Circa65

VARs, system integrators and other technology resellers often complain that agencies, telemarketing houses or other service providers can’t get the job done because they just don’t understand the technology business well enough. In large part, these complaints are valid – providers of various tactical marketing services really do not understand the world of technology – particularly in a B-to-B environment. That said, I would argue the real problem is a VAR's lack of understanding true marketing and the intricacies of dealing with an agency. A VAR doesn’t understand the agency or service provider business even to the extent they understand your business. This results in technology resellers being bad customers who demand low prices, do not understand the creative or execution side of the business and get excited by the wrong things – such as wording of a tag line - as opposed to the effectiveness of a particular tactic. The part of marketing everyone thinks they get is the creative, out-of-the-box thinking side of the business. Everyone thinks they are creative and brainstorming tag lines is fun. But the truth is, few have the skill to be good at it and the personal time required to make even the best creative effective is more than what most are willing to personally invest.

Our own business model owes part of its origin to the fact that technology businesses could get more from their marketing investment if they themselves were better customers. We have created an outsourced marketing role where among other responsibilities, Circa 65 represents and manages the needs and aspirations of a reseller while working with external resources. We manage these resources to achieve superior results for the VAR – not maximum profitability of the agency or service provider. Click here http://www.circa65.com/lp/roi.html to learn how we can do the same for you or here http://www.circa65.com/contact.html to discuss your own situation.