6 Types of Channel Partners: When Each Is a Good Fit

It helps close deals faster, retain customers, and helps vendors scale their GTM motions with limited internal resources,” Katie says. But it also helps build trust and focus into your partnerships — a sense of direction.” Because without a solid better-together story, without co-marketing, without lead-generating events, it’s really hard for partners to sell. Map their prospect accounts with their channel partner’s prospect or customer populations in their PEP and identify a list of prospects the channel partner can sell their product into A PRM helps companies register, manage, and track attribution for their channel partnerships. And once you do, you need trust, collaboration, and access to data to nurture long-term relationships and avoid dreaded channel conflicts.

What should marketing leaders do now to unlock the power of channel partner marketing? Working with indirect channel partners means that the channel marketing function must be very commercially focused, operating in a consultative manner to understand both the vendor and partner’s goals. One of the biggest reasons is that the budget for channel partner marketing (market development funds, or MDF) is almost always reported separately from the marketing budget (OPEX). Why is channel partner marketing misunderstood and undervalued? Unfortunately, channel partner marketing is often considered tactical, basic and lacking the sophistication of newer marketing techniques.

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• Partner marketing, on the other hand, is a subset of channel marketing that focuses on strategic collaborations with individual companies or organizations.
• Channel partnerships offer a powerful strategy for B2B growth, enabling companies to leverage mutual strengths for expanded market reach and product enhancements.
• It also allows for the exchange of valuable insights and feedback, which can further enhance the effectiveness of the channel marketing efforts.
• Reseller partners are companies or individuals that purchase products or services to resell them to end customers, often adding their own services, support, or solutions around the core offering.

Finally, maintain open channels of communication to discuss inventory needs, marketing strategies, and feedback from end-users. From there, offer continuous support and training to ensure they comprehend the full range of capabilities and benefits your technology brings to their solutions. Gain an in-depth understanding of their capabilities, past projects, and unique value propositions within the chosen vertical. They leverage their deep understanding of industry nuances and technical expertise to construct end-to-end processes that optimize operational efficiency.

It’s worth taking the extra time to craft a better-together story. Per Katie, “No partner is exactly the same, so it’s critical to understand the reasoning behind the partnership. The value of your partnership will be lost on prospects, and they’ll start to explore other options.

Yet, channel partner marketing is very rarely discussed when looking at growth strategies in marketing forums. Essentially, any organisation that is looking to scale, reach new markets and drive growth will almost certainly have an ‘indirect’ strategy. Sometimes channel partner marketing referred to as ‘partners’, ‘indirect’, ‘ecosystem’ – it’s the practice of selling and marketing through third parties.

Propolis helps B2B marketers confidently build the right strategies and skills to drive growth and prove their impact. Propolis helps you to shape your marketing strategy, while building the skills and effectiveness of your team; all with the express goal of delivering business growth. Georgie Gilmore is our in-house channel partner marketing expert in our global community for B2B marketers – Propolis. Using the old channel partner marketing playbook.

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