A strategy focused partner vs channel focused

Authored by Pratik Kedia, Founder and CEO at Evolute Group

In an ideal world, every brand has a compelling story of its own. Today with the advent of digital technologies, customers are empowered with the power of choice right at their fingertips. The grueling competition with constantly changing needs and demands of the customer makes it difficult to ascertain maximum brand recall. Historically, we have seen focused and constant efforts in doing R&D to bring the best to the customers. However, owing to the changing dynamics, there are times that competitor brands end up holding a larger market share for an inferior product. The typical reasoning proffered is that the amount spent wasn't sufficient to make the product viral or the marketing channels chosen were probably incorrect and failed at the execution level.

So is it a one-directional fault or a list of simultaneous errors made during the transition of the product from shop to the shelf? It might be too late to analyze this once the products hit the shelves. Logically, before trying to pinpoint this, brands today need to go beyond the typical product first strategy to a need-based approach. The very core difference lies in understanding that it is more than just a purchase, it's a consciously considered investment based on customer needs. Once we acknowledge these investments being made in the brand in the form of a product purchase, there sets a wheel in motion forming a roadmap that we call “the journey to creating brand advocacy”.

For instance, the simplest approach is a direct sales channel, a vendor selling to one of its many customers. This could be done via an individual or a sales team. The customers may request a product that they have seen or heard about, but their purchase would depend largely on the vendor's opinion. This showcases a rational example of how the need of having a well-informed direct sales partner is more crucial than other channels of product awareness.

A channel strategy helps to provide or expose a potential customer to the brand's product or service, while a product strategy helps to fulfill the need-based gap between the brand and potential customers. Therefore, it is important to choose the right channels for marketing the product. It is imperative to start by actually creating the product need-based strategy and then enhancing it via relevant channels. The demographic study, product marketing mix, channel strategy etc all form the umbrella called a strategy-focused approach.