Know-How Exchange : Strategy

hi sjfound,

I think you answered your own question.

my pov is the vars are your target segment with the caveat that to help make the vars successful you will need to position your offerings clearly to benefit a user segment.

hope this helps,

Steve

THe vars are your target. They are the ones who buy your product.

I believe you need to work out mutual targets. I am in the middle of writing a book on targeting accounts. One of the chapters deals with establishing a targeting process with sales partners and channels. Yours is a classic situation of using a channel to market.

I would love to chat with you about the specifics of your product and how to best set up a mutual targeting plan.

BTW, most VARS and systems integrators need help with the sales and marketing side of their business. They typically are experts in engineering, software design and a whole bunch of other things - but often lack true sales skills. Helping them, helps you.

Contact me through my profile.

You are selling to the VARs so they should be your primary target. Your marketing plan should include things to introduce VARs to your product and educate them on the benefits. Concentrate on how selling your product will be good for their business as well as their customer.

You are not selling directly to the end-user so you should not be marketing directly to them either. Instead you should be providing the VAR's with support (as a value-added service) by making marketing tools available for them to use. Make it as easy as possible for them to sell your product. Offer things like catalogs, brochures, samples, giveaways items, White Papers, etc.

Hope this helps!
Rebecca

certainly you need to reach out to end-users, certainly you need to reach out to VARs, but don't forget to reach out to the individual salespeople who will be directly involved with promotion and sale of your product.

For example, a program of SPIFFs paid directly to salespeople can be very effective. the distribution channel will probably be hungry for sales leads, and your program for distributing these leads will have a big impact on your results.

Dear sjfound,

Know what a foodchain is? Marketing's not really that different.

Your Value Added Reseller channel? They're your target market. And to help THEM add value to THEIR customers, you must add value to YOUR relationship with them. Nourishing the relationship and all that.

I hope this helps.

Gary Bloomer
Wilmington, DE, USA
Follow me onwww.twitter.com@GaryBloomer

Whilst I agree with the comments made above that the VAR's are your target, this is ONLY true if they are BUYING the product from you.

What I know about software distribution is that most often it is done online via download. (Unless you are selling the boxes in bricks and mortar shops).

If the former is the case, then I am guessing that your VAR's are not paying up front for the product, they are simply bringing traffic to their sites and then paying you after the sale occurs minus their commission.

You therefore have 2 different business models.

1. Traditional manufacturer / wholesaler - distribution via downstream distributors.

2. Online download business distributed via software aggregators who do the work to bring the traffic and win the business from the end users.

Your initial question was not clear on which model you are running and so the answer to your question will be different for each.

If 1. then yes, the VAR's are your target market but you still have to help them with sell through to the end users.

If 2. then the end users are your target market since the VAR's don't PAY anything for the product.

Good luck.

Matthew

Yes, yes, yes. You absolutely need to market to your channel. When I was leading marketing for channel organizations, I divided my marketing plans into marketing "to" the channel and marketing "through" the channel.

In the days before social media, the "to" channel marketing was a lot of relationship marketing. It's easier these days with the new platforms.

The "through" channel marketing was creating the tools that the channel used to bring the product to market.

Then, of course, there is the marketing you do to reach the consumer directly, but it looks different when you're delivering the product through the channel.

On a related note, lead management is probably the hairiest issue when it come to selling through a channel. I have lots more thoughts on that too if you want them.

All the best!

Melissa Paulik

All good advice above.

Remember also that your channel is effectively your sales team and like any sales team you are going to have to manage them to keep them focussed and on track.

So set aside time to meet with the VARS on a regular basis, keep them motivated and understand what they need to help them shift your product through the chain.

Wars are won and lost by supply-line management, and selling software is absolutely the same kind of war.

Offer your VARS all the support they need in addition to a competitive, benefit-rich product, and they should be selling their socks off for you.

ChrisB