Marketing glossary for the IT channel
Plain definitions of the marketing words MSPs, resellers and vendors use, each with an example you can copy.
B
- Battlecard
A battlecard is a short sales document about one competitor.
C
- Capability statement
A capability statement is a short document, usually one or two pages, that tells a public-sector buyer what your company does, what you have delivered before, what makes you different and how to reach you.
- Co-op marketing
Co-op marketing is marketing that a vendor and its channel partner pay for together.
D
- Drip campaign
A drip campaign is a set of pre-written emails that send automatically, one at a time over days or weeks, to people who took an action such as downloading a guide, booking a call or becoming a client.
I
- Ideal customer profile
An ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the kind of company that gets the most from what you sell and is most likely to buy, stay and pay well.
M
- Market development funds
Market development funds (MDF) are money a technology vendor gives its channel partners to run marketing that sells the vendor's products.
Q
- Quarterly business review
A quarterly business review (QBR) is a meeting an MSP holds with each client every three months to review the service, show what it delivered and agree the plan for the next quarter.
T
- Tone of voice
Tone of voice is how a brand's writing sounds to the reader: how formal or casual, serious or light, warm or matter-of-fact it is.
V
- Value-added reseller
A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that buys technology from vendors or distributors and resells it to end customers with its own services added.
W
- White paper
A white paper is a long-form report that explains a business problem and argues for a way to solve it, using evidence.
