So much money, you don’t know how to spend it. Sounds good, right? Maybe not when you are a partner marketer.

Maybe you’re an SI with partners knocking down your door with marketing cash to spend but no idea how to spend it. Or a vendor, trying to manage multiple funds with many partners. Or you simply don’t have the visibility to even know what budgets you can access. Spending MDF effectively and getting a good ROI is one of the biggest challenges facing partner marketing teams.

I speak to customers all the time that are struggling to know what to do with their MDF and as a result, money is left unspent and opportunities unfulfilled. Many people are simply not aware that their funds are expiring. Others don’t understand the often-complex rules and management to access money in the first place. And for many, they just don’t have the people or expertise to get the right plans in place and executed to spend it.

Managing MDF can be a bit of a fine art – but that shouldn’t put you off; there is another way. Using a third party to bolster up your internal teams and run your programmes is a great way to deliver quick returns. It might be going out to vendors to secure funding, and develop and execute joint plans. Or an extra pair of skilled hands to manage multiple partners and make sure they are making the most of your budgets.

We have recently worked with a global customer that was losing several hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of MDF provided by a single vendor. They had been going out to their regional teams to find out what it should be spent on, but the responses tended to be tactical, not tied to any strategic plan and therefore never executed. The funds expired and the money disappeared.

We helped them develop a strategic plan with the vendor to be executed centrally. As a result, they have seen 100% utilisation of available funds – and have clear directions on its management.

If you would like to find out more about how we can help you secure funds, manage existing funds and create joint partner marketing plans to support your strategic objectives, contact [email protected]

Jo Dunkley

Director