In today’s unpredictable economic environment, B2B technology Partner Marketers face mounting pressure to meet aggressive partner pipeline targets while proving ROI. Simply generating leads is no longer enough—effective follow-up is essential to engage top-of-funnel prospects and turn interest into real business opportunities.
Recently, Partner Marketing leaders Angela Motiani (Head of Partner Demand Generation at Klaviyo), Kristina Onyon (Director of Partner Marketing at Cloudflare), and Rachna Gupta (VP of Marketing at HashiCorp) sat down with Michael Latchford (GM & VP, Strategic Alliances & Partner Marketing Services) to discuss what works (and what doesn’t) in with- and through-partner demand generation.
Here are five key takeaways from their conversation on building a strong partner pipeline and driving demand with and through partners:
Key Takeaway 1: Use Intent and Account-Based Strategies to Refine Targeting
Targeting the right audience is a cornerstone of any demand generation strategy, including co-marketing initiatives. Partner Marketers can improve their targeting and ultimately drive better campaign results by incorporating intent data and account-based marketing (ABM) techniques into their go-to-market strategies.
Leverage Intent Data with Sales Input to Build Your Target List
Rachna Gupta from HashiCorp stresses the importance of understanding where your intent data is coming from—whether it’s from your website, CRM, third-party platforms, or a mix of sources. Once you have this clarity, align with Sales to create a “propensity-to-buy” list based on behavioral signals from intent data.
Personalize Messaging Based on Buyer Insights
Rachna also highlights the need to tailor outreach to each target account. A one-size-fits-all approach is unlikely to yield the same conversion rates as a personalized, account-specific strategy.
Use ABM to Engage Target Accounts
Once you’ve identified your target accounts and crafted personalized messaging, Angela Motiani from Klaviyo advises Partner Marketers to implement ABM techniques, leveraging multi-channel strategies such as email, direct mail, and paid social to engage these prospects effectively.
Key Takeaway 2: Involve Multiple Partners to Maximize Impact
Partner Marketers have found significant success with multi-partner campaigns, which often include technology vendors, systems integrators, and cloud services providers. These campaigns help create integrated solutions that resonate more with customers, who are increasingly looking for comprehensive solutions rather than point products.
The Power of “Better Together”
Rachna from HashiCorp shares that multi-partner programs—like their current webinar series with a technology partner and cloud services provider—have resulted in up to 40% higher registrations compared to typical campaigns.
Bring in a Customer for Added Credibility
Angela from Klaviyo suggests involving a successful joint customer in campaigns. Having a customer share their experience and highlight the benefits they’ve seen from the partnership adds credibility and demonstrates the tangible value of the solution.
Key Takeaway 3: Package Campaigns to Scale Through-Partner Demand Generation
As the partner ecosystem expands, Partner Marketing leaders are tasked with scaling through-partner demand generation without necessarily receiving additional resources or budget. One effective approach is to create self-service, packaged campaigns that partners can leverage to invest their marketing funds (MDF) in a streamlined way.
Make Campaigns Easy to Execute
Kristina from Cloudflare emphasizes that packaged campaigns should be easy for partners, especially smaller ones with limited marketing resources, to execute. These campaigns should allow partners to nurture leads over time, rather than just running a one-off campaign.
Provide a Holistic Approach
Angela from Klaviyo recommends that packaged campaigns offer a complete experience—from awareness and enablement to demand generation tools. This ensures partners have everything they need to be successful.
Balance Structure with Flexibility
Rachna from HashiCorp advises balancing the structure of packaged campaigns with flexibility. Partners should be provided with co-branded materials and guidance on how to customize campaigns to meet their unique audience needs.
Key Takeaway 4: Create a Prescriptive Follow-Up Plan to Drive Conversions
Generating leads is just the first step—Partner Marketers must also focus on effective follow-up to drive conversions. Coordinating follow-up across sales and marketing teams can be a challenge, but having a well-defined process in place can make a significant difference.
Align Teams for Lead Follow-Up
Kristina from Cloudflare stresses the importance of full alignment between marketing, sales, and partners on the follow-up strategy. It’s critical to define who owns the follow-up and how it will be executed.
Personalize Messaging and Nurture Leads
Partners should tailor follow-up messages based on buyer persona and stage in the journey. Kristina also advises creating a nurture workflow within your marketing automation platform to keep top-of-funnel leads engaged.
Equip and Incentivize Sales Teams
Both Angela from Klaviyo and Kristina suggest training sales teams on joint solutions, equipping them with insights and talking points to drive more effective engagement. Offering incentives for sales activity can further boost follow-through.
Key Takeaway 5: Align KPIs to Effectively Measure Success
Proving the effectiveness and ROI of Partner Marketing efforts is crucial but often difficult. To simplify measurement and demonstrate impact, Partner Marketers should focus on a few key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly tie to business objectives.
Simplify Metrics and Focus on What Matters
Rachna from HashiCorp advises keeping KPIs simple. Focus on a handful of metrics—such as the number of deals registered or the value of closed-won opportunities—rather than trying to track an overwhelming number of metrics.
Align KPIs with Business Objectives
Ensure that KPIs align with broader company goals, such as product-led growth (PLG) or account-based marketing (ABM). This helps maintain focus and ensures that the metrics track progress toward strategic business outcomes.
Create Shared Goals Across Teams
Rachna also suggests creating shared goals between Partner Marketing, Digital Marketing, and Field Marketing teams. This ensures that partner efforts are integrated into overall marketing initiatives and helps avoid working in silos.
Look Beyond Pipeline Metrics
Kristina from Cloudflare reminds Partner Marketers to look beyond just pipeline metrics. Monitoring partner engagement—from training participation to deal registration—can provide valuable insights into which partners are truly invested and ready to perform.
Define Success Together with Partners
Angela from Klaviyo emphasizes the importance of defining success early in the partnership. Ensure that both you and your partners agree on the KPIs and focus on metrics that truly matter, like qualified leads, MQLs, and closed deals.
To enhance your Partner Marketing efforts, engage with peers, share best practices, and keep learning. Focus on optimizing your approach to demand generation, enablement, and pipeline management to build more effective partnerships and drive measurable results.
