$50bn of spare MDF and five ways to grab some

Following reports that half of potential vendor marketing funding is being left on the table, Twogether's Alex Norbury offers his tips on how resellers can make the most of MDF

Recent insight from the likes of Google and IDC suggests there is more than $50bn in marketing development funding that gets left unspent by resellers - which is almost 50 per cent of potential funding left on the table for partners to grow their business with vendors.

It also suggests that a mere eight per cent of funding is spent on digital marketing - because resellers rightly feel that events and telemarketing, where they can see and talk to prospects, are more direct.

The issue isn't new, but there is a big drive to solve at least some of the problem.

So is there such thing as a free lunch here? Well not quite. When there is free money, there are sacrifices, so how can resellers take advantage?

1: The dreaded rules of MDF
The first hurdle is making sure you apply for funds that get approved. There are lots of rules. Vendors want control over what they spend their precious money on. However, if vendors don't provide campaigns reseller actually want to use, then what's the point? Sometimes there is too much choice, sometimes not enough. Campaigns are often too product focused, rather than solution based.

It's usually the first blocker in accessing all that spare cash - but there are often pre-packaged campaigns that partners can use, and they've already been approved - it's a simple as pick, customise, send.

2: No experience required
We know that resellers' marketing experience and resource can vary greatly - so take advantage of the free marketing training and marketing tools that vendors provide - this can remove a lot of the expertise required to execute successful marketing and lead generation activity. If the vendors don't provide this, then ask for it. If they can't offer it, then perhaps work with vendors that do!

3: Find the support - it IS there!
Use the tools, the budget and the services on offer - resellers of course, want to promote their services when marketing to their customers...because it's their business and their customers - but vendors aren't going to give you money unless they have some control on promoting their stuff too.

There IS money there - so choose to do something and take advantage of the wealth of resources that most vendors offer - most of which are free and easy to use. The sacrifice? The lead generation activities might not be a perfect fit for a partner, but do something, rather nothing. And ask, ask and ask again - it's there, you just need to get access to it.

4: Go digital. Get ROI.
Spend more time on marketing activities that generate predictable and tangible ROI. Events and telemarketing are good to drive face time and talk time - but success varies wildly, they are difficult to report on and often, vendors struggle to see the value. I am not saying don't do them - but why not include more digital marketing campaigns too?

The sacrifice is that digital activities are more often pre-set - and while there is usually still plenty of room for customisation, resellers get less control and influence over the message. However, they are very easy to set up (saving loads of time) - they are trackable (a big tick for the vendor) - and they drive leads (good for resellers).

So take advantage if the vendor offers integrated email nurture campaigns. Use the budget to do more Google AdWords. Shift to regular online Webinars rather than expensive physical events. Try highly focused programmatic advertising - it's very targeted, cost effective and drives good traffic to your website for lead conversion.

5: Do simple things more often.
Critically vendors have money waiting to be spent and if they are offering more digitally focused marketing, where the sacrifice is less influence, but the benefits are plentiful (they are free, they are simple to execute, they drive new business and they are more trackable) those vendors will keep throwing money at you if you're pro-actively using the tools!

Alex Norbury is commercial director at Twogether, an independent creative agency with a dedicated focus on technology in B2B marketing