• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, April 3, 2019

Big brands have one main obstacle in conducting local cooperative advertising programs -- their partners.

A disappointing 11% of local retail partners “aren’t interested in marketing and don’t make it a priority,” according to The State Of Local Marketing Report 2019, a study by BrandMuscle.

What’s more, few partners rank very high on the marketing maturity scale. Of those polled, 47% are disengaged, 42% are developing, 8% are equipped, 2% are executing and 1% are optimizing.

On the positive side, eight out of ten partners are putting significant time into learning about marketing.

To the extent that they are engaged with the subject, partners rank email and websites as the most successful digital tactics. 

In contrast, “SEO, paid search and programmatic display are gaining traction, but require additional partnership, education, and/or funding at the local level to improve utilization,” the study notes.

Yet email is seen as the No.1 priority by only 5%, and as a second goal by 10%. And 14% rank it as third, putting it behind social media advertising, website/landing pages and events. 

“While not a top priority for most, more than one in four local partners chose email as a second or third option,” the study states. “This likely reflects email’s importance as a way to engage with current customers.”

Moreover, email is greatly outshone by events in terms of tracking return on investment. Only 31% see full email ROI, and 23% see ROI for some of their efforts. Another 19% have a sense of it, and 22% are unable to track it at all.

Events lead, with 58% tracking full ROI. Websites are next with 38%, followed by paid search (34%) and SEO (34%).

 Before we continue beating up on partners, let’s consider what the big brands are doing wrong.  Here’s how the partners perceive their marketing program support:

• Supported with advisors that understand my business — 30%
• Receive support, but not very well equipped — 18%
• Check-the-box support — 28%
• Little or no support — 18%
• Not sure — 6%

Partners also feel that they are not getting very good training. Here’s how they perceive it:

• Ongoing training and support that prepares us to get the most out of the program — 16%
• Ongoing support, but it’s up to me to make sure we are prepared to get the most out of it — 36%
• Launch training, but little ongoing support — 22%
• Provides little or no training — 20%
• Not sure — 6%

Here’s one more dismal finding: 

“A fifth of your partners aren’t satisfied with the content you’re providing, but the number that should alarm you is the quarter who continue to invest their own money to amplify your program,” the study notes.

Whatever the scope of their program, brands should keep this rule in mind:

“Partners should accept corporate support only if they bring a willingness to learn and share in the cost. This, friends, is the corporate-local formula that will put your company on an upward trajectory.”

BrandMuscle surveyed over 1,000 local marketing partners across several verticals.