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Channel partner marketing means efforts to recruit and support third-party partners to expand a vendor\u2019s market access.\u00a0 Traditional support methods include training, data-sharing, co-marketing campaigns, rebates, MDF (market development funds), and sales enablement, like content, events and sales playbooks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
But times have changed, what with digital marketing, marketing automation, adjustments in buyer behavior, and the increased speed and complexity of business today.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
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Let\u2019s examine these changes and how partner marketing has changed with it.\u00a0 These ideas are organized into three categories: strategies, tools and tactics.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A major development in channel marketing, according to Rick van den Bosch, founder and CEO of automated partner marketing platform Channext, is the heightened complexity in the types of partners involved.\u00a0 Vendors may be dealing with as many as ten different partner types, from alliance partners, to managed services providers, systems integrators, resellers and more.\u00a0 Each has its own target audience expertise and product preferences.\u00a0 To scale their value, suppliers must segment partners by type, understand the differing needs and interests of each partner category, and provide the marketing support services they need.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
After years of going to market through channels, suppliers are finding that they are offering too many, or too complicated, partner support offerings.\u00a0 At that point, it\u2019s time to take a pause to review and ensure that it\u2019s easy for partners to find and access what they need to be most effective.\u00a0 Amazon Web Services has done just that, under the management of John-Marc Clark, global distribution leader.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
AWS goes to market through a two-tier channel system, beginning with about 30 worldwide distributors like Ingram Micro and TD SYNNEX.\u00a0 This tier recruits and manages over 100,000 VARs and resellers globally who help their clients with cloud migrations.\u00a0 No surprise, complexity and duplication began to creep in.\u00a0 So, AWS analyzed the partner journey, and developed a Partner Profitability Framework<\/a>, within which to deliver services efficiently.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most popular is the Distributor Development Fund, which helps the distributors recruit, activate and grow net new resellers.\u00a0 Distributors are assigned a team to help them develop an annual marketing plan and get the most out of the programs, using the Partner Central website.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n In the SaaS business, customer retention rates are higher when a partner is involved throughout the customer journey, from discovery to post-sale. So John Murphy, partner development manager at HubSpot, looks to remove barriers to cooperation between the vendor\u2019s direct sales reps and the channel partner, for example, consulting with partners on lead generation and educating them on successful co-selling methods.\u00a0 This approach allows for a smooth sales process for the\u00a0customer, and generates cross-sell and upsell opportunities for partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n With all the complexity marketers face today, it\u2019s sometimes easy to get lost in the weeds.\u00a0 Dror Liwer, co-founder of Coro, an Israeli cybersecurity solution, believes that the key to success is concentrating on the marketing basics.\u00a0 Number one in partner marketing importance, he says, is ensuring that partners understand your product and your ICP (ideal customer profile).\u00a0 Can your partners articulate the value of the product to the target audience, what the product can and cannot do, and explain that value proposition clearly and truthfully to the ICP?\u00a0 \u201cWithout that, the sale will be a failure, which not only demoralizes the partner, but also leads to a poor reputation for your product and company among the partner community,\u201d he explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n After that, Dror names the number two and three essential focus areas as a robust partner portal, filled with market-tested content and templates, and an MDF program that operates on pre-agreed metrics, like leads, revenue, growth, number of seats and other success drivers.\u00a0 With these three elements in place, suppliers are 90% of their way to channel marketing success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Martech has become an essential part of channel marketing, with channel-specific tools in several categories, among them:<\/p>\n Rick van den Bosch recommends that marketers let AI handle the repetitive tasks of channel marketing, like data analysis and campaign optimization, and free up your team\u2019s time to focus on human interactions.\u00a0 Examples: <\/p>\n Unlike the co-marketing of old, when the vendor and the partner stated their value propositions side by side in marketing messages, smart vendors today present a joint value message. As Daria Cuda, a partner marketing leader in healthcare IT, explains: \u201cSuppliers are being more selective today, choosing partners where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.\u00a0 That way, instead of co-marketing with parallel messaging, the message can tell the story of why \u2018we\u2019re better together,\u2019 and explain the expanded value we provide as partners.\u201d \u00a0 <\/p>\n For a good example of this strategy, have a look at the story<\/a> of how Zebra and Imprivata improved hospital operations with a fast mobile sign-on solution.<\/p>\n Sales people don\u2019t sell what they don\u2019t know, goes the old adage.\u00a0 It\u2019s the job of the vendor to provide product knowledge to their partners.\u00a0 This means demos, content, case studies, and especially knowledge about applications.\u00a0 These days, education is being delivered both online and in person.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Of all the traditional partner marketing tactics, sales enablement still thrives in the modern world.\u00a0 It needs some adjustments, but the concept is still the same.\u00a0 In short, partners need marketing help.\u00a0 They are mostly made up of sales teams, and often have zero marketing staff in the first place.\u00a0 So, the supplier must step into the breach.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n While there are a few distributors who \u201cget\u201d marketing, especially modern marketing, most simply don\u2019t.\u00a0 \u201cMany are family businesses, who still do what they\u2019ve always done,\u201d says Lindsay Young, founder of 3 Aspens Media, which advises distributors in industrial categories like electronics and construction.\u00a0 \u201cMany of these partners have great stories to tell.\u00a0 They are passionate, they love their work, and they\u2019re highly experienced.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that they\u2019re not telling that story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Susan Merlo, founder of The Digital Distributor, reminds us that modern customers don\u2019t want to talk to sales reps\u2014they prefer researching online.\u00a0 Which means suppliers and partners must provide training and product information online, but also be prepared for end-customer calls when they come in.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Susan recommends \u201cThe Building Blocks of Sales Enablement,\u201d a book by Mike Kunkle, who also runs a weekly newsletter, \u201cSales Enablement Straight Talk.\u201d\u00a0 Mike wisely includes sales hiring, management, readiness and training in the mix, an indicator of the importance of cooperation between marketing and sales.\u00a0 Mike offers, \u201cGetting sales and marketing aligned is akin to greasing the gears of a machine, or getting everyone rowing a boat in the same direction.\u00a0 It produces better results for the sales force and its buyers and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n Like all B2B marketing communications today, partner marketing has embraced video.\u00a0 Keith Reynolds, founder and CEO of the content agency Publio, recommends that suppliers interview customers and partners and use the material to create \u201cmini content ecosystems\u201d comprising long-form and short-form video, with blog posts, social media and email content, all set up in a workflow tool like Asana. He says, \u201cThis is a great way to feature your channel partners while also yielding valuable thought leadership both partners can share.\u201d<\/p>\n Dig deeper: What is sales enablement?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Like many areas of business, partner marketing success depends on relationships.\u00a0 Reliability, trust, even friendship can enhance collaboration and smooth the path to shared goals.\u00a0 \u201cDistributors want suppliers they can count on for product knowledge, application training, and troubleshooting,\u201d says Lindsay Young. \u201cThey want someone who answers the phone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But at the same time partners and their suppliers are in some respects competitors.\u00a0 As explained by Mark Dancer, a distribution and supply chain expert, as much as suppliers and distributors need each other, they are sometimes at odds, and even dislike each other.\u00a0 Their cultures, and values, are often different.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But businesses are recognizing afresh the value of partnerships. According to a Pavilion\/Crossbeam study<\/a> in late 2023, the top change GTM (go to market) leaders say they have made in the year was an increased focus on growth through partnerships and co-selling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Structurally and historically, the partner-supplier relationship is complex, and remains so.\u00a0 As noted in one of the earliest and most influential academic texts, \u201cMarketing Channel Strategy\u201d by Louis W. Stern et al., channel partnerships are fundamentally difficult because \u201cthey don\u2019t trust each other.\u201d\u00a0 But co-opetition<\/a> is the new normal in business today, and channel partner marketers are embracing the notion of overlooking differences and recognizing the value of cooperation and shared interests.\u00a0 It\u2019s an exciting time to work in this category.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Get MarTech! Daily. Free. In your inbox.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n \n<\/div>\n Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\nCooperation between direct reps and partners<\/h3>\n
The marketing basics<\/h3>\n
More marketing automation<\/h3>\n
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AI (which you knew would be on the list)<\/h3>\n
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Tactics<\/h2>\n
Joint campaign messaging<\/h3>\n
The importance of training\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Sales enablement lives<\/h3>\n
Video, video, everywhere<\/h3>\n
What hasn\u2019t changed<\/h2>\n