Best of LinkedIn: Channel Marketing CW 27/ 28

00:00:00: This episode is provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennis, based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts about channel marketing in calendar weeks twenty-seven and twenty eight.

00:00:08: Frenis is a BDB market research partner helping ICT and tech providers identify niche channel partners but compressing the full journey from identification to qualified first meeting into four or five weeks.

00:00:22: you can find more info

00:00:23: And if you're listening to this, You probably know how incredibly complex the channel marketing world is right now.

00:00:29: Oh absolutely!

00:00:30: I mean imagine spending six months courting This massive tier one partner Right?

00:00:35: You fly out get all The Complex Contracts signed and throw a huge launch party.

00:00:40: Exactly Only to realize that your own internal sales reps have been well actively stealing deals from that very partner just to protect their quarterly commissions.

00:00:50: It's madness, it

00:00:51: really is and That's why we're doing this deep dive today.

00:00:53: We're looking at the brutal reality check hitting ecosystems right now pulling the sharpest insights for mid-twenty twenty six.

00:01:00: Yeah because we've scoured The top channel marketing trends seen across LinkedIn in weeks Twenty seven twenty eight To give you the most focused actionable intelligence?

00:01:11: We want be your shortcut.

00:01:12: what actually working?

00:01:13: And I'll say up front the old days of simply, you know... Managing partner lists handing out bronze silver and gold badges.

00:01:21: That is entirely dead.

00:01:23: The mechanics of the ecosystem have completely changed, okay?

00:01:27: Let's unpack this because if we look at the first major theme from this week's insights It's all about Ecosystems strategy And how AI Is completely changing.

00:01:36: where the money flows

00:01:37: yeah the economics are shifting incredibly fast.

00:01:39: Jay McBain brought up some staggering numbers recently About this generational shift.

00:01:43: big tech isn't just funding standalone products anymore.

00:01:46: they airport hundreds of millions into ecosystem.

00:01:49: Wait,

00:01:49: really?

00:01:50: Hundreds of million... Oh

00:01:50: yeah!

00:01:51: Like Google committing seven hundred fifty million open AI doing one hundred and fifty million anthropic.

00:01:55: a hundred million.

00:01:57: it's massive because enterprise buyers you know they no longer ask what the product does.

00:02:01: They asked what integrates with

00:02:02: right integration is

00:02:04: Exactly, we've entered this era of micro-consumption.

00:02:08: It's not about selling a five year monolithic software license anymore.

00:02:12: Buyers are purchasing tiny slivers of computing power and AI processing by the minute!

00:02:17: Which means that economics is totally different.

00:02:19: you don't just sell it walk away.

00:02:20: Precisely In consumption model The initial sale is just cover charge to get into club.

00:02:26: You only make actual revenue if customer stays on dance floor day after day And direct sales rips just can't sit next to the customer every day, To ensure they're using this software.

00:02:36: But partners can?

00:02:37: I mean that perfectly ties into what David Wilson was talking about.

00:02:40: He noted that The last mile of AI is going be entirely partner-led

00:02:46: Because AI is just a raw capability,

00:02:49: right?

00:02:49: Exactly.

00:02:49: It's just the capability.

00:02:51: The partners are actually embedding it into their clients' workflows.

00:02:54: They're managing human change Dealing with company politics All that messy stuff.

00:02:59: Yeah they make the AI functional for enterprise.

00:03:02: But hold on I have to challenge this because For decades The entire goal of B-to-B marketing was build a moat Like the customer in Key competitors out.

00:03:13: If integration is the main buying criteria now, doesn't that mean BDB marketing no longer about selling a moat around product but selling bridge?

00:03:21: That's exactly the paradox.

00:03:23: What's fascinating here?

00:03:24: how David Mauer approaches this.

00:03:26: He argues keeping things out is fastest way to starve an ecosystem.

00:03:30: today he talks about this concept of gravity Gravity

00:03:33: like pulling thing in.

00:03:34: Exactly!

00:03:35: Ecosystem success has shifted from just orchestrating partnerships to actually operating an ecosystem.

00:03:42: When you operate it, You have such strong budget and authority that you create a gravitational pull for opportunities.

00:03:48: So its not just project managing some co-marketing campaigns anymore?

00:03:51: No!

00:03:51: Not at all.

00:03:52: It's having the PNL Authority To fund a partner's proof of concept Or building native API hooks into tools your target accounts already use before The Partner even asks for it.

00:04:04: Okay, I love that.

00:04:05: But if you have that gravity the natural next step is figuring out how to actually execute those deals right?

00:04:12: I mean pulling in opportunities is great but if you fumble at the finish line it's useless.

00:04:16: It's completely useless.

00:04:17: and that transition from high-level strategy To street level execution Is where most programs just fall apart.

00:04:24: Yeah This leads right into the realities of co-selling.

00:04:27: Yeah, let's get into Co-Sell and Marketplace Execution.

00:04:30: Andrew Britcher had a great post about this.

00:04:32: He

00:04:32: did!

00:04:32: he was very blunt...he said Co-Cell isn't the strategy you just build.

00:04:37: it is byproducts that are earned through trust in execution.

00:04:40: I saw perfect real world example of this from Amy Marino Kim specifically regarding Microsoft Partners.

00:04:47: She pointed out that average partners will walk into a room flaunting their certifications and they're gold tier status.

00:04:52: And the direct sellers just tune it out completely?

00:04:55: Totally!

00:04:55: High-performing partners walk in with customer outcomes, business value.

00:04:59: Microsoft Sellers don't want to manage another partner relationship.

00:05:02: They have massive corridors.

00:05:03: so you can solve problems Exactly If we know how to modernize this specific client's legacy infrastructure.

00:05:11: So they actually use your AI tool You become invaluable.

00:05:15: You

00:05:15: solve friction And we're seeing this exact need for execution play out in the cloud marketplaces too.

00:05:21: Oh,

00:05:21: massively!

00:05:22: Patricia Kadescu shared some takeaways from an AWS panel she moderated in London.

00:05:27: One of the partners there reported that forty percent of their business now flows through the AWS marketplace.

00:05:34: Forty percent?

00:05:35: That is a huge chunk of revenue.

00:05:37: It's staggering But it doesn't happen by accident.

00:05:40: Vince Menzion gives some really solid advice on this for Google Cloud and AWS.

00:05:45: He warned that you don't win by just listing your product in a catalog like a digital storefront,

00:05:50: Right?

00:05:50: You can't put it up and wait the phone to ring.

00:05:52: Exactly!

00:05:53: You win doing reps with your first five-to ten deals alongside the Hyperscalers field team.

00:05:58: You have to prove the COSEL motion actually works.

00:06:01: Wait... If COSel is an earned buyproduct And not just standalone strategy How does a B to be marketing leader actually put that on a quarterly roadmap without relying on pure partner altruism?

00:06:14: Like you can't just hope people become friends.

00:06:16: No, You absolutely cannot scale on Hope.

00:06:19: Stephanie Hovley Lloyd broke this down perfectly.

00:06:22: She said you survive by creating strict commercial alignment.

00:06:25: everyone needs to know exactly what's in it for them

00:06:27: the famous economic

00:06:28: triangle.

00:06:29: Exactly!

00:06:30: The vendor needs efficient scale and lower acquisition costs, the internal seller operates on a ninety-day clock and needs to hit quota quickly... ...and the partner needs high margin advisory services attached to the software.

00:06:41: So if the software margin isn't there they need make it up in services?

00:06:44: Right

00:06:45: If answer two What's In It For Me?

00:06:48: Isn't Mathematically Clear?

00:06:49: for all three of those stakeholders the entire engine stalls.

00:06:52: so what does this mean?

00:06:54: Because you can have all the marketplace listings in the world, and get out of gravity.

00:06:58: But if your partners aren't actually activated or motivated it's basically just theater.

00:07:02: It is a hundred percent theatre.

00:07:04: And this brings us to our final theme Partner activation life cycle and trust.

00:07:10: Yeah!

00:07:11: This where we are getting into real metrics.

00:07:13: Lincoln Axon and Corey Johnikin were talking about this.

00:07:16: They hit hard on idea that only metric matters.

00:07:18: now is Activation velocity

00:07:21: Right not just partner count.

00:07:22: Exactly Not just pointing at a slide full of partner logos.

00:07:26: Activation velocity is the speed from signature to first revenue, because growing your partner list without activation just scales complexity not

00:07:34: revenue.".

00:07:35: Alex Richards shared a great perspective on this for his time in quantum metric.

00:07:38: he said and I love that quote A signed agreement creates potential.

00:07:42: A first deal creates belief.

00:07:44: Oh, that's really good.

00:07:46: a First Deal Creates Belief

00:07:47: because That first win is when the partners technical team actually sees your product work and their CFO Actually sees the margin but you have to engineer that.

00:07:55: win Richards highlighted The need for a highly structured ninety-day onboarding process.

00:08:00: You can't just hand them a portal login and say Good luck

00:08:03: No!

00:08:03: You Need overlapping pipeline reviews from day one To drive that first joint opportunity.

00:08:08: Having a massive roster of unactivated partners sounds exactly like buying a fancy gym membership, but never actually working out.

00:08:16: It looks great on paper…but zero results!

00:08:21: But let me ask you this – whose fault is it when the partner stops running?

00:08:32: Yeah, Tusharonka posted about the warning signs of partner churn.

00:08:36: And it's actually kind of chilling because how quiet is silence

00:08:39: as a huge red flag in partnerships?

00:08:41: It is he pointed out that the science show up long before an email was sent.

00:08:46: deal registration slows down there's complete silence and shared slack channels then suddenly unannounced team turnover on their end.

00:08:53: Why does this happen?

00:08:54: Greg Portnoy and Thomas Harker address this head-on.

00:08:57: It usually comes down to a lack of compensation neutrality.

00:09:00: Playing that for the listeners because it's huge issue.

00:09:02: Okay, so imagine a direct sales rep gets a ten percent commission on a deal if a partner brings That same deal in but takes a thirty percent margin For their services The vendors net revenue drops

00:09:13: So the direct reps commission drops too?

00:09:15: Exactly.

00:09:15: They just lost money for collaborating, so they bypassed The Partner to save their own margins.

00:09:20: That lack of compensation neutrality actively incentivizes Direct Reps To steal deals Which

00:09:26: just instantly destroys trust

00:09:28: Completely.

00:09:29: And Thomas Harker added that deal registration needs actual teeth.

00:09:33: Almost every program has a portal but very few have an enforced escalation path with leadership accountability.

00:09:39: So if A Direct Rep steals a Deal Nothing happens

00:09:42: Right.

00:09:42: And if there are no consequences, partners simply lose trust and stop registering deals entirely.

00:09:47: They just walk away!

00:09:49: Wow okay so we have covered a massive amount of ground.

00:09:52: today.

00:09:52: We've gone from the big picture AI economic shift in microconsumption to The hard realities of earning COSO momentum In cloud marketplaces.

00:10:01: It's a lot to process but it all connected...it

00:10:03: really is..and finally we got into the brass tacks Of getting partners To actually close their first deal.

00:10:10: Yeah.

00:10:10: I think the overarching theme for B to be marketers listening to this is clear, no more fluff.

00:10:15: you have to build operations not just programs

00:10:18: could not agree More.

00:10:19: You Have To Build The Operational Engine.

00:10:22: If you enjoyed This Episode New Episodes Drop Every Two Weeks.

00:10:25: Also Check Out Our Other Editions On Account Based Marketing Field Marketing AI In B-to-B Marketing Martech Go To Market And Social Selling

00:10:33: Definitely a Joe.

00:10:34: check those out.

00:10:34: Thank you so much For Joining Us For This Deep Dive.

00:10:37: Make Sure To Subscribe So Don't Miss Our Next Breakdown Of The Market.

00:10:40: And as we move into this AI-driven ecosystem era, ask yourself.

00:10:45: When your partner strategy fully succeeds will it still look like a partner program with a separate budget?

00:10:50: Or will become so embedded in how you entire company operates that the program itself vanishes to very fabric of business?

00:10:58: something think about.