Creating a culture around your brand — and including your channel partners in the inner circle — encourages vendor-based brand evangelism that increases downstream sales. Building deep-seated loyalty throughout your business channel is different from building end-customer brand loyalty. Here are some dos and don’ts for encouraging your vendors to become brand evangelists. Do leverage user-friendly, cloud-based software for communicating with channel partners. Nothing says “you aren’t part of the group” like leaving someone out of the loop, and it’s easy to forget a vendor when sending product information, warranty updates, or invitations for events. Software helps you manage communications across your channel while including partners in an online community. Do provide support and training at an individual level for vendor employees. American business models have been copying Japanese models for decades, attempting to integrate suppliers into brand channels in such a way that all elements of the distribution chain work together to facilitate improvements. Providing support at the employee level for partner companies helps ensure your products and services are represented according to your brand and invites loyalty at the individual level. Do reward channel partners. Statistics show customers value programs that reward them in various ways for brand loyalty, and you can bring that same ROI to your business channel. Reward partners at a company and individual level for performance that includes not just closed business, but also behavior-based incentives. Offer monetary, recognition, and perk rewards. Do facilitate advertising opportunities for local and regional businesses in your channel.…
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