Tech Marketing Budgets Devoted to Partner Marketing Efforts Expected to Increase
IDG Communications, Inc., the world’s leading tech media, data, and marketing services company – releases the 2020 Partner/Alliance Marketing Study, focused on partner marketing activities within the tech industry. This study looks at budgets, challenges and success metrics, and provides insights for marketers to benchmark their own efforts and how to increase program success.
“Partner marketing is certainly not for the faint of heart given the diverse role and responsibilities, and the number of partners and stakeholders this effort encompasses,” said Rick Currier, Sr. Director of Sales, IDG Global Partner Solutions. “The research shows that on average marketers are working with 116 channel partner/resellers, 118 systems integrators, and 155 technology partners – which of course changes significantly by company size. This illustrates why the use of a documented strategy by 82% of respondents allows marketers to stay on track and achieve greater results.”
Goals of Partner Marketing Efforts
Revenue generation is an obvious top objective (38% overall) but interestingly it is much higher for those without a documented strategy – 63% compared to 32% of those who have a documented strategy and who have a broader set of objectives. Additional top objectives include increased sales engagement/joint selling (32%), generating brand awareness (29%), attracting new customer segments (28%), increasing partner engagement (26%), and demand generation (25%). Tactics used to meet those goals include content development and demand generation (both 40%); followed by events and branding (tied at 32%), and social media and thought leadership (both 30%). Small- and medium-businesses (less than 1,000 employees) place greater emphasis on content development (47%) and social media presence (37%) than their enterprise (1,000+ employees) counterparts.
Challenges
The top challenges to organizations’ partner marketing success are lack of partner commitment, and too many competing priorities (both 27%), lack of partner marketing expertise (26%), lack of resources, and managing/aligning with partner expectations regarding success measurement (both 22%). When looking at these challenges by the title we can see that executive-level respondents are more concerned about partner relations and outcomes as 27% feel that their contact covers too many vendors to provide the focus needed, compared to 12% for their mid-management counterparts; 24% don’t think their partners fully understand their business, compared to 13% for mid-management; and 23% feel there is a lack of commercial success, compared with 12% for mid-management.
Measurement & Metrics
When asked what types of programs have yielded successful results, the top three are thought leadership (78%), branding (76%), and social media presence (73%). However, only 57% of partner marketing programs have ultimately yielded successful results. Looking at how results are being measured, the research shows that they are using an average of four success metrics which means they are looking at their programs holistically and understanding the variety of benefits these tactics can achieve. Topping the list is total revenue generated from programs (53%), followed by increase in number of actual customers (52%), and strong partner relationships (48%). Among those who have a documented strategy, 36% use pipeline as a success measure compared with 60% who do not, and conversely 41% of those with a documented strategy use growth of market share versus 20% who don’t.
Outsourcing
With limited resources and the opportunity for stronger results, it is not surprising that 94% will outsource some partner marketing tactics in the next 12 months. These external investments are worthwhile, as 86% agree that working with an outside partner yield better results than their in-house efforts. Areas, where outside partners are being brought in, are social media services, and campaign and program strategy (both 35%), development of messaging and creative, and events – planning and execution (both 32%), and demand generation (31%).
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help, is my biggest take away from these results,” continued Currier. “This research allows you to understand what your peers are faced with and how they are resourcing and measuring their efforts. Benchmarking your efforts against similar organizations will provide the ammunition needed to up-level your efforts – including outsourcing to partners like IDG where needed.”
