When people talk about marketing communications, it’s usually in the context of selling products and services to customers. But an increasing number of top-performing companies are using marketing communication solutions as a secret weapon to help them sell through wholesalers, channel partners, independent or captive sales teams, dealers, brokers, and other kinds of resellers.

Think about it. What would it mean to your business if you had a marketing communications solution that was automated and optimized for communications with and through your sales channel? One that could educate, train, inform, motivate, and persuade them to use your marketing collateral, campaigns, and email templates to sell more of your products? What if it required just a few mouse clicks to personalize, customize, and deliver your messages? And delivered real-time tracking and campaign visibility across your entire sales channel?

A major property and casualty insurance company asked those questions, and implemented a B2B marketing communications initiative based on the Distribion Distributed Marketing Platform.  Like many distributed marketing organizations, the company had difficulty convincing independent agents to opt-in for campaigns or reuse the company’s collateral, so their primary goal was to improve brand and messaging control by making it easy for agents to find and use the materials corporate marketing created.  Other challenges included:

• Reducing customization costs
• Eliminating a reliance on inefficient print collateral
• Improve tracking and reporting capabilities
• Anywhere, anytime access on any connected device (including iPads and smartphones), so agents could show a presentation or share content during client meetings

A Quick Start program delivered a branded, ready-to-go solution in less than 60 days, including both email and print capabilities.  Regulatory and brand compliance, complete visibility into system usage and campaign results, and the ability to control costs were key factors in the initial purchase decision.

However, the primary outcome proved to be increased loyalty from independent agents and customer service representatives within the distribution and sales channel, who appreciated the easy-to-use marketing and sales tools the company provided through the Distribion platform.  The company was also able to achieve significant cost savings by automating the flow of information, collateral, and campaign materials to their sales partners and affiliates.

• Print  & direct mail costs declined by 22%
• Ad hoc AdBuilder costs declined by 18%
• Time spent creating marketing collateral declined by 25%

Additional case studies on B2B and B2C successes are available for download here.