Business-to-Business Internet Marketing, Fourth Edition - Lifecycle ...

266 BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS INTERNET MARKETING
For these companies, then, the Internet is being used to facilitate
communication and interaction between the company and the partner.
In fact, this application of the Internet is probably even more significant
than affiliate programs in the long run.
It is important to realize that the Internet itself will not compensate
for a channel partner program that is unstable or poorly run in the first
place. However, if your channel partner program is on solid ground to
begin with, then using the Internet can have a major positive impact on
channel partner programs.
There are several ways you can combine the traditional principles
of partnering with the benefits of new media marketing.
1. “Web-ize” the partner relationship. Whether you are the company
with partners or the partner, you can quickly begin to make the
Internet an integral part of your business relationship by collaborating
on the Web. Encourage partners either to link to your site or
to pick up and incorporate entire pages of information from your
site into their sites. Provide partners with information from your
Web site that you have repackaged for their use or offer to customize
Web content for their sites. Give partners a graphic button or
small banner that they can use on their sites to link to your site. If
you are the originating company, offer partners a place on your
site where they can post their information, perhaps in a partner
showcase section of your Web site. Provide partners with their own
unique order page to facilitate e-commerce.
2. Link your communications electronically. Encourage e-mail communications
between your organization’s employees and your
partners’ employees. With major business partners, you may want
to agree on using portions of each other’s networks selectively to
facilitate communications.
3. Promote your partners in a special area of your Web site. B-to-b
marketers with significant partner relationships may want to promote
these relationships on their corporate Web sites. The most
common way to do this is by creating a special area on the Web
site. This section typically describes the company’s partner program
(so the company can potentially acquire new partners), highlights
new partner participants, features news about partners, and
provides links to partners’ sites.