PARTNER MARKETING

National marketers lack vision into local demand, US survey finds

By our News Team | 2022

New research by the CMO Council reveals a national marketing ‘blind spot’ in local partner marketing performance.

A third of national marketers in the US say 40% or more of their company’s revenue comes from local business partners. Yet two-thirds of national marketers have only a moderate understanding, or worse, about their local partners’ business and marketing challenges and how to kickstart local demand.

This is according to a new report by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and BrandMuscle, a specialist in integrated local and channel marketing.

Partner marketing

Photo by Fauxels from Pexels

The new research examines the opportunity and challenges national marketers face when improving and promoting their local partner channel marketing programs. Among the key findings:

  • 95% of national marketing leaders say it’s important (41%), very important (29%), even critically important (25%), to increase revenue through their local partner channel.
  • 75% have only a moderate understanding (40%), limited understanding (29%) or no understanding (6%) of local partners, their challenges and how to optimise their performance.
  • 55% say the overall effectiveness of their local partner channel marketing programme is only moderately effective, or worse.
  • 43% say it’s very important, even critical, to improve digital marketing among local partners, yet 48% don’t even offer fund reimbursement for digital marketing tactics.

“Local partners are the last mile to purchase and have the most interaction with customers,” said Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. 

National marketers must collaborate with local partners

“If national marketers really want to know their customers, they need to work closely with local partners, collaborate on marketing projects, share data, etc. Shoring up your local partner channel marketing programme is a great place to start.”

There is a significant opportunity for national marketers to improve their local partner channel marketing programmes, such as making services more easily accessible, getting more creative with funding, and providing marketing training, content and digital marketing tactics that are meaningful at the local level.

“The opportunity to grow revenue incrementally through local partners should be a priority for marketing leaders,” said Kyle Coughlin, VP of Marketing and Demand Generation at BrandMuscle. 

“Given the amount of revenue already being generated through local channels, optimising and enabling partners to better align with marketing objectives and drive a positive ROI will help both the brand and partners succeed. Partners are often the last touchpoint before a sale. By helping them be better marketers, they become more active brand advocates in the path to purchase, which is a win-win for everyone.”

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