September 13, 2023

The Three “P’s” of Developing a Cooperative Marketing Program

A cooperative marketing program is a powerful way to grow any type of business. By making your marketing efforts more strategic, consistent, and process-driven, a cooperative marketing program can be an effective way to cascade your national marketing initiatives to your local channel marketing partners.

Successful cooperative marketing programs are driven by an effective strategy and supported by a team. If you are considering developing a new cooperative marketing program or reassessing your current one, there are three essential pillars to keep in mind to help ensure a successful program and a strong return on investment (ROI) for all partners. We refer to these as the “Three P’s”: Program, People, and Platform. Each pillar is outlined below, along with several important questions to ask yourself when considering the best approach to extending and scaling your marketing efforts across all channel partners.

PROGRAM

The program lays the foundation for a successful cooperative marketing strategy. Ideally, your co-op marketing program should operate hand-in-hand with larger brand marketing efforts. As national marketing efforts are developed and enacted, they should be supported at the local level by a well-thought-out cooperative marketing program. Some key items to think through in developing or optimizing your program include:

• Process/Procedures: Have you outlined the overall process/procedures and included all key stakeholders to help ensure the program is streamlined and fully optimized?
• Standardization: Have you standardized as many components as possible to ensure QA and set the program up for success (guidelines, brand assets, approval process, etc.)?
• Support: Do you have multiple layers of support in place for both corporate and channel partners (team, platform, chat, help desk, tutorials, etc.)?
• Training: Do you have a training program in place for all users with supplemental support materials?
• Flexibility: Is the program flexible enough to adapt over time as needed (different reimbursement models, fund availability, etc.)?
• Strategic Guidance: Does your provider offer strategic guidance and consultative support when developing your program?
• Fund Forecasting/Utilization: Have you or your provider run fund forecasts/utilization projections to understand financial metrics (cost, sales impact, ROI, ROAE, etc.)?
• Analysis/Insights: Is your provider effectively capturing and providing program insights?

PEOPLE

At Cooperate Marketing, we believe that people are greater than platforms. Whether that is your national corporate marketing team, marketing and media partners, or individual channel partners (dealers, retailers, franchisees, etc.), everyone involved influences the success of your marketing efforts. But when it comes to running a cooperative marketing program, it is essential that it be supported by experienced, strategic marketers who add value to your network. Consider the following:

• Staffing: Do you have a dedicated, trained support team in place with FTEs?
• Customer Service: Does your provider offer concierge-level consultative treatment to all users and timely issue resolution?
• Approach: Does your provider take a partnership approach and build relationships not only with corporate, but also with your channel partners?
• Talent: Are you using onshore talent whose first language is English?
• Support: Does your provider offer active after-hours support and/or self-service support features (chatbot, help desk articles, etc.)?
• Communication: Does your provider actively manage all aspects of your channel communication and the various touch points (phone, email, chat, tickets, help desk, online support articles, etc.)?
• QA/QC: Has your provider established a formalized process to ensure QA/QC standards for both corporate and all your channel partners?

PLATFORM

While we believe people are greater than platforms, we also believe that having a customized platform is critical. At the heart of your program, your platform is the main way channel partners liaise with the master brand, access tools and resources, and manage day-to-day activities. Every brand is different, and your MarTech platform should be built to capture the complexities of your entire program. This includes claim submission and reviews, fund reimbursements, customized marketing materials, and so much more. To effectively manage your program, ask the following:

• Customization: Can the platform be fully customized to your specific organizational needs?
• Modularity/Flexibility: Is the platform modular so that features/functionality can be either enabled/disabled and is it flexible enough to include new feature sets?
• Accessibility: Can the platform be accessed across all mobile devices (phone, tablet, etc.) via adaptive design, as well as laptop/desktop?
• Scalability: Can the platform scale to meet your future needs?
• API Integrations: Does the platform support API integrations with third-party providers?
• Reporting: Can you access customized reporting?
• Data Integrity/Compliance: Is the data in the platform 100% accurate and does it adhere to SOC 2 compliance, regulatory, etc.?
• Feature Sets: Does the platform provide basic features as well as advanced feature sets?
• UI/UX: Does the platform offer a seamless turnkey experience across all feature sets to encourage optimal channel partner participation?
• QA/QC: Does the platform include this as part of the user submission/approval process?

Putting the Three P’s to Work for Your Co-op Marketing Program

Cooperative marketing is an invaluable way to help grow your business and increase ROI for you and your channel partners. The “Three P’s” – Program, People, and Platform – form the backbone of your cooperative marketing efforts, and asking thoughtful questions about each can help you best establish or improve your channel marketing management strategy.

While many providers offer a one-size-fits-all approach to co-op marketing strategies, Cooperate Marketing’s platform is fully customized to meet specific clients’ needs. We pride ourselves on taking the time to identify potential areas for improvement and then developing strategic, customized solutions for each of our clients.

If you are interested in learning more about our services, please contact us at [email protected] to schedule a complimentary Co-op Checkup™, and we can discuss ideas for developing or optimizing your program.

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This piece was written by members of the account management team at Cooperate Marketing. Contributing authors include: Ryan Parker, Rick Ekelof and Brian Fourman. Brian is an alum of University of Illinois, whereas Ryan and Rick are Indiana University alums. Rival football and basketball games to this day remain highly contentious. edit: Indiana University won the Football 2026 National Championship, therefore Brian has conceded for now!