Creating a Channel Strategy: The Complete Guide Be honest. Do you know what your non-marketing colleagues do all day? Sure, you might have a general idea of what your co-workers in sales, finance, and HR do, at least categorically. But it seems that many of us -- myself included -- have those days, weeks, and months when we’re so bogged down in our own daily hustle, that we become a bit oblivious to what everyone else around us is working on. After all, that’s probably why the phrase, “put your blinders on” exists. But while a colleague’s job might look different from our own, there’s actually quite a bit that we, as marketers, can learn from them. One of those things is channel strategy. That’s why I recently sat down with my colleague, Adrianne Ober, a Channel Consultant here at HubSpot. After speaking with her about what she does every day -- and about the most important knowledge she’s gained in this role -- I’ve realized that there are a lot of channel strategy lessons that marketers can apply to their own work. So, what did we learn? Read on to find out -- or listen to our interview with Adrianne by pressing “play” below. What Is Channel Strategy? A channel strategy, according to TechTarget, “is a vendor's plan for moving a product or a service through the chain of commerce to the end customer.” In many environments, this kind of channel strategy takes the form of a...

20 Stats That Make the Case for Co-Marketing in 2020 As a billionaire inventor and CEO, the fictional Tony Stark, also known as Marvel's Iron Man, worked his way to the top of the corporate ladder while repeatedly saving the world on the side. Despite Stark's impressive achievements, his career success and robotic super-suit weren't what made him a legend. In fact, Stark’s best Marvel Comics storylines began when he joined The Avengers to save the entire universe. Although Stark was fully capable of saving Earth alone in his super-suit, he knew teaming up with other superheroes would allow him to save multiple planets. Marketers can learn a lot from Tony Stark. While our brands might be capable of reaching basic targets all on their own, pooling marketing resources, combining skill sets, and jointly creating campaigns with other non-competing companies could help us reach much broader audiences. This tactic is known as co-marketing. Although co-marketing can be incredibly beneficial to you and your partner's brands, it will still take time, planning, and coordination when it comes to finding a co-marketing partner and launching mutually beneficial campaigns. Like any good marketer considering a new tactic, you’ll want to know that co-marketing can be effective before devoting resources to it. And yes, you'll likely want to research more than just the superhero analogy I've made above. To help you make the case for co-marketing, here’s a list of 20 statistics that prove why you should consider this strategy in 2020. ...

5 Brand Partnership Fails When you were in school, did you ever work on a group project? If so, you probably remember that some went well, and others weren't as synergistic. The same thing is true with brand partnerships. Sometimes co-marketing works because each brand pulls in a new audience and the two are able to learn from one another. However, this isn't the case with all partnerships. Below, let's review some brand partnerships that have failed and discuss co-marketing mistakes to avoid. 5 Brand Partnership Fails 1. Kendall Jenner and Pepsi A few years ago, a major brand partnership that failed was between Kendall Jenner and Pepsi. Pepsi featured Jenner in a commercial where she offers a soda to a policeman at a protest. Here's the commercial: The reason this partnership failed was because audiences thought the two brands were making light of serious social and civil rights issues. Essentially, this commercial was perceived as being done in poor taste and didn't showcase social consciousness. 2. Target and Neiman Marcus In 2013, Target and Neiman Marcus partnered on a new clothing line. However, Target's customers search for cost-efficient, mass trend clothing options, while Neiman Marcus is a luxury brand that offers expensive, edgy clothes. Unfortunately, this collection didn't take Target's target audience into account. The clothing line ended up being too expensive and edgy for Target's audience. Usually, if a high-end brand is partnering with Target, the prices would...

What's an Implementation Partner & How Do You Work With One? In college, I took a class on graphic design. One requirement for the class was to have working knowledge of Adobe. Since most of us in the class had no idea how to use Adobe's expansive design suite, my school invited an implementation partner to visit and show us the ropes. Someone from the partnering agency came to our class and demonstrated how to use the tools we had for InDesign to maximize our success in the class. I loved this presentation because it was created just for our group — the presenter polled us about what we wanted to learn and delivered relevant information based on that feedback. I would've definitely struggled with using the software had it not been for the agency partner. I loved the experience, and it gave me an understanding of just how amazing implementation partners can be for the companies they support. Implementation partners work directly with your customers to ensure they're getting the most out of your product. You can think of an implementation partner in the same way you think about tech support. Often, tech support agents are certified by the company they work for to give actionable solutions for problems. The difference between tech support and implementation partners is that the latter can benefit from an increase in brand awareness and leads. If you work with them, you can offer their services to those who might need help...

How 3 HubSpot Managers Found Strong Co-Marketing Partnerships A solid co-marketing partnership is one of the better ways to reach a previously untapped audience, generate positive publicity, and create a wealth of valuable marketing collateral. When done right, it's a mutually beneficial, thoroughly productive way to boost your marketing efforts as a whole. Aligning yourself with an industry peer can pay off in spades, but these kinds of relationships aren't easy to start and sustain. Your partner's interests and qualities need to complement yours, and the companies you work with have to be reliable enough to consistently pull their weight. Finding a company that fits that bill is hard in its own right, but once you've identified one you want to work with, you're faced with the challenges of successfully contacting them, corresponding with them, and convincing them to work with you. Those processes can be hard to figure out on your own, so to offer you some help, we spoke with three HubSpot experts about how they found strong co-marketing partnerships and the steps you need to take to do the same. What do you look for in a co-marketing partner? When asked about what they look for in a co-marketing partner, our experts all seemed to agree that the number one priority is alignment in audience, messaging, and image. As HubSpot Senior Marketing Manager, Margot Mazur, put it, "We look for partners who speak to similar personas and address their needs. Specifically, we want to...

What Is Co-Marketing? A Guide to Co-Branding Marketing Campaigns As marketers, we are always looking for new ways to get more bang for our buck. Co-marketing allows you to do just that — the process involves two or more companies working together to reap the benefits of their combined efforts. We've compiled the co-marketing tips and tricks below to help you create a successful co-marketing campaign and relationship, from start to finish. Partner companies typically collaborate on promotional efforts for a co-branded offer. In a co-marketing partnership, both companies promote a piece of content or product, and share the results of that promotion. By levering the relationship and reach of a partner, co-marketing campaigns are designed to deliver more leads, buzz, and awareness, with less work. Co-Marketing vs. Co-Branding You've probably heard the terms co-marketing and co-branding thrown around quite a bit — but what's the difference? Is there one? Turns out, they’re actually pretty similar. While co-branding refers to a partnership in which two companies combine their products or expertise to create an even more valuable product or offer (Think: Doritos Locos Tacos), co-marketing takes things a step further. Co-marketing campaigns provide teams with an opportunity to work together to promote a shared offer — such as a co-branded product or piece of content. In a co-marketing partnership, both companies promote that offer, and share the results of that promotion with each other. More on how this process works next. How does co-marketing...

Reach and Delight (The Right) Customers with Cooperative Marketing Let's say you're buying a new phone. You probably also have to buy a screen protector and case. But, never fear — The phone store has an array of both from different companies. They are bundled with the phone for a lower price. A phone store that bundles their products with complementary ones is an example of cooperative marketing. This offer takes advantage of products you'd already need to invest in when buying a phone, and uses that to entice you into purchasing. That way, instead of spending time and money to make a campaign about the phones a screen protector is great for, the cooperative partnership drives leads and sales in a more organic way. Whether the partnership is with direct competitors or complementary ones, all can enjoy the exposure and business a cooperative marketing campaigns offer. Now that you have a pretty good idea of how cooperative marketing works, let's look at some examples from companies that have excelled with their campaigns. This strategy leaves plenty of room for experimentation — some can even leverage it as part of their business model.  Let's dive in, below.  Cooperative Marketing Examples Cooperative marketing can show up in many different business types. You've most likely seen cooperative marketing in action around you. Let's take a look at examples from other companies for tactics you can use in your own campaign planning. 1. Cafe Integral + Freehand Hotel Freehand Hotel is...

HubSpot Ran A Co-marketing Campaign: Here's What We Learned Co-marketing campaigns can be undeniably effective for increasing brand awareness, reaching new audiences, or creating amazing — and potentially delicious — new products. For instance, consider the partnership between Doritos and Taco Bell, which resulted in Doritos Locos Tacos, a delicious product promoted in a brilliant co-marketing campaign. If you haven't heard of the partnership, watch the story unfold in this promotional video: In this case, the two B2C companies saw success in their venture — and now, the popular item is a mainstay on the Taco Bell menu. Marketers at the two companies can attribute the home-run to a certain tactic: co-marketing. A wonderful way for two companies to partner together, co-marketing can create opportunities for businesses to reach new audiences and delight existing audiences at the same time. For instance, HubSpot has the Partner program, which offers unique benefits, including co-marketing opportunities. Recently, the team decided to run a few tests to see if co-marketing could expand past content offers — and what that would look like. Essentially, the team aimed to answer three questions: How do we move co-marketing programming forward? How do we keep providing top-notch education? How do we keep our lead number high while creating value for our audience? HubSpot Academy gives educational value to its audiences, so it was a great channel for partners to get involved. It's the home of hundreds of...