Through-channel marketing strategies can make or break a business that depends on dealer or store traffic for sales. Get the marketing mix right, and all of your metrics—Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), sales, customer engagement, and more—will rise. Choose the wrong mix—or neglect crucial channels—and your numbers will flatline. 

We’ve talked a lot about the complicated business of through-channel marketing—including how to be a better partner to your sellers and how to successfully launch a product through your channel. Amid our research, one dark cloud continues to loom: the possibility of channel extinction.

If you rely on a channel partner—a brick-and-mortar store, a dealership, a distributor, or an independent sales force—to sell your products or services, you already know that disruption is headed your way. We’re witnessing unprecedented changes across industries, including the purchase of auto dealerships by billion-dollar private equity firms. Remember how taxi companies never saw Uber coming?