Stand out digitally with better partner marketing

Companies that were already strong at digital marketing had a headstart coming into the pandemic. But as more competition has moved online, it is becoming harder to differentiate.

Standing out digitally is crucial. IT channel partners that continue to maintain their marketing voice are more likely to survive the pandemic’s economic impact. Digital marketing now has a more important role to play for partners’ businesses as the entire customer journey shifts online. Market development funds (MDF) continue to be a vital source of marketing funding for many partners, but channel partners are feeling the limitations of MDF more keenly.

Vendors, are you making it simple for your partners to drive digital business, or wrapping them in MDF red tape?

It's little wonder that Canalys sees growing demand from our vendor clients to help with partner marketing. We provide strategic advice on best practice, helping vendors benchmark against their peers and competitors in the industry. We also offer a suite of tactical options, for instance analyst presenters for virtual events, online hosting of partner advisory boards, and Canapii, our digital event management platform designed for hybrid/virtual event experiences (definitely check out Canapii if you are planning a virtual partner event).

There is also huge interest in access to independent data and insights. Compelling content is critical to cut through the noise. For example, our Alys partner assessment tool helps clients map the skills within their ecosystem as well as offering an innovative route to engage with partners.

One problem facing every business is that as the pandemic drags on, outbound digital activities are becoming less effective. While marketing response rates peaked in the early months, they are now falling. Vendors and channel partners tell Canalys that emails have lower open rates. Webinars get fewer participants. Customer attention is becoming shorter. Campaigns are competing against digital burnout, risk-aversion, and household and work priorities.

Given these challenges, it's a pity that ready access to vendor MDF continues to be another barrier to effective marketing. It's a topic Canalys senior analyst Sharon Hiu explored in our recent client-only report, "Channel marketing gets a digital boost". According to a recent survey of our Candefero members, limited types of qualified activities was the No.1 challenge they face when working with vendor MDF programs.

Partners have struggled with an inability to predict how much money they will receive for a campaign, limits on how much money can be used for each activity, ROI reporting requirements and so on. The good news is there are many ways vendors can help ease this administrative burden on partners and drive better outcomes from MDF investments.

Canalys analysts are experts in this area so feel free to get in touch if you want to talk further. I've tagged some of the most relevant analysts below. I'd also be glad to share some examples of the solutions that Canalys is providing to vendors to give their own marketing a boost.