Proving ROI, using new technologies and leveraging partner marketing were key topics at Red Herring's CMO 2008 conference in San Diego last week.

The conference drew more than 300 senior marketing executives, mostly from b-to-b companies, who shared strategies for competing in today's challenging business environment.

One of the hot topics was partner marketing, with presentations by several executives whose companies use channel marketing models.

Stephen DiFranco, corporate VP-corporate and channels marketing at chip maker AMD, discussed how the company has leveraged its partner channel to confront rival Intel Corp. Read the complete article on BtoBOnline.

The attached document contains the questions, and their answers, that were posed to John Jainschigg from CMP and Kathy Mandelstein from IBM during the September 26 Webcast "How BtoB Marketers Can Achieve ROI in the Virtual World of Second Life." Download the complete Question and Answer document. Contact John Jainschigg, Executive Director, CMP Metaverse for more information about creating a virtual presence for your company.

Here is a summary of the questions contained in the document:

* Does SecondLife provide aggregated audience/user data or demo cuts
somewhere on the site? If so where?

* Would recommendations/best practices be applied to Playstation
'Home' coming up in April?

* How many attendees can attend an event on Second Life at one time?

CMP Channel 's exclusive research identifies a shift in the Channel marketplace. According to this research, for the first time Vendor/Solution Provider loyalty has moved from the vendor to the customer. It also highlights the characteristics of the Channel's partners and how each is responsible for growth. The research notes that vendors prioritizing their efforts around the top 20-30 percent of partners will not necessarily help them achieve their growth objectives.

Key research findings include:

• Fifty percent of Solution Providers rate current level of vendor relationships as 'less than positive'
• Solution Providers have been proactively changing their vendors at an accelerated pace over the past two years. Fifty percent are targeting new markets and 50 percent are expanding new product lines.
• The top three most important program elements Solution Providers evaluate when considering a vendor for a strategic partnership include: product quality/reliability; technology relevance to customer base; and relative profit potential.
• The top three reasons Solution Providers add products and vendors include: technology offering/customer requirements; aligns with business goals; and offers a clear business opportunity.
• The top three reasons Solution Providers drop or de-emphasize products and vendors include: non competitive pricing; bad service; and adding other vendors.

This document presents only a summary of the available research. Please email Kate Spellman for complete details. Download this document...

This white paper aims to explore best practices for channel sales compensation and partner compensation strategies, analyze how to use compensation elements to drive desired behavior in your channel, and show how to drive partner loyalty, engagement and revenue. The document details how to use compensation elements to drive incremental sales through existing partners, how to grow specific areas of your business, and how to clear out well-entrenched competitors. Download this document…

If you are looking to grow your channel revenue, then you probably agree that it has become
extremely difficult to differentiate yourself from the competition. Especially when your
competition, like you, communicates to partners or solution providers (VARs, integrators,
consultants, etc.) that their products provide the most advanced technology, the highest reliability
and the overall best quality and value in the marketplace. If you are only using your products to
differentiate, then you’re going at it the hard way. Download this document…