Westcon lends a hand to VARs on marketing

Distie offers discounted marketing, PR and social media training services to the channel

Distie Westcon is offering discounted marketing services to its channel after discovering the majority of its partners do not have enough budget to properly execute marketing campaigns.

The firm's Marketing Services Programme (MSP) offers resellers access to a network of marketing agencies which – for discounted rates – will provide them with services such as social media training; public relations services; demand generation services; design, video and animation; and web analytics.

Westcon aims to plug the marketing skills gap in the channel with the scheme after a survey it conducted found resellers were lacking in that department.

Fifty-six per cent of Westcon partners asked said they did not have enough marketing funds to execute a campaign properly and a third of partners (32 per cent) said they did not have specialist marketing skills within their businesses. Some 60 per cent of respondents said they wanted to work with marketing specialists but were unsure who to approach and recruit.

Westcon's UK marketing director John Richardson said there was significant demand in the market for the new scheme.

"Our survey demonstrated that 57 per cent of partners are too busy with their day jobs to keep up to speed with the latest marketing specialisations," he said. "The MSP is a flexible initiative enabling resellers to select different marketing disciplines from the marketing toolbox to create an integrated comprehensive marketing strategy – all from a single point of procurement to simplify processes and business.

"The programme complements vendor template marketing campaigns and provides resellers with the freedom to increase brand awareness and differentiate them from the competition."