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Track 101: Get Organized Before You Get Started


This track is focused on helping you set yourself up for success as a Salesforce Reseller marketer. It covers the basics of establishing a Salesforce marketing practice and participating in the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program. This is a great place to start if you’re new to marketing or just need basic information about the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program.


Defining the Salesforce Reseller Marketing Role

Whether your company has a large marketing team or a single part-time marketing employee, all marketing should focus on two basic objectives: 

  1. Driving awareness of your Salesforce practice and the value of the Salesforce products you sell 
  2. Generating leads for your sales team to follow up with 
If you do those two things well, you’re an effective marketer.



The Three Core Tasks Marketers Take on


Marketers have three basic tasks that they focus on every day. 

/s/track101-1.png?v=1Planning marketing activities 
Marketers spend much of their time planning, including steps like setting objectives, developing an overall strategic approach, selecting the most cost-effective tactics, and establishing measurement and reporting plans, before arriving at a final tactical marketing plan and budget. Planning will be a key part of your participation in the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program. Submitting a detailed plan and budget is a requirement to access Market Development Funds. We will provide you a marketing plan template and guidance to help fill it out as part of Reseller Marketing Track 103.


Executing the marketing plan 
You and your team will be responsible to execute on the plan you’ve created, which will involve whatever range of activities you’ve chosen for your company. Most regional business-to-business marketers focus on direct forms of outreach like phone calls and emails. They also use events to focus attention and introduce larger numbers new potential clients to their expertise. The Reseller Marketing Journey will offer you guidance and templates as you execute basic marketing tactics like email blasts, telemarketing, and marketing events. 


Reporting on the outcomes of marketing efforts 
It is very important to track the success of your marketing efforts so you can optimize marketing programs over time. During the planning process, you will develop a set of key performance indicators to provide insight into the overall success of your program, and develop sets of specific metrics that apply to individual tactics. That way, you’ll have a sense of how your program is performing overall, and which tactics are most effective.



Marketing Keywords to Become Familiar With

If you're new to marketing, you should get to know these terms, which will become important to you as you build your Salesforce Reseller practice. 
  • Lead - A lead is a sales prospect who has expressed interest in your product or company. 
  • Qualified Lead - A sales prospect who has expressed interest in your product or company that has been vetted to ensure he or she is likely to consider buying from you. 
  • Campaign - A marketing initiative, such as an advertisement, direct mail, or conference, that you conduct in order to generate leads and build brand awareness. 
  • Co-branding - Any instance where two companies combine their brands to deliver a marketing message. 
  • Targeting - The process of identifying and marketing to a subset of a larger market. 
  • Lead Generation - Any marketing activity specifically designed to identify and capture leads. 
  • Content - A generalized term for any substantive information offered to sales prospects as part of the marketing process. 
  • Call to Action - A stimulus directing prospects to take a specific next step, typically included in any marketing communication. 
  • Features and Benefits - Basic description of the functionality of a product or service, and the positive results of that functionality for anyone who uses it.


How to Make the Most of the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program

The Salesforce Co-Marketing Program is an excellent resource for you to access funding and support for your Salesforce-focused marketing activities. Resellers that choose to participate in the program often see a much higher return on their marketing investment because Salesforce shares the cost. Salesforce will share up to 50% of approved marketing expenses through the Market Development Fund (MDF), with the total amount granted determined by the Partner’s sales performance. Those are dollars that could go straight to your bottom line! To get a comprehensive overview of participating in the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program, the best thing you can do is contact your Channel Account Manager and have him or her walk you through the process. 

To get you started, here are the basics of how the program works:

Make sure you’re enrolled as a Supplier 
You must be signed up as a Salesforce Supplier the quarter prior to receiving your funds. Here is how Salesforce’s annual calendar breaks down: 
  • Q1: Feb-Apr 
  • Q2: May-Jul 
  • Q3: Aug-Oct 
  • Q4: Nov-Jan 

/s/track101-2.png?v=1Request funding 

You can access funds for marketing activities that generate qualified leads for your business. It will be important for you to choose activities that effectively generate leads. To request funds for a specific marketing activity, use the Co-Marketing Fund Request Form. The form must be submitted prior to the 15th day of the second month of the quarter during which the marketing activity takes place. 

Submit leads 

Within two weeks of the co-funded marketing activity, you must submit a complete list of the leads generated by that activity using Lead Submission Spreadsheet Template, as well as related invoices and line-itemed receipts related to the activity. After gathering leads, you should follow up with them to determine each new contact’s interest level in considering a Salesforce product. Any “warm” or “hot” leads (that show real interest) will also need to submitted to Salesforce via the Partner Community Business Console. You will receive a Salesforce campaign code to include in that submission. To learn more about lead submission, visit the Salesforce Partner Leads page on the Partner Community. 

For the full details, see the Salesforce Co-Marketing Program homepage. This is a comprehensive guide to the program, including all rules and restrictions, and a full list of the resources you’ll need to participate. 


How to Get Started on the Partner Community

The Salesforce Partner Community is an excellent resource for you to learn more about Salesforce, engage with the global community of Reseller Partners, and find helpful content and tools that make it easier for you to succeed as a Reseller Marketer. The Partner Community is packed with content, and we recommend taking the time to familiarize yourself with it so you can make the best use of it. You may want to ask your Channel Account Manager for an overview of the site to ensure you find all the content that may be helpful to you. 

/s/track101-3.png?v=1There are also other ways for you to get familiar with the Partner Community: 

Here are a few important and helpful actions you can take on the Partner Community to help you get started as a Reseller marketer: 


Resources for further exploration

Salesforce has many educational resources available to you to help you run a successful reseller marketing program. If you’re interested in a deeper look into marketing fundamentals and the basics of the Salesforce Co-Marketing program, try these links: