The new resource is a key step on the road to an Intronis sales and marketing certification program scheduled to be available in Q4.

Backup and data protection solution provider Intronis has added to its training and enablement resources with a new Intronis MSP Marketing Booster Kit for its MSP partners. Accessible within the Business Track in Intronis University, it is a key element in a path that will see a formal sales and marketing certification program be available to partners. The certification is tentatively scheduled for Q4.

“Our mission is to help our partners grow their business, knowing full well that if they grow, we grow,” said Aaron Dun, Intronis’ CMO. “We launched Intronis University in late fall of last year. We came out of the gate with the technical certification track and are still working on a sales and marketing certification.”

Dun said that the Booster Pack, which is designed to make the content more accessible, is the “first step on the road to certification.”

When Intronis University was launched, three core modules on Selling Intronis, Pricing Intronis, and Partner Resources/Positioning for Intronis were put online in the Business Track at that time. Those are also in the Marketing Booster kit. The kit contains much more however, as it includes non-Intronis content.

“We have complemented the information about marketing the Intronis cloud backup and data protection solution with more general, less Intronis-centric things like SEO [search engine optimization] and email marketing tips,” said Lindsay Faria, Senior Partner Marketing Manager at Intronis, who designed and developed the kit. “It’s not just about selling and marketing Intronis backup, but selling and marketing overall, across their business as a whole.”

The Booster Pack is more about education than tools for marketing content creation.

“We are trying to provide them with a guide to market, to be better marketers,” Faria said. “We want to enable them to do more and better marketing.”

Faria said the Booster Pack contents have been designed to be interactive and fun to work with.

“We have broken down assignments by different types of marketing activities, each focusing on a different stage of the marketing funnel,” she said. “For example, there are areas for topics such as SEO, Pay-per-click, Social Media, Events, and more.”

Completing assignments in a variety of formats—from reading and watching videos to completing written assignments through an interactive platform—also makes the partner eligible for SPIF-style rewards. They also get awarded badges and stickers, and compete with other Partners on a leaderboard.

While the plan is to have the full sales and marketing certification ready for fall, Dun said the top priority is to make sure it’s done right and will be useful.

“The Booster Pack will show how partners will engage with the ideas, and will allow us to hone the certification or them,” he said. “If that means it takes until Q1 to have it ready, that’s fine. The priority is to make sure it is of value, and that partners will be able to use it effectively.”