Co-op, stipend, marketing funds, ad dollars – whatever you call it, we all know that a well run co-op program can be a powerful catalyst to help drive sales. All types of sales and marketing campaigns can benefit from the extra attention and dollars a Co-Op fund provides, including:
• New Product Launches
• Relief of Excess Product or Service Inventory
• Time Sensitive Promotions
• Sales Inventory Incentives or Rewards
Unfortunately, too often, the entire co-op process will conjure up frustrating thoughts of laborious manual steps, tedious accounting reconciliations, and numerous disagreements on usage – in short, a nightmare. Yet when used properly, co-op aligns a strong channel strategy with Demand Generation programs, providing incentive for local marketers to advertise specific promotions to drive sales to both parties.
In fact, take a look at a study in the The CMO Survey conducted by the Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association in August of 2009, which listed:
Channel Partners #1 Priority in the Next 12 Months
Source: The CMO Survey, Duke University Fuqua School of Business and the American Marketing Association, August 2009
In order to give channels what they need and want, while keeping the process scalable, cost-effective, trackable, efficient and easy-to-use for both parties, co-op needs to be tied into dissemination of marketing material to the field. This automates the funding strategy behind a system that manages the brand and marketing requirements that the co-op program needs to enforce. Everyone wins.
(c) SproutLoud Media Networks, LLC - 2010.
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