It doesn’t come as a surprise to Channel Professionals that things are changing faster than ever across the partner ecosystem. A perfect storm of new technologies, transforming business models, rapidly evolving competition, consumerization and economic forces have fundamentally changed the traditional supplier/partner relationship. Not only are things moving much faster, the relationships have become significantly more complex. Ten years ago, a solid email, portal, phone, advertising and events strategy was all that was needed to communicate effectively to partners and customers. Today we have more than 30 marketing vehicles in play, and the level of noise and clutter is, at times, out of control. Most of us were taught to measure ROI and then focus on the top 2-3 things that drive results. The problem is that these 2-3 things aren’t working the way they used to: Email newsletters aren’t getting opened or clicked thru. Beyond the usual suspects, webinar and tradeshow traffic is dropping. Advertising, whether print or digital is not having the same impact as years ago. Portal traffic is at an all-time low – partners just aren’t coming in the same numbers. While every situation is different – the following 14 Channel Marketing Mistakes are common throughout our industry: Not utilizing new automation tools for Email & Newsletters Too reliant on the Partner Portal for communication Not taking advantage of Communities Too focused on the home run Expecting too much from social Not having or sticking to an editorial calendar Producing too much boring or sales-related content Under-utilizing the media Thinking Direct Mail is too expensive Segmenting Partners into Revenue Tiers Only Expending too much effort on Partner Recruitment Underperforming Tradeshows Renewing tactics year to year without justification Not taking advantage of Mobile