Ingram To Offer VARs, Vendors More Marketing Services

The Santa Ana, Calif., distributor is set to launch Channel Marketing Services, an in-house resource to help manufacturers and large solution providers craft their branding and message on a national and international scale, said Jennifer Baier-Anaya, vice president of U.S. marketing and communications at Ingram Micro.

Ingram Micro plans to unveil the initiative at its VentureTech conference in Montreal later this week. The distributor can advise vendors and solution providers on the back end or perform front-end functions such as designing and delivering marketing material.

“We understand the channel. We know what things to avoid, what things to focus on. When [vendors] develop corporate marketing, they are looking in a broader sense to brand products or services, not what benefits they bring to the channel,” Baier-Anaya said. “In addition, we understand the VARs’ business. We can help crystallize their message across a national audience.”

The scope of Ingram Micro’s efforts--as well as the cost--have led the company to focus on larger solution providers, rather than small customers. “[Small VARs] are better going to the local marketing agency to target specific customers within their geography,” Baier-Anaya said.

To kick off the program, Ingram Micro helped Graphtech Systems, a Deerfield, Ill.-based solution provider, create a marketing campaign to re-establish its brand with customers, said Laurie Lavelle, director of U.S. creative services at Ingram Micro.

Graphtech President and CEO Steve Feldman had acquired several companies over the last several years and lacked a strong brand across its operations, according to Lavelle. “We helped him through the process. We met with his employees, his customers and got to understand their business,” she said. “We developed a stronger branding message that can continue to change as they evolve their business.”

Before working with Ingram Micro, Graphtech’s employees didn’t understand the company’s mission, Feldman said. “They couldn’t give the 20-second elevator speech. It was inconsistent at best and downright ineffective in many cases,” he said. “Second, we asked customers why they do business with us. They were unable to answer that. I said ‘We’ve got a problem.’ ”

Graphtech has several marketing and advertising clients and asked them for bids to help rebrand the solution provider. But those agencies did not understand his business well enough, Feldman said. He knew Ingram helped vendors market to the channel, so he asked them for advice. And he liked what he heard.

“I think what surprised me the most was their response was as professional and comprehensive as other proposals we were getting, and it’s not something they were used to doing,” he said.

Graphtech, a $5 million company with 29 employees, spend in the low $20,000 range on the marketing plan, Feldman said. It took four to six months to complete.

Ingram Micro helped the solution provider clarify its value proposition to customers and create a strong, consistent visual branding element, Feldman said.

“Small VARs struggle to create a logo and keep it. It gets diluted over time because we don’t have a ‘brand cop’ to make sure the font and colors stay the same,” he said. “There were some challenges, but the team was very responsive. They must have come up with 30 logo designs that we didn’t like. But they eventually came up with something that made us happy. They took it very seriously.”

Ingram Micro will focus on VARs looking to market at a national level, but it can provide services to smaller VARs too, Baier-Anaya said.

“We really haven’t scoped out what a budget would be. It varies on what the vendor or VAR is trying to accomplish. They’re not SKU-able services,” she said.

The distributor expects more vendors than solution providers to use the marketing services, Baier-Anaya said. Ingram Micro helped Cisco Systems in a recent marketing campaign to SMB customers, she added.

“It was so successful, they’re taking the campaign throughout their global markets. And Cisco Services liked the messaging. They came to us to work with them to build their brand,” she said.