they're created. And since a Cloud Marketing strategy allows for such quick exposure, there is virtually no competitor encroachment. Competitors have to race to keep their partner channels up to date.

Benefits of Cloud Marketing

With Cloud Marketing, vendors are able to put relevant, up-to-date, consistent marketing information on an unlimited number of partner websites instantly. Also, vendors are able to send promotional videos, images, product specifications, training and marketing materials or any other type of information directly to the VAR via a customized, personal Partner Console. Customers see new products and promotions instantly. Thus, leads and sales increase while the cost of generating those leads decreases. The end result is more profit with:

• Low cost marketing content delivered to multiple web sites
• Consistency of messaging and brand communication
• Ability to customize for regional and local needs
• Lead generation opportunities within the content

See how SharedVue's Cloud Marketing Platform enables can help you control 100% of your branding and messaging on Channel Partner websites.