How marketing activates the partner base.
Enabled partners with no campaign motion produce no pipeline. The job of Channel marketing is to give partners a constant stream of activatable plays mapped to where each partner sits in their own selling cycle — not to ship webinar #47 to a partner base that needs a regional roadshow.
Eight campaign types, mapped to funnel stage
Each one is its own discipline. Mixing them or running them out of stage order is the most common reason partner campaigns underperform.
| Campaign type | Funnel stage | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Co-branded webinar | Top of funnel | New category education, joint thought leadership |
| Lunch-and-learn | Mid-funnel | Bottom-up technical buy-in inside a target account |
| Regional roadshow | Mid-funnel | Geo penetration with partner-led demo + customer panels |
| Vertical campaign | Mid-funnel | Industry-specific buyer language + reference stories |
| Compliance-trigger campaign | Bottom-funnel | Audit-deadline urgency in regulated verticals |
| Marketplace campaign | Bottom-funnel | Procurement-friction removal, private-offer activation |
| Assessment offer | Bottom-funnel | Partner-led discovery that converts to paid engagement |
| Customer workshop | Post-sale + expand | Existing-customer attach, services revenue lift |
Mapping campaigns to the partner's selling cycle
Top-of-funnel campaigns (webinar, roadshow) recruit the buyer's attention. Mid-funnel campaigns (vertical, lunch-and-learn) deepen interest in specific accounts. Bottom-funnel campaigns (assessment, marketplace, compliance trigger) convert. Post-sale workshops drive expansion.
Running mid-funnel content when the partner needs top-of-funnel demand — or vice versa — wastes MDF and trains the partner to ignore the next campaign. Publish the funnel-stage mapping so the partner picks the right play at the right time.
Each campaign type maps to a specific stage in the partner's selling cycle. Publish the mapping so vendors stop running webinar #47 to a partner base that needs a regional roadshow.