Connect local sales partners with Through Channel Marketing Automation
Globalization and global interconnectedness mean that more and more large companies are promoting their brands nationally or even worldwide while still maintaining a consistent brand image. This is not only important for major corporations like Coca-Cola or BMW; other brands also rely on the system of distributed or local marketing. In distributed marketing, products and services are distributed and promoted decentrally by local sales partners. As a result, these local sales partners have the most direct customer contact, whereas the brand itself plays only an overarching role. To optimally prepare sales partners for local marketing and ensure it remains consistent despite the decentralized organization, Through Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA) can help.
What is a TCMA Platform?
To successfully implement Through Channel Marketing Automation (TCMA), a platform is utilized. These TCMA platforms are usually a Software-as-a-Service system that enables a brand to conduct successful marketing through its local sales partners. These platforms are sometimes also referred to as Distributed Marketing Platforms or Marketing Portals and enable targeted marketing at a local level. The platform connects all local sales partners with headquarters, thereby offering support in all areas of marketing. To conduct distributed and local marketing that is as consistent as possible yet effective, sales partners on the Through Channel Marketing Automation platform gain access to a variety of marketing materials, campaigns, images, and digital assets that they can use to increase their local visibility.
Why is Through Channel Marketing Automation needed?
The advantages of local marketing are the customer approach and individual customization for the local market. However, as a brand, this means entrusting a great deal of responsibility to individual sales partners. Ultimately, sales and, consequently, the success of the entire company depend on their marketing. The Problem However, the challenge is that channel partners may have very different levels of marketing knowledge , as they may not have any prior marketing experience.
Furthermore, in many companies, the processes and procedures for local advertising are complex and involve many iterations. In many cases, all activities must be approved or even created by headquarters. These individual and complex processes are resolved by TCMA. For this, a company needs clear agreements between headquarters and its channel partners, as well as platforms and connections through which current content and marketing opportunities are shared.
What does a TCMA offer?
A Through Channel Marketing Automation system offers the opportunity in many areas to positively influence and support marketing management. Generally, such software offers the opportunity to improve the entire workflow in distributed marketing and to provide individual channel partners with a platformwhere everything necessary is combined in one place. Ideally, this is easy to use and requires no extensive prior knowledge.
Firstly, in this system, all marketing and promotional materials can be offered centrally. This includes not only orderable items, but also the ability to individualize marketing materials and adapt them to local customers and individual branches. There are no limits to the selection of marketing materials. A Through Channel Marketing Automation system can offer print articles, digital ads, social media materials, and out-of-home items, as well as trade fair materials, business equipment, or video materials. Furthermore, not only promotional materials but also individual digital assets such as images, logos, or graphics can be shared and distributed via the TCMA system. Thus, it can also replace an external Digital Asset Management (DAM) system.
In addition to promotional materials and assets, the systems also offer the possibility to publish corporate design guidelines and to support channel partners in budget planning. This is primarily done through the allocation of advertising subsidies for specific products or individual channel partners. However, for distributed marketing to be used successfully and effectively, TCMA helps to analyze and subsequently evaluate the activities.
Benefits of a TCMA Platform
- Unifies all local marketing for sales and distribution partners
- Access to all necessary marketing materials via a web-based platform
- Centralizes and simplifies marketing processes (efficient workflow)
- Combines creation, approval, and publishing into a single workflow
- Faster Time-to-Market
- Overview of all marketing activities
- Local audience targeting
- Analysis of products and sales partners
- Evaluation of sales partner success
Who benefits from TCMA?
The use of Through Channel Marketing Automation creates a win-win situation for the brand and its individual sales and distribution partners, as it builds a bridge between the central marketing department and individual sales partners. For headquarters, collaboration is simplified and the workload significantly reduced, because not every initiative needs to be individually coordinated with the sales partner anymore. Sales partners, on the other hand, gain access to a clear platform that covers all essential marketing activities. Thus, the daily marketing routine is also simplified and accelerated for sales partners. Especially for independent sales partners representing multiple brands, such a TCMA system can lead to more local marketing being conducted for the brand. In general, with TCMA, headquarters grants more power and decision-making freedom to individual sales partners, while still guaranteeing the overall brand image (Corporate Identity) through templates and settings. This is particularly important, as individual sales partners can be seen as important ambassadors in the company's brand communication.