MarketStar Blog

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Key Takeaways

The current B2B terrain is an ever-shifting labyrinth, and the onus is on us to adapt or get left behind. A strategy that has emerged as imperative to achieving this is the avenue of collaborative growth through partner channels. This approach not only enhances operational efficiency but also acts as a driving force for revenue growth, allowing us to generate increased returns.

Don’t just take our word for it. 

Almost 60% of respondents in the "2023 Channel Partner Marketing Benchmark Survey" anticipated that partner-generated revenue would climb more than 10% this year, while just under a quarter predicted more than 20% gains. Partner channels can serve as gateways to new horizons, enabling businesses to tap into previously unexplored markets and access specialized resources.

This isn't just about broadening reach; it's about forging connections that redefine industry dynamics through mutual growth and innovation. As we navigate this blog, we delve deep into current trends, benefits, challenges, and the power of outsourcing within the realm of partner channels.

The Power of Collaboration: Advantages of Partner Channels

Crafting a partner channel program isn't merely a strategic maneuver; it's a pathway to accelerated growth. A McKinsey article forecasts that by 2025, numerous sectors will transform into expansive partner ecosystems, potentially fueling a $60 trillion economy. Beyond boosting sales and revenue, this approach expedites product time-to-market, harnessing established market channels and consumer demand.

This collaborative strategy widens reach and bolsters awareness, enabling businesses to penetrate new markets and tap into once-inaccessible customer segments. Notably, Zoom’s partner network drove 20% of its international business bookings. Moreover, partners' expertise enhances a company's capacity to navigate intricate terrain, leveraging their insights for more potent strategies.

Partner channels offer shared resources, granting access to tools, technologies, and capabilities otherwise challenging to attain. Leveraging a partner's established network provides a competitive edge, facilitating swift market entry and brand recognition. Ultimately, this translates into elevated customer satisfaction; as per the 2023 State of the Partner Ecosystem report, deals involving partners are 53% more likely to close.

Partner Channel Success: Emerging Trends and Insights

95% of Microsoft's commercial revenue comes through its partners. While partner channels present a potent avenue for growth, harnessing their full potential hinges on meticulous planning and execution. It's paramount to align with prevailing trends and strategies, enriching your comprehension and refining your strategic stance. Drawing from compelling data spotlighting the pivotal role of partnerships in achieving success, let's delve into current trends:

1. Elevate Enablement Programs: Bolstering partner capabilities through channel partner enablement programs takes center stage. This involves crafting a partner enablement strategy to provide partners with the tools, resources, and training necessary to effectively market, sell, and support products and services. By equipping them with vital skills, you empower them to thrive in today's competitive market.

2. Build Effective CPM Strategies: A growing trend is the use of robust Channel Partner Management (CPM) strategies. Clear communication, well-defined performance metrics, target setting, and partner contribution monitoring are essential for effective partner sales management. This streamlines partner performance tracking and supports partners in achieving their established goals.

3. Harness Channel Revenue Solutions: There is a growing recognition of the value of ROIs derived from partner channel revenue. Revenue enablement allows you to track partner-contributed sales, and related costs, margins, and metrics. You can glean profound insights into refining your channel revenue strategies, identifying high-performing partnerships, and optimizing resource allocation.

4. Cultivate Personalized Partnerships: Personalization extends beyond customer interactions; it's paramount in partner relationships too. Tailoring engagement models, integrating incentives, or fostering reward programs are avenues to explore. Recognizing partners' unique strengths and aligning with their objectives fosters profound engagement, robust connections, and mutual prosperity.

5. Expand Your Partner Ecosystem: At the forefront is the exponential expansion of partner ecosystems, transcending traditional boundaries. Enterprises are venturing into diverse partnerships, leveraging the cumulative expertise of networks for distinctive benefits. This strategic approach enables you to tap into new markets and opportunities efficiently and innovatively.

The Different Facets of Partner Channel: Navigating Challenges

While the allure of partner channels is undeniable, they come with their fair share of challenges. Statistics reveal that a staggering 60-65% of strategic partnerships falter, often due to issues as basic as miscommunication or misaligned objectives. Despite acknowledging the worth of partner channels, approximately 73% of marketers find their management a substantial challenge, primarily due to collaboration inefficiencies.

Protecting brand reputation is another pain point. Maintaining consistent messaging and quality among partners is crucial for how a brand is perceived and presented to the market. Ensuring accountability and engagement poses a hurdle, as keeping partners dedicated and actively involved in joint endeavors can be demanding. A previous Accenture study unveiled that 84% of channel leaders lack clear insight into their partners' opportunity pipelines. 

The way we sell today is being shaped by the evolving customer journey, technological advancements, and changes in customer behavior. Additionally, sales processes differ from one business to another, and so do the terminology and data management practices associated with them. At MarketStar, we fully comprehend these dynamics and possess the adaptability to align with and enhance our clients' processes through our proven and reliable practices. We bring our expertise to every task, seamlessly integrating our teams into our clients' organizations. However, occasionally we encounter minor inaccuracies that, despite their size, can significantly impact our efforts.

In the world of digital advertising, achieving sustainable and profitable growth requires a strategic approach suited to various stages of business maturity.  Identifying the stage you’re in and its corresponding challenges and goals will allow you to make informed decisions and choose the right partners to help you accelerate your growth.

Let's explore the maturity levels of digital advertising operations and highlight their unique characteristics to help you find out the stage you're in and ways to level up faster and more efficiently. 

There is no doubt that the rise of AI tools in sales has the potential to revolutionize the industry. And whether we love it or not, AI is here to stay for a while. It appears thatthe majority of high-performing sales organizations (57%) are using the technology to improve internal processes and customer experience and studying Salesforce’s “State Of” Report proves that this number is on the rise.

The capability for AI to transform the sales industry is vast, and its adoption is only set to increase. As businesses become more data-driven and customer-centric, there is an increase in the need for AI tools to manage and analyze customer data in real-time. And with the market for AI software expected to reach $37 billion by 2025, there is no doubt that the sales industry will be a major driver of this growth. However, the potential of AI extends far beyond what we have seen so far. As the technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more innovative applications emerge, from complex predictive sales analytics to even more developed automated customer service. Today, with Open.ai’s Chat GTP writing page-long text in seconds and algorithms inventing drug molecules to cure OCD, the array of AI capabilities seems endless, and so do the opportunities to leverage artificial intelligence.

The B2B sales model is changing. Where outside sales reps were once seen as a cost-effective and efficient way to close new deals and build revenue, more companies are bolstering their inside sales team. The migration from the traditional sales approach to inside sales is helping B2B companies more closely align sales and marketing, improve lead generation, and create a better customer experience.

Growth is a positive thing. Whether it’s financial or personal, growth means progress. When we talk about the growth of a business, we are referring to the process of increasing the size, revenue, and market share over time. At MarketStar, we are proud of our purpose to “Create Growth”, because over the last 35 years this is what we have done successfully for our clients and our people all over the world. However, the growth we create isn’t about a quick fix and rapid expansion.

Practicing the art of creating sustainableand profitable growth is a combination of expertise and experience. And while it may appear easy on paper, there are numerous examples of companies who could not keep up with their own growth. We often find that organizations focus on intense growth instead of creating scalable processes to sustain that growth in the future. According to Business Harvard Review“today’s medium firms are larger and older than at any other time in the past 35 years; yet an increasing percentage of medium firms incur losses, have lower profits, and have lower growth despite spending larger amounts on experimentation and innovation.” 

With a phone in almost every hand today, Short Message Service (SMS) marketing's popularity has only been growing from strength to strength recently. Bulk SMS marketing is at the peak of its demand for various reasons today, especially in the e-commerce sector.