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Unlocking the Power of Partner Marketing: Why Your MarTech Stack Might Be Failing

Update MarTech Stacks: A Double-Edged Sword for B2B Brands In today's increasingly digital world, marketing technology (MarTech) stacks have become essential tools for businesses looking to streamline their operations and enhance customer engagement. However, a keen observation made by marketers reveals a recurring issue: MarTech stacks are not always suited for partner ecosystems. Often, these platforms excel in providing direct engagement metrics but falter when measuring the complexities of through-channel marketing (TCM), a crucial strategy in B2B environments. Understanding Through-Channel Marketing (TCM) Through-channel marketing refers to the orchestrated efforts brands undergo to engage customers via their partners—distributors, dealers, and resellers, who significantly influence buying decisions. While TCM can be one of the most potent growth engines, it often presents measurement challenges. As much of the engagement transpires outside direct attribution, brands struggle to gauge their partner-driven efforts effectively. The situation is becoming increasingly complex with the phaseout of third-party cookies, which impacts around 3.5 billion Chrome users, reducing marketers' reliance on traditional data sources. Surprisingly, despite dependence on third-party cookies by 32% of in-house marketers and 31% of agencies, less than half of all businesses feel adequately prepared for a future devoid of them. The Challenge: Recognizing Blind Spots in Partner Ecosystems One of the critical challenges faced in maintaining an efficient MarTech stack lies in ensuring visibility across the partner network. Often, the data gathered concerning clicks, leads, and email opens only reflects direct customer interactions, leaving out a wealth of information generated through partner activities. This lack of holistic insight can leave marketers making decisions based on fragmented information. For instance, when a distributor takes over a lead from an initial engagement, the visibility of that lead is often lost. Metrics related to training completions, incentive redemptions, and sales claims frequently exist in silos, disconnected from the marketing campaigns that initially drove engagement. This disjoint in data leads to incomplete information and misguided decisions about resource allocation. Transforming Blind Spots into Actionable Insights To optimize a MarTech stack for the realities of partner ecosystems, it is essential to redefine what constitutes valuable marketing signals. Rather than relying solely on cookie-based tracking or modeled behaviors, brands should focus on consent-driven, intent data derived from partner interactions. These signals can include marketing and incentive program data, sales claims linking campaigns to revenue, training completions indicating partner readiness, and warranty registrations connecting partners to end customers. Marketers can then unify systems by integrating key metrics from various activities. This integration allows teams to act on rich, actionable insights that stretch beyond just direct interaction metrics. Investing in a Partner-First MarTech Approach The crux of the solution lies in adopting a partner-first mentality when building out MarTech stacks. This approach requires a toolkit designed for the complexities of partner ecosystems rather than just those facilitating direct customer interaction. Brands looking to enhance their TCM strategy should consider: Unifying disparate systems: Bringing together training, incentives, and sales data into a cohesive framework. Focusing on consent-based data: Ensuring that the information collected reflects genuine engagement from partners. Employing predictive analytics: Identifying trends and behaviors of partners that foresee churn or reveal opportunities. These strategies will enhance the visibility of partner activities and empower marketers to make informed, data-backed decisions. Your Path Forward: A Compelling Solution At Extu, we've developed a Partner Experience Platform tailored to marketers' needs in managing partner data more effectively. This platform not only unifies marketing and incentive data but also provides: Comprehensive visibility: Offering insights across first-, second-, and third-party interactions. Real-time predictive analytics: Identifying risks and opportunities as they arise. Streamlined data access: Simplifying how marketers engage with partner data. Utilizing such a platform allows brands to shift their focus toward nurturing robust partner relationships, ultimately driving sustained business growth. The Future is Partner-Centric As the landscape of marketing technology evolves, brands must adapt by prioritizing partner engagement and leveraging technology that aligns with partner-driven growth strategies. Ensuring that marketing tools cater to the unique demands of partner marketing could unlock hidden growth potential and elevate the effectiveness of B2B marketing strategies. If you're looking to enhance your MarTech stack and integrate your partner ecosystem seamlessly, now is the time to take action. Don't leave your growth to chance; explore solutions that provide clarity and insight into your partner interactions.