This document summarizes the results of a survey about partner marketing efforts. The survey polled 298 marketing professionals and found that most companies view partner marketing as a necessary tactic. On average, companies allocate 37% of their marketing budgets to partner marketing. Most companies have a documented partner marketing strategy. The greatest challenges to success in partner marketing are a lack of commitment from partners and competing priorities internally. The most common programs that companies invest in are content development and demand generation. Over half of partner marketing programs from the past year yielded successful results.
2. Purpose and methodology
2
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
Survey goal
This research was conducted to
gain a better understanding of
partner marketing efforts from both
the client and agency view, where
the benefits and challenges lie,
what direction budgets are going
in, and to prescribe actionable
advice on how to better manage
partner marketing efforts.
Total respondents 298
Collection method
Online questionnaire
Number of questions 24
Average company size 22K employees
Marketing leadership
All survey respondents are involved in
making partner marketing decisions
for their organization.
2%
8%
13%
20%
57%
Other
Channel/reseller company
Marketing services /
advertising agency
Consulting firm and / or
systems integrator
Technology vendor
Job level
Organization types
55%
35%
10%
Executive
Mid management
Staff
3. 62%
21%
7% 5% 5%
A necessary
marketing tactic that
provides great value
A marketing tactic
that provides some
value
A marketing tactic
that provides us little
value
A marketing tactic
that has negatively
impacted our
organization
A tactic we just
recently started and
haven’t
measured any
impact yet
3
Value of partner marketing
being recognized
Question: How does your organization view partner marketing? Question: What percentage of overall marketing budget did your organization allocate to partner marketing activities in the past 12 months (not including funds
contributed by partners)? How do you expect your organization’s partner marketing budget to change over the next 24 months?
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
37%
of overall marketing budget spent
on partner marketing activities
68%
21%
8%
2%
Increase
Stay the Same
Decrease
Not Sure
Budget direction
4. 26%
30%
20%
12%
10%
31%
23%
17%
17%
8%
27%
20%
17%
19%
15%
Less than 10
10 - 49
50 - 99
100 - 499
More than 500
Channel partner/reseller
Systems integrators
Technology partners
Average 1,000+ <1,000
155 212 73
118 158 58
116 157 55
4
Programs include many partners
Question: How many partners is your organization currently working with?
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
5. No
Yes
1,000+ 71%
<1,000 89%
1,000+ 25%
<1,000 7%
5
Documented strategy is the norm
Question: Does your company have a documented partner marketing strategy?
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
85%
12%
4%
Yes
No
Not sure
Tech vendors
1,000+ 74%
<1,000 91%
Not sure
82% 14%
4%
Tech vendor 85%
Consultant/SI 76%
Channel 72%
Services/agency 87%
6. 3.3
average number
of challenges
6
Internal and external commitment a challenge
Question: In your role, what are the greatest challenges to partner marketing success?
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
12%
12%
14%
15%
15%
16%
16%
17%
18%
19%
20%
21%
22%
22%
26%
27%
27%
Not enough content that addresses the partner solution
Lack of products/offerings or things to market and sell
Too many partners with undifferentiated offerings
Partners aren’t spending their marketing dollars/letting them expire
Difficult to focus resources / program complexity
Lack of commercial success
Partner doesn’t fully understand our business
Process is too cumbersome
Our contact covers too many vendors to give us the focus we need
Insufficient funds
Lack of strategy
Pressure from the business to concentrate all efforts on one area of the funnel
Managing/aligning with partner expectations regarding success measurement
Lack of resources
Lack of partner marketing expertise
Too many competing priorities
Lack of partner commitment
1,000+ 12% <1,000 21%
7. 7
Content dev. & demand gen lead investment
Question: What are the top 3 marketing programs you will spend partner marketing budget on in the next 12 months? Question: Thinking about the partner marketing programs completed in the past 12 months, how many
have ultimately yielded successfulresults?
Source: Foundry Partner/Alliance Marketing Survey, 2019
57%
of partner marketing programs
ultimately yielded successful
results in the past 12 months
24%
27%
30%
30%
32%
32%
40%
40%
Telemarketing
Lead nurturing
Thought leadership
Social media presence
Branding
Events
Demand generation
Content development 1,000+ 36% <1,000 47%
1,000+ 25% <1,000 37%
1,000+ 60%
<1,000 53%
8. 8
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