How do you educate B2B channel audiences?

1 Understand your channel partners

Before you design any educational content or program for your channel partners, you need to understand who they are, what they do, and what they need from you. Different types of channel partners may have different goals, challenges, preferences, and capabilities. For example, a distributor may need more technical information and support than a consultant, while a consultant may need more case studies and testimonials than a distributor. You can use surveys, interviews, or feedback forms to gather insights from your channel partners and segment them accordingly.

2 Create relevant and engaging content

Once you have identified your channel partner segments, you can create content that is relevant and engaging for each segment. Content can include product guides, sales sheets, brochures, videos, webinars, podcasts, blogs, newsletters, or social media posts. The content should address the following questions: What is your product or service? What problem does it solve? How does it benefit the channel partner and the end customer? How does it differ from the competitors? How can the channel partner sell it effectively? The content should also be easy to access, digest, and share.

3 Deliver content through multiple channels

To educate your channel partners effectively, you need to deliver your content through multiple channels and formats. Depending on your channel partner segments, you can use email, website, mobile app, portal, CRM, LMS, or social media to distribute your content. You can also use different formats such as text, audio, video, or interactive to cater to different learning styles and preferences. The key is to make your content consistent, timely, and personalized across all channels and formats.

4 Provide training and certification

Another way to educate your channel partners is to provide them with training and certification programs. Training can help your channel partners develop the skills and knowledge they need to sell your products or services confidently and effectively. Certification can help your channel partners demonstrate their expertise and credibility to their customers and peers. You can offer online or offline training and certification programs, depending on your budget, resources, and channel partner segments. You can also use gamification, incentives, or rewards to motivate your channel partners to complete the training and certification.

5 Encourage feedback and communication

Finally, you need to encourage feedback and communication from your channel partners to measure the effectiveness of your educational efforts and improve them over time. You can use surveys, quizzes, tests, or analytics to assess how well your channel partners understand and apply your content. You can also use forums, chats, calls, or meetings to communicate with your channel partners regularly and address any questions, concerns, or suggestions they may have. By listening to and engaging with your channel partners, you can build trust, loyalty, and advocacy among them.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?