Channel Marketing is Dead (except it isn't)

If you’ve been anywhere near B2B channel marketing for any meaningful length of time, you’ve probably felt the ground shift beneath your feet (on more than one occasion). What partner marketing means, does and is has been constantly evolving - and doing so quicker than a quick thing being really quick.

And in recent memory that's been accelerated even further by trends such as that largely undefinable (but no less scary) beast of "digital transformation", changing (aka more demanding) partner expectations, and the rise of channel "ecosystems" over the traditional linear models.

It's something we got into the nitty gritty of on the launch episode of our brand new podcast Channel Marketing Champs, as we sat down with Simon Edward, former CMO of IBM and a 35-year veteran of the B2B technology world.

We unpacked the future of channel marketing and what vendors need to do to keep their partners engaged, motivated, and effective in this new era. You can listen to the episode itself, of course, but if you prefer reading words with your eyes rather than listening to them with your ears we've summarised the key talking points, takeaways and need-to-knows for you riiiiiiight here.

Lets go!

From Traditional Channel to Digital Ecosystem: The Big Shift

The old partner marketing playbook was relatively straightforward. Vendors sold through resellers who stocked products, added a margin, and leveraged vendor-provided marketing support to drive local sales. Simple.

But that’s no longer the case. Far from it.

As Simon put it:

"The traditional channel model is dead. Today’s partners aren’t just resellers. They need data, insights, and digital platforms to deliver real value."

Modern partners want more than just product margins, marketing assets, and a smidge of MDF. They expect:

• Real-time data and insights to guide sales and marketing efforts.
• Access to digital marketplaces where buyers are actively searching for solutions.
• Flexible support for co-marketing and lead generation that aligns to their unique go-to-market strategies.

The rise of as-a-service offerings, subscription models, and direct-to-customer buying platforms has transformed the B2B sales funnel, and partners need to adapt. Fast.

So, What Should a Modern Channel Marketing Program Look Like Then?

If you’re building or refreshing your partner marketing strategy for 2025 and beyond, Simon offered three core principles to follow:

1. Start with the Human Factor. 
   
   Whether you’re working with resellers, MSPs, ISVs, or strategic alliances, you need to win hearts and minds. That means:

• Educating partners about your product, market, and how to sell effectively.
• Creating emotional buy-in so your partners see you as a trusted advisor, not just a vendor.
• Providing sales enablement tools that make it easy to represent your brand and solutions.

2. Ditch One-Size-Fits-All Programs.
   
   Too many channel partner programs still treat all partners the same. 
   
   That’s no longer viable in a world where your ecosystem might include Global systems integrators (with their own sales and marketing departments), boutique consultancies (specialising in niche industries) and/or cloud marketplaces acting as both sales channel and data sources. 

You can't treat these very different types of partners the same. If you do, you'd be a fool.

The future of partner marketing then is flexible, modular, and personalised — adapting to different partner types, business models, and market segments. Ecosystem thinking is essential, where partners collaborate rather than just transact.

3. Make Customer Experience a Shared Priority 
   
   A great product isn’t enough anymore — partners need to deliver exceptional customer experiences to stay competitive. But many smaller partners lack the market intelligence tools, competitive insights, and AI capabilities that larger vendors rely on.

This is where vendors can offer serious value by sharing data, providing insight tools, and helping partners build the kind of customer-first marketing strategies that drive loyalty and long-term revenue.

Making Partner Marketing Collaborative (aka. Avoiding One-Way Traffic)

One of the biggest pitfalls in B2B partner marketing is the tendency for vendors to treat programs as something they do TO their partners, rather than WITH them.

Simon highlighted the importance of shifting to true collaboration, especially for smaller partners who often lack the internal marketing muscle to activate co-branded campaigns.

A smarter approach to co-marketing being taken by the most successful vendors is all about rethinking programs to:

• Offer pre-approved, fully briefed agencies to smaller partners.
• Provide ready-to-go campaign kits, reducing time to market.
• Maintain brand consistency across all partner-led activities.
• Offer always-on support to keep partners engaged.

As Simon said:

“If you want a vibrant channel, you need heartbeat marketing — always in front of your partners, educating, motivating, and activating them every single day.”

That’s the difference between a partner ecosystem that thrives and one that simply coexists.

4 Pillars of High-Impact Partner Marketing

For vendors looking to improve their partner marketing programs, Simon shared a simple but effective framework: the 4 Pillars of Partner Engagement. These are:

1. Education – Train partners so they fully understand the product, market, and customer needs.
2. Communication – Stay in regular contact with partners to build trust and alignment.
3. Motivation – Offer incentives, rewards, and recognition to keep partners engaged.
4. Activation – Most importantly, drive action by helping partners execute campaigns and close deals.

The Top Takeaways for Channel Marketing Leaders

As we wrapped up the conversation, Simon left us with four essential reminders for B2B marketers responsible for partner programs:

• It’s their business. Always frame your support in the context of how it helps partners grow their own business, not just yours.
• Make partners the hero. Celebrate their success and help them shine with their customers.
• Minimise friction. Make working with you easy — especially for smaller partners who lack resources.
• Avoid channel conflict. Don’t invest in partner enablement only to undercut them with direct sales.

Final Thoughts

Whether you call it channel marketing, partner marketing, or ecosystem enablement, one thing is clear: the days of rigid, vendor-driven programs are over.

The future belongs to flexible, insight-driven, collaborative programs that treat partners as co-creators of value — not just resellers.

If you want to take your partner marketing to the next level, Sharper B2B Marketing can help you design the kind of customer-first, insight-led campaigns that partners love to run — and customers love to engage with.