It’s Decision Day across the United States. Billions of dollars and countless hours have been spent to get us to a decision. No matter what your politics, you have to admit it’s a tremendous undertaking.
Those of us in channel marketing and marketing automation work for decisions too. For us every day is Decision Day. We’re working for that all elusive user decision, from channel partner (dealer, agent, retailer, distributor, franchisee) to get them to advertise and market their business, use approved marketing assets and take advantage of everything the marketing portal has to offer.
Having done this for 20 plus years, we’ve learned a thing or two about getting more decisions. Believe me, it’s a lot more than slick technology. Getting users to use a marketing portal is a multi-layered effort, with four separate but interrelated areas that need to be addressed in order for success. The four areas are shown below:
We’ve written a white paper that we share with clients that dig into each of these areas in detail in order to craft a plan to achieve success. Careful planning and consistent execution of the plan builds adoption and feeds off itself. We use this planning framework with new implementations leading up to launch, but it’s most important use is as a planning framework. Looking at your implementation goals and KPI’s on a quarterly or annual basis is key to growing user adoption and building your brand equity in the process. Making adjustments to your strategy in light of these four key drivers keeps your programs on track.
Unfortunately, most marketing automation salespeople don’t offer a recipe for success. For them it’s all about slick technology and more bells and whistles. As we’ve seen, this leaves many companies disappointed with the results.
That’s unfortunate, because a long term view is what’s needed. By tracking the key indicators necessary to measure success and implementing effective strategies to encourage usage, your online applications can meet and exceed your expectations — building your brand and business. It’s Decision Day.