The Art and Science of Building Effective Partner Messaging
This blog is part of a series where partner marketing executives from around the world share their experiences and insights on navigating the challenges of the partner ecosystem.
When companies come together to form partnerships, the usual opening line in their agreements often goes something like this: The parties agree to collaborate, develop joint solutions, enable joint sales and marketing efforts, and help each other expand into new markets, creating opportunities for business growth and customer success.
To make partnerships truly work, it’s essential for the involved companies to create joint messaging and content that empowers their marketing teams to drive awareness and generate demand. Joint messaging ensures that when sales teams pitch the solution, it comes across as a unified offering from both companies, increasing its impact and appeal to customers.
Over the course of my career, I’ve seen many successful partnerships driven by powerful joint messaging. For example, in 2009-2010, VMware, Cisco, and EMC developed one of the first private cloud solutions. Their messaging was key to launching the hyperconverged infrastructure market. Similarly, in 2016, AWS and VMware crafted a compelling message to help VMware customers transition to the leading cloud platform. And in 2022, NVIDIA and Deloitte joined forces to help businesses build and scale AI and Metaverse services.
A great way to develop joint messaging is by comparing the value proposition of the solution with key industry trends and CIO survey insights. For example, Oracle Cloud and VMware’s combined solution highlighted the top priorities like control, security, and predictability that analysts identified in 2021.
As part of the Partner Marketing Visionaries community, I recently participated in a panel discussion on partner messaging with industry leaders Annie Martin (Microsoft), Lena Wiegering (Dataminr), and Tyillere Hansen (Slack). The conversation, titled Messaging: The Art & Science of Building, provided valuable perspectives on how to create effective joint messaging with partners. Here are some key takeaways from that discussion.
What Should You Consider When Developing the “Together is Better” Message?
Annie Martin emphasized the importance of aligning on the definition of “better” at the start of the partnership. Joint messaging is more than just putting two logos side by side. It’s about asking, What makes us better together? Articulating this joint-value message upfront ensures the partnership has a clear direction and sets the foundation for success.
What’s the Process for Developing Joint Messaging?
Lena Wiegering explained that the first step is to bring together the product marketing teams from both partners to assess the type of partnership. Is it an integrated solution, or will customers need to buy products separately to form a solution? Gaining buy-in from executive sponsors and involving sales leadership is crucial. From there, it’s about building deliverables, creating a feedback loop, and continuously optimizing the messaging over time. It’s not a one-time task; it requires ongoing refinement.
How Do You Document and Enforce Messaging?
Tyillere Hansen outlined the importance of documenting all assets related to joint messaging, including sales slides, customer solution briefs, battlecards, and web pages. Clear expectations around how these assets are reviewed and used by Sales and Marketing teams are key to ensuring the messaging is consistently enforced. This includes setting guidelines for brand representation, review cycles, and getting support from legal teams for messaging approvals.
Best Practices for Joint Messaging
- Keep it fresh: Lena advised that managing messaging updates can be challenging. Establishing a document repository and a process for continuous refinement is essential.
- Stay responsive to market changes: Annie shared how her team adjusted their partner messaging during the pandemic to ensure it resonated with the evolving needs of customers.
- Use customer feedback: Tyillere noted that real-time feedback from events can be invaluable. Watching how customers respond to messaging can provide instant insight into what’s working and what isn’t.
The Role of AI in Messaging Development
A final question from the audience asked about the impact of AI tools like ChatGPT and Bard on messaging development. Annie was excited about the potential of these tools, saying they can save time by helping generate ideas and streamline content creation. Tyillere shared that ChatGPT helped him create a podcast script, saving hours of brainstorming time. However, he emphasized that the AI output still requires human refinement. Lena pointed out that AI can eliminate some of the repetitive tasks, allowing marketers to focus on measurement, optimization, and creative strategy.
In conclusion, building effective joint messaging with partners is both an art and a science. It requires collaboration, alignment, and ongoing adjustments to stay relevant and impactful. By using a structured process and leveraging the right tools, marketing teams can create messaging that resonates with customers and drives business growth.
