To thrive in the fast-paced world of technology partnerships, partner marketers must be multi-talented and adaptable “Swiss Army knives.” Unlike your peers in Marketing, you don’t always have the luxury of focusing on a specific discipline. You are responsible for it all – from joint go-to-market planning and messaging to content development and demand generation to managing budgets and reporting on pipeline impact. Sounds a lot like the charter of a CMO, right?
So, what kind of mindset and skills does it take to succeed as a Partner Marketing leader today? Anita Covelli, Director of Partner Marketing at TechTarget, recently sat down with Partner Marketing leaders Tricia Jennett (Sr. Director, Global Partner Marketing at NetApp), Matt Davison (VP, Marketing & Communications at SoftwareOne) and Anne-Marie Clegg (Global Partner Marketing Lead at Skyhigh Security) to discuss some of the soft skills required to succeed as a partner marketer.
1. Listen and communicate effectively
Over the last several years, there has been massive disruption in the industry. From a global pandemic to the rise of digital transformation and the technological advancements of AI, we are in a state of rapid change and uncertainty.
Anne-Marie believes that the best way to alleviate uncertainty is to listen and communicate effectively. “When you have a framework to communicate with a broad group of internal and partner stakeholders, then you can plug that into framework and get the message out as change occurs.”
Anne-Marie recommends having a cadence for communicating with partners. Consider a regular newsletter cadence and webinar for community-based partnerships, along with regular feedback surveys to make effective adjustments that speak directly to partner challenges. For strategic partnerships, she recommends being even more strategic and high touch with regular cadences.
Essentially, communication strategies should be mutually beneficial and create synergies.
2. Build a foundation
“Building that foundation is key to being able to adapt quickly and bring other people on board with you. Take the time to explain what the value of partner marketing is to your stakeholders internally when you first join in … with that foundation, you can accelerate progress with your stakeholders,” Anne-Marie points out.
Creating foundational experiences leads to better overall strategy, and ideally, leads to improved outcomes. Anita adds, “I think internal advocacy is a great point. A lot of people just don’t understand partner ecosystem and partner marketing, and so continuously advocating for the value of partner marketing with your organization is critical.”
3. Have patience
Matt argues that patience plays a big role in partner marketing success. “You can have the right plans and approaches, and the timing may not be right.”
Effective strategies are only effective if partners are aligned and at the right maturity level to execute on them. If partners are not ready for the “right” plan, then going back to basics and building an effective foundation is critical.
With aggressive pipeline targets and revenue goals, partner marketers may want to be assertive with partners. This can lead to bad experiences and failed partnerships. Patience and empathy are incredibly important to effective and healthy partnerships.
4. Ability to influence
Having the ability to influence partners and their end-users is critical to success. Matt discusses, “The individuals you’re working with are bombarded with requests to launch new campaigns, get new events off the ground, collateral, enablement – everything across their entire partner ecosystem. Having the ability to influence succinctly on what is important for them is critical to your success.”
At the end of the day, partners are often small teams with limited resources, and partner marketers might not control or manage a lot of the resources. Influencing above and below your role as a partner marketer and getting people on board with your goals is vital to continued success and effective prioritization.
While hard skills are vital, focusing on soft skills as a partner marketer will encourage continued partnerships and better relationships. If you’re interested in hearing more about the skills needed to grow and succeed in a partner marketing role, watch our on-demand webinar: Becoming Your Own CMO: Taking the Reins as a Partner Marketing Leader.
If this is an interesting topic, explore the Partner Marketing Visionaries channel to access a wealth of on-demand content featuring top technology partner marketing executives.
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Rachael Fuller