Glossary
Through-Channel Marketing Glossary
Partner marketing has a lot of jargon. Here's what the terms mean, in plain English, from people who use them every day: the programs, the partners, the funds and the tools. For how it all fits together, read our guide to through-channel marketing automation.
By Eric Paradis, CEO of OnBrandify. Last updated .
- Attribution
- Connecting a sale or opportunity to the marketing that produced or influenced it. In partner marketing, it links partner-run campaigns to leads, opportunities and revenue. It's the hardest part of the job, because deals often close in the partner's own systems.
- Brand governance
- The rules and controls that keep a brand consistent wherever it appears. In distributed marketing, governance is built into templates, access rules and approvals, so partners can market locally without changing what must stay fixed.
- Channel marketing
- Marketing that reaches customers through intermediaries, such as dealers, distributors, resellers or franchisees, rather than directly. It covers marketing to partners (to recruit and engage them) and marketing through partners (to help them sell).
- Channel partner
- An independent business that sells or delivers another company's products or services: a dealer, distributor, reseller, managed service provider, agent or franchisee.
- Claim (fund claim)
- A partner's request to be reimbursed from MDF or co-op funds for marketing it has done, usually with proof of performance such as invoices and a copy of the ad. The brand checks the claim against the program's rules before paying.
- Co-branding
- Marketing that carries both the brand's identity and the partner's, for example a manufacturer's product ad with the local dealer's name, logo and contact details.
- Co-op advertising (co-op funds)
- A program in which a brand shares the cost of its partners' local advertising. Partners usually earn co-op funds as a percentage of what they buy (the accrual) and get reimbursed after submitting a claim for approved marketing. When co-op money goes unspent, the claims process is usually why.
- Dealer
- A business that buys a manufacturer's products and sells them to end customers, often with local sales, installation or service. Dealers are common in building materials, equipment, vehicles and home improvement.
- Digital asset management (DAM)
- Software that stores, organizes and shares a brand's files, such as logos, images, videos and documents. A DAM makes assets available. A through-channel marketing platform goes further, turning those assets into campaigns partners can personalize, launch and measure. Files alone rarely get partners marketing.
- Distributed marketing
- Marketing that a central brand plans and controls but that many local parties carry out, such as franchisees, dealers, agents or branches. Often used interchangeably with through-channel marketing.
- Distributor
- A business that buys products from manufacturers in volume and sells them on, usually to dealers, retailers or contractors rather than to end customers.
- Editable field
- A part of a marketing template that a partner may change, such as the offer, a local photo or contact details. Brands decide which fields are editable and can limit what may be entered.
- Franchisee
- An independent owner who operates one or more locations under a franchisor's brand and system, usually contributing to a shared marketing fund and running local marketing within the brand's rules.
- Local marketing
- Marketing aimed at people in a specific area, such as a town or a store's surroundings. Brands with many locations run local marketing through a distributed model.
- Locked template
- A marketing template in which the parts that define the brand, such as the logo, colors, layout and legal disclaimers, can't be changed by the partner. Only its editable fields are open. It's the simplest way to keep local marketing on-brand without reviewing every piece.
- Managed service provider (MSP)
- A company that runs IT or software services for its clients, often reselling and supporting technology vendors' products as part of its own offering.
- Market development funds (MDF)
- Money a brand sets aside for partners to spend on marketing its products, usually allocated per partner, program or period and paid against approved activities. Unlike co-op funds, MDF is typically granted rather than earned from purchases. It only pays off if partners can actually use it without a fight.
- Marketing automation
- Software that runs a company's own marketing programs automatically, such as email campaigns, lead scoring and nurture sequences sent from the company to its contacts. It differs from through-channel marketing automation, which runs marketing partners send under their own names.
- Multi-location business
- An organization with many branches, stores or offices under one brand, whether company-owned, franchised or both. Each location needs local marketing that stays consistent with the brand.
- Partner marketing automation
- Software that automates marketing run with or through partners: distributing campaigns, personalizing them for each partner, launching them and reporting results. Common in technology companies' reseller and MSP programs; closely related to through-channel marketing automation.
- Partner portal
- A website where a company's partners sign in to find resources, training, pricing, deal registration and marketing materials. Many partner portals are part of a PRM system. The good ones get used; the rest become file cabinets nobody opens.
- Partner relationship management (PRM)
- Software that manages a company's relationships with its channel partners: recruiting and onboarding, training, deal registration, incentives and the partner portal. PRM manages the partnership; through-channel marketing automation manages the marketing partners run.
- Partner tier
- A level in a partner program, such as silver, gold or platinum, usually based on sales or certification. Tiers often decide which materials, funds and support a partner gets.
- Print-on-demand
- Printing items only when they are ordered, often personalized for the person ordering, instead of printing and storing stock in advance. Used for brochures, flyers, business cards and signage in partner programs.
- Proof of performance
- Evidence that a marketing activity funded by MDF or co-op money actually ran as approved, such as a copy of the ad, an invoice, a screenshot or a media affidavit.
- Through-channel marketing
- Marketing a brand carries out through its channel partners, who deliver it to customers under their own names. Compare to-channel marketing, which is aimed at the partners themselves.
- Through-channel marketing automation (TCMA)
- Software that lets a brand create approved campaigns and materials once and have its partners personalize, launch and report on them at scale. See the guide to TCMA.
- To-channel marketing
- Marketing aimed at channel partners, to recruit them, keep them engaged and win their share of attention, as opposed to through-channel marketing, which partners carry out for the brand.
- Value-added reseller (VAR)
- A reseller that adds its own services, such as installation, integration, customization or support, to the products it sells.
- Variable-data printing (VDP)
- Printing in which text or images change from one piece to the next, drawn from a data file, for example direct mail addressed and personalized for each recipient, or business cards for each partner from one template.
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