Al Biedrzycki

I think distribution is king for any type of partner that has a joint offering for your shared customers. As long as there's tangible demand for partner offerings from your customers and prospects and you have a means to bring your message to this audience, there's very little else that trumps this benefit. It can come in a number of forms (directory placement, features in newsletters, guest blogging, etc.) and you should always deeply consider how a partner earns / qualifies for distribution benefits based on the value they've brought to your company.

When it comes to partner channel, I like to think of partner marketing helping drive sourced pipeline in two areas: 1) new partner acquisition pipeline and 2) partner referred/resold pipeline. New partner acquisition pipeline is simply building demand for organizations that would be a good fit to partner with you, whereas partner referred/resold pipeline is the channel demand for your product/service from a partner's client base. Issues that typically arise and negatively impact campaigns and marketing strategies include: a) Measurement/Attribution: It’s often challenging to attribute revenue and pipeline to partner marketing efforts accurately. Many partner-generated opportunities come through indirect channels, making it difficult to track touchpoints and assign proper credit for marketing’s contribution. A lack of clear attribution models can result in underreporting the actual impact of partner campaigns, which can cause friction when evaluating ROI or justifying budget allocation. b) Internal Misalignment of Cross-Functional (XFN) Teams: Effective partner marketing requires tight alignment between marketing, sales, operations, and the partner management teams. Misalignment often results in missed opportunities, messaging inconsistencies, or delays in execution. For example, sales might prioritize direct-sourced leads over partner-referred leads, or the operations team may not have the right infrastructure to support partner-specific campaigns. Without strong internal coordination, campaigns can falter or underperform. c) Lack of Enablement for Partners: A critical mistake is assuming that partners inherently know how to market or sell your product as well as your internal team. Without proper enablement—such as providing partners with the right messaging, marketing materials, or training—campaigns fail to gain traction. Partners may not prioritize your offering if they aren’t fully equipped to sell it or if they don't understand how it fits into their broader portfolio. d) Inconsistent Messaging and Value Proposition Alignment: For campaigns to be successful, the value proposition presented to partners must be aligned with the partner’s business model and customer needs. Failure to customize messaging for different types of partners (e.g., VARs, resellers, SIs) or across different regions can dilute the impact of your marketing efforts. Campaigns fall flat when they don’t resonate with the unique needs and goals of the partner and their clients. e) Overreliance on a Few High-Performing Partners: Another common pitfall is focusing too much on a small group of partners who are already performing well, while neglecting newer or underperforming partners. This creates a situation where pipeline growth is too dependent on a handful of partners, leaving the program vulnerable if any of them deprioritize your product. It’s important to scale efforts across a broader partner base and invest in nurturing partners that show potential. To overcome these challenges, it's important to invest in tools for attribution, foster alignment between cross-functional teams, build robust partner enablement programs, and continuously refine your partner value proposition to ensure campaigns are relevant and compelling.

It really depends on the partner type (service provider, ISV, referral partner, etc.) and their offering, but generally speaking, the more you can leverage your organization's distribution to showcase a partner's value proposition to the right audience, the better off you'll be in generating leads on their behalf. More specifically, I've seen a few tactics work really well: Joint Webinars with the Partner: These provide an opportunity to combine both brands’ expertise and thought leadership, giving potential customers insights into how the partner’s solution integrates with or enhances your product. Webinars can generate high-quality leads because they attract attendees who are actively interested in the topics being discussed. Ensure that you align the content with mutual goals and follow up with attendees promptly to convert interest into action. Campaign Kits: Providing partners with ready-to-use marketing kits that include email templates, social posts, landing pages, and educational content (like eBooks or white papers) allows them to run co-branded campaigns efficiently. The easier you make it for partners to execute marketing campaigns, the more likely they are to engage and drive leads. These kits help partners maintain consistent messaging while saving them time on campaign creation. Content Syndication: Sharing co-branded content across digital channels is another powerful way to generate leads. This could include blog posts, case studies, or joint research reports that highlight the value of both companies working together. The key here is to ensure that the content is positioned to solve specific pain points for the target audience, making it a compelling reason for prospects to engage. Partner Listings in Directories/Marketplaces: If your organization has an app marketplace or partner directory, featuring your partner prominently within these platforms can significantly increase their visibility and generate inbound leads. Customers who are already in your ecosystem are more likely to explore partner solutions that are trusted and integrated with your platform. Joint Sales Plays: Aligning your sales teams with the partner’s sales teams can also drive lead generation. By collaborating on specific accounts, running account-based marketing (ABM) plays, and sharing target lists, both companies can maximize outreach and tailor messaging. This cross-pollination between sales teams can dramatically increase the chances of landing new business. Exclusive Offers or Trials: Offering exclusive discounts, product trials, or bundled solutions when both products are purchased together can create urgency and appeal. This approach can be particularly effective for ISVs or service providers that rely on differentiated value propositions. The key is to ensure that both parties actively promote the offer through their respective channels. Co-Branded Events: If budget allows, hosting in-person or virtual events with partners—such as industry conferences, workshops, or user groups—can be a great way to generate leads. These events provide a platform to showcase both solutions and their combined value to a broader audience, offering direct engagement with potential customers. Overall, the success of any partner marketing tactic hinges on close alignment between the marketing, sales, and partner teams. Regular communication, goal-setting, and performance tracking are essential to ensuring that both parties are investing equally and benefiting from the campaigns.

I think this really depends on how either organization operates. Is it a freemium model? Sales led? Product led growth? I think it's typically best to partner with organizations who share a similar user / sign-up journey so you can align on a similar entry point / journey. It makes it easier to plan, compare success, and creates a better customer experience. You'll also want to ensure all roads end with the joint offering (ex. install the integration for technology partners) on both sides so you're all pushing towards the same outcome and can weigh the success. I've dealt with this quite a bit and mostly on the ISV side where the joint offering is an integrated technology solution.

It all really depends on the partner types, what's at your disposal in terms of distribution, etc. but a few guiding principles and examples I can share: 1) You want to build for scale. While doing the one-off webinar might drive some initial impact with your first few partners, that's not a scalable benefit. Think about how you build initiatives that can scale as your grow your program and more partners enter the mix. 2) You want to have a strong POV on how you measure success with partner engagement. It's often difficult to draw a through line between partner engagement activity and channel sales outputs. For example, it might be hard to draw a strong correlation between a partner attending a webinar and then referring a customer 60 days later. To get better at measuring impact, we're looking to build a partner engagement health score at Ramp. This health score will be built on the most likely activities that drive partner referrals (i.e. completing certification, attending a webinar per quarter, etc.) Then, our team can have targets on driving up the health of our partner ecosystem. It gives us a target we can actually influence and one that is more closely tied (through data) to bottom line business outcomes. All being said, 1:many trainings, certifications, and other educational programming that scales has proven to be super effective. Training not only enables the partner and keeps them engaged -- you can also use it as a lever for more program benefits. For example, completing a specific training or certification on a potential service offering could unlock a partner being listed in a certain directory placement as one featured for offering that service. This ties back to the distribution benefit which is a carrot for driving the desired partner behavior.

It starts with the customer. You first need to understand what the demand is for partner offerings and then discover what types of partners fit the bill in order to deliver on this need. Then, you need to understand what, based on the customer demand for partners, is the value for partners to want to work with your organization. In my experience, this is typically a mix of what you can offer them (e.g. distribution, benefits), how it's different than what competitors are offering, and what the customer is looking for (i.e. demand for partner offering.). For example, we have recognized that Ramp enables accounting firms to move away from manual bookkeeping work and focus on higher margin strategic services. This is a core value proposition that we lean into when marketing to prospective accounting firms and it came through this exercise detailed above.