The world of channel marketing has many moving parts that can make it challenging to fully grasp. But when you learn the terms and concepts that make up this complex advertising model, you can better understand it as a whole.
Consider this marketing glossary your go-to reference for all things channel marketing. Whether you’re a brand or a local partner, this guide will help you speak the language of channel marketing.
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Affiliates: Affiliates, also known as channel partners, are intermediary businesses that sell and promote products and services on behalf of a brand. Types of affiliates include retailers, reps, franchisees, distributors, resellers, dealers, consultants, and agents.
Agents: Agents are a type of affiliate that promotes and sells brands’ products and services for a commission or fee. Examples include insurance agents, real estate agents, talent agents, and manufacturer representatives.
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Brand compliance: Brand compliance is the process of ensuring that a brand’s marketing assets accurately reflect its standards, values, and identity to create a consistent brand image. These guidelines encompass everything from brand messaging to voice to design.
Brand-to-local marketing: This is a marketing strategy where national or global brands collaborate with local partners, such as franchisees, resellers, or regional branches, to deliver consistent brand messaging while tailoring campaigns to resonate with local markets.
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Channel incentives: Incentives are financial rewards allocated to partners for achieving specific goals, such as hitting sales targets or expanding markets. Common incentives used in partner ecosystems include co-op funds and market development funds.
Channel marketing: Channel marketing, also known as partner marketing or distributed marketing, refers to when a brand promotes and sells its products and services through a network of channel partners. In this mutually beneficial business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model, the brand gets access to its partners’ local customers, while the channel partners make money by selling the brand’s goods.
Channel partners: Channel partners, sometimes called affiliates, are third-party businesses that help market and sell a brand’s products or services. These partners can take many forms, including retailers, sales representatives, franchise owners, distributors, resellers, dealers, consultants, and agents.
Co-op advertising: Co-op advertising, also known as co-op marketing, is when a brand supplies its channel partners with co-op funds, which they are authorized to use for approved marketing tactics. This agreement reduces partners’ advertising costs while giving the brand more exposure in local markets.
Co-op advertising program: Co-op advertising programs — also called co-op marketing programs or simply co-op programs — establish the rules partners must follow in order to receive reimbursement for the dollars they spend on a brand’s local marketing. These rules often involve fund amounts, compliance requirements, approved marketing activities, fund expirations, and reimbursements. Because all rules and requirements are set by the brand, these programs vary from organization to organization.
Co-op digital marketing: Co-op digital marketing is when a brand supplies its channel partners with co-op funds for digital marketing campaigns. For partners to be reimbursed for their fund use, they must invest these dollars in brand-approved digital marketing tactics.
Co-op fund management: Co-op fund management is the process of handling co-op funds across a brand’s channel partner network. This includes activities like fund allocation, automation, utilization, and reimbursement.
Co-op fund management platforms: Co-op fund management platforms enable users to oversee and manage their co-op funds within a centralized solution. These platforms often feature self-service tools that allow users to create, allocate, and monitor co-op programs, handle pre-approval processes, and manage fund requests and approvals efficiently.
Co-op marketing: Co-op marketing, also known as co-op advertising, is when a brand provides funding to its channel partners to support specific, pre-approved marketing activities. This arrangement helps lower partners’ advertising expenses while increasing the brand’s visibility in local areas.
Co-op marketing program: Co-op marketing programs, also known as co-op advertising programs or co-op programs, outline the guidelines partners must follow to be reimbursed for their local marketing expenses. These rules typically cover areas like approved marketing tactics, compliance standards, fund amounts, reimbursements, and fund expirations. Since each brand sets its own rules, the structure and requirements of these programs can differ widely between companies.
Co-op program: Co-op programs — sometimes referred to as co-op marketing programs or co-op advertising programs — define the criteria that partners need to meet in order to be reimbursed for promoting a brand at the local level. These requirements usually include details like the amount of funding available, which types of marketing efforts are permitted, compliance guidelines, fund expiration dates, and how reimbursements are handled. Because each brand creates its own set of rules, the specifics of these programs can vary significantly from one organization to another.
Custom rebate programs: These funding programs incentivize partners to market by giving them a portion of their money back for their marketing efforts, given that they follow all the requirements for reimbursement.
Customer engagement strategy: This plan details how a brand and its partners should interact with consumers to capture their attention, forge meaningful relationships, and ultimately build an impactful customer experience through every stage of the customer journey.
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Dealers: Dealers are a type of channel partner that markets and sells a brand’s products. Partners are most commonly referred to as dealers in the manufacturing and automotive industries.
Digital asset management (DAM): A DAM is a software that organizes, stores, and manages digital assets like images, videos, documents, and other media files. It provides a centralized location for teams to easily access, share, and distribute assets while maintaining version control and brand consistency.
Direct mail: Direct mail is a marketing tactic where physical marketing materials are delivered straight to the homes or addresses of local consumers with the goal of generating leads. This approach includes any printed communication designed to motivate recipients to engage with a brand, such as flyers, brochures, or postcards. Businesses often use direct mail to boost brand visibility, spark interest in their offerings, or support ongoing sales campaigns.
Distributed marketing: Distributed marketing — also referred to as channel marketing or partner marketing — is a strategy where a brand markets and sells its products or services through a network of partners. In this (business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) setup, both parties benefit: the brand reaches a broader local audience through its partners, and the partners earn revenue by selling the brand’s offerings.
Distributors: Distributors are a type of channel partner that promote and sell a brand’s products. Partners are most commonly referred to as distributors in the technology, pharmaceutical, and consumer packaged goods industries. In the beverage alcohol industry, distributors are wholesalers that buy alcohol products from suppliers and sell them to retailers.
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Ecosystem enablement: Ecosystem enablement is when a brand empowers its channel partners to successfully market and sell its products by providing them with the tools, resources, and support they need to improve their performance.
Email marketing: This digital marketing strategy uses email to promote products and services to consumers through one-to-one targeting.
Experiential campaigns: Experiential campaigns refer to experience-driven marketing activities, such as events, interactive promotions, product samplings, and pop-up stores. These campaigns are designed to actively engage consumers.
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Fund management platform: These platforms enable clients to oversee and manage various funding and incentive programs, including co-op accruals, marketing development funds (MDF), and channel marketing budgets. They often have self-service features that enable users to design, distribute, and track programs, streamline pre-approval workflows, and efficiently oversee fund requests and approvals.
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Global payments: This fund management process provides efficient payouts to partners around the world for fund programs.
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Hyper-local brand awareness: This term refers to creating visibility and recognition for a brand hyper-locally. Hyper-local brand awareness occurs at the individual household, device, or consumer level.
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Local marketing: Local marketing is the process of promoting a brand to consumers located within a specific region, targeting them at the Designated Market Area (DMA), city, or zip code level. In a channel marketing model, channel partners perform local marketing on the brand’s behalf.
Local marketing funds: Local marketing funds are financial resources that brands allocate to their local affiliates to encourage joint marketing efforts. These funds are typically provided as part of a structured marketing program developed by the brand. There are many types of local marketing funds, such as co-op funds, market development funds (MDF), compliance funds, and entity grants.
Local microsites: These are standalone web pages designed to promote a local business or a specific offering. Brands often set their local partners up with microsites to create engaging, compliant experiences for consumers looking for their products.
Localized marketing: Localized marketing is the process of tailoring marketing strategies to resonate with consumers located within a specific geographic area.
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Marketing personalization: Marketing personalization is the process of gearing your promotional strategy toward consumers’ individual interests, behaviors, and demographics to create more engaging experiences.
Media and campaign management: This process involves handling all aspects of a media campaign, such as campaign planning, media buying, execution, performance monitoring, and data analysis.
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Omnichannel marketing: This holistic marketing strategy promotes a brand across all touchpoints to create a seamless customer experience. It includes both traditional and online channels, as well as in-store.
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Personalized campaigns: Personalized campaigns are marketing initiatives with a tailored approach to align with each consumer’s unique preferences, actions, and demographic traits. These types of campaigns are designed to deliver more relevant and engaging experiences.
Print and fulfillment services: Print and fulfillment services handle every aspect of the production process, including printing, packaging, storage, and shipping. These services can be used to produce everything from direct mail to promo items to kits.
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Rebates: These funding programs encourage partners to promote a brand by offering partial reimbursement for their marketing activities, as long as they meet all the specified guidelines and requirements.
Reputation management: Reputation management involves monitoring and influencing the way people view your business by responding to reviews, interacting with social media users, and combating misinformation. This approach helps minimize negative impressions and promotes a positive image of your brand to the public.
Retailers: Retailers are a type of channel partner that markets and sells products for a brand. Partners are most commonly referred to as retailers in the electronics, apparel, beauty, furniture, toy, and food and beverage industries.
Rewards programs: Rewards programs, also known as loyalty programs, are designed to motivate channel partners to prioritize a brand’s products and services over competitors’ and foster long-term partnerships by offering benefits in return for partner commitment. These programs are usually structured to encourage the behaviors a brand values most, such as focusing on key product lines, using preferred marketing strategies, meeting sales targets, or completing brand training, in exchange for rewards like e-gift cards, branded merchandise, and product discounts.
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Sales incentives: Sales incentives encourage sales reps to hit sales targets or perform desired marketing activities by rewarding them with things like gift cards and branded swag.
Social media management: Social media management is the process of strategically planning, creating, scheduling, and assessing marketing content across social media platforms. The goal is often to create greater brand visibility, increase engagement, and forge meaningful customer connections.
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