alliance marketing report 2014

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TechnologyMarketing

Group Partner

2014 survey results

ALLIANCEMARKETING REPORT

ALLIANCE MARKETING REPORT | Read the 2014 suRvey Results 2

We would like to thank our sponsor for supporting the Alliance Marketing Report:

IDG Enterprise | www.idgenterprise.com

IDG Enterprise brings together the unique brands (Computerworld, InfoWorld, Network World, CIO, DEMO, CSO, CIO Executive Council, ITworld, CFOworld and CITEworld) to serve the information needs of our IT and security-focused audiences. By leveraging the strengths of each individual brand, while simultaneously harnessing their collective reach and audience affinity, we provide market leadership and media best practices for our marketing customers to engage their customers across our portfolio.

IDG Enterprise Alliance Marketing Services (AMS) provides leading-edge converged marketing solutions, enabling tech marketers to create, elevate and communicate the value of their partnerships. As a full consultative group, AMS offers a robust portfolio of turnkey solutions that can supplement ongoing alliance marketing initiatives including: research based programs, content development, brand messaging, social marketing services, lead generation and nurturing, custom executive events and more. By leveraging the combination of marketing services expertise with the full portfolio of the IDG Enterprise premium media brands, the AMS team creates valuable solutions to help our customers to succeed in their alliance marketing endeavors.

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Alliance Marketing is becoming more critical to the success of companies. To gain better insight into the state of Alliance Marketing in our industry, we conducted a brand-new survey to explore goals and challenges of alliance programs, how the success of alliance partnerships is evaluated, what marketing tactics are being used, and how funding occurs across alliance marketing programs.

The results are compiled in this easy to digest, information-rich report - providing you with fresh, valuable insight and metrics to benchmark your own alliance marketing efforts against.

Key findings include:

• Revenue, demand generation and joint sales engagement top the list of alliance program goals.

• Lack of partner commitment and resources are the biggest challenges faced by alliance marketers.

• The top alliance marketing tactics are demand generation, content development and lead nurturing.

• A majority of alliance professionals expect their number of partners to increase over the next 12 months.

For this report we leveraged the combined wisdom of more than 60,000 B2B marketers in our B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn. Please feel free to share this survey report with your friends and colleagues.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey!

Holger SchulzeB2B Technology Marketing [email protected]

Welcome to the Alliance MarketingReport 2014!

INtROductION

More B2B Marketing Reports




http://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2b-content-marketing-trends-2013

http://www.slideshare.net/hschulze/b2-b-lead-generation-report-2013


Revenue generation (87 percent), demand generation (72 percent) and joint sales engagement (66 percent) top the list of alliance marketing program goals

Lack of partner commitment is the greatest alliance marketing challenge (42 percent), followed by lack of resources (39 percent)

The top three alliance marketing tactics are demand generation (68 percent), followed by content development (50 percent) and lead nurturing (50 percent)

A majority of alliance professionals (62 percent) expect the number of partners they work with to increase over the next 12 months

Fifty percent of respondents expect alliance marketing budgets to increase over the next 24 months.

top-5 trends in Alliance Marketing

1

2

3

4

5

SuRVEY HIGHLIGHtS





Revenue generation tops the list of very important goals for alliance marketing and partner programs (87 percent). This is followed by demand generation (72 percent), and sales

engagement and joint selling with partners (66 percent).

Revenue generation

Demand generation

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Very importantSomewhat importantNot important

87%

New channels/routes to market

Sales engagement andjoint selling

Thought leadership

Co-branding/co-marketing

Joint development of newproducts/offerings

Creating share of voice/conversation within social media

when structuring an alliance marketing or partner program? Q1 WHAt ARE tHE MOSt IMPORtANt GOALS





Lack of partner commitment is the greatest alliance marketing challenge (42 percent), followed by lack of resources (39 percent).

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

42%Lack of partner commitment

Lack of resources

Lack of strategyDifficult to focus resources/

program complexityInsufficient funds

Lack of commercial success

Not enough content that addressesthe partner solution

Too many partners withundifferentiated offerings

Process is too cumbersomeLack of products/offerings or

things to market and sellNot sure

Other

39%27%

26%22%

20%16%

14%10%9%

8%8%

with alliance marketing? Q2 WHAt ARE tHE GREAtESt cHALLENGES





A plurality of 44 percent of respondents manages less than 10 partners.

28 percent manage between 10 and 49 partners. 16 percent manage more than 100 partners.

8% | 50-99

28% | 10-49

44% | Less than 10

8% | 100-499

8% | More than 500

4% | Not sure

44%manage less

than 10 partners

16% managemore than100 partners

organization currently working with? Q3 HOW MANY PARtNERS IS YOuR





62 percent expect the number of partners they work with to increase over the next 12 months. Only 3 percent expect a decline.

8% | Not sure

27% | Remain the same

62% | Increase

3% | Decrease 62%expect increase

your organization is working with change over the next 12 months?Q4 HOW WILL tHE NuMbER Of PARtNERS





Hardware and software technology partners are the most important partner category

for 59 percent of organizations. Strategic sales partners follow with 46 percent.

0% 20% 40% 60%

59%Technology partners(hardware, software)

Strategic sales partners

Service providers

Not Sure

Other

Channel/resellers/VARs

46%

Consultants/system integrators

39%

40%

44%

3%

3%

Q5 partner categories? WHAt ARE tHE MOSt IMPORtANt





A third of organizations allocate 10 percent of overall marketing budget to alliance marketing activities (not including funds contributed by partners). About 60 percent of organizations

allocate 20 percent or more.

0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

10

8%

33%

22%

16%

8%6%

2% 1% 1% 1% 2%

35%

Share ofmarketingbudget [%]

Share ofresponses [%]

Q6 allocated to alliance marketing activities? HOW MucH MARkEtING budGEt IS





50 percent expect alliance marketing budgets to increase over the next 24 months.

Only 6 percent expect a decline. For a third of organizations budgets will stay flat.

12% | Not sure

33% | Remain the same

50% | Increase

6% | Decrease

50%expect budgets

to increase

Q7 change over the next 24 months? HOW WILL ALLIANcE MARkEtING budGEtS





In the next 12 months, 68 percent of alliance marketing organizations will spend alliance marketing budget on demand generation, followed by content development (50 percent) and lead

nurturing (50 percent).

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

68%Demand generation

Content development

Lead nurturing

Thought leadership

Branding

Social media presence

Not sure

Other

50%

50%

38%

32%

28%

6%

4%

Q8 tactics in the next 12 months?WHAt ARE tHE tOP 3 ALLIANcE MARkEtING





The majority of organizations measure alliance ROI by total recognized revenue (54 percent). 51 percent of organizations measure ROI by the number of qualified leads generated. However, more than one

third of respondents don’t, or have difficulty measuring ROI.

0% 20% 40% 60%

54%Total recognized revenue

Overall number of qualifiedleads generated

We have difficultymeasuring ROI

Feedback from thealliance sales team

Not sure

Other

51%

28%

29%

3%

7%

We don't measure ROI 7%

36% don't or have difficultymeasuring ROI

Q9 ROI measured? HOW IS ALLIANcE MARkEtING





The top 3 marketing tactics considered for outsourcing are video production (40 percent), event planning and execution (31 percent), and lead generation (29 percent), while 20 percent will keep all efforts in-house.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40%

40%Events-planning/execution

Lead generation

Social media services

Marketing campaign &program strategy

Development of messagingand creative

Creation of advertising units

Lead nurturing/scoring

None

Custom content creation for use onthird party sites/channels

Planning and management servicesfor search optimization (SEO/SEM)

Video production

29%31%

28%25%24%24%

23%17%

15%20%

Q10 marketing tactics is your organizationplanning to outsource in the next 12 months?

WHIcH Of tHE fOLLOWING ALLIANcE





Q11 alliance marketing budget be allocated in the next 12 months?

HOW WILL YOuR ORGANIzAtION’S

On average, 33 percent of alliance marketing budgets are applied to in-house created programs. 27 percent will be allocated to partners and 26 percent to agencies.

14% | Other

27% | Partner funds

33% | In-house

26% | Agency

33%budgets applied

in-house





For 42 percent of organizations, MDF funding varies depending on the partnership. 30 percent of organizations split or share MDF with partners. 28 percent of MDFs are funded by the company.

0% 10% 20% 40%30% 50%

42%Depends on the partnership

Split or shares withyour partners

Not sure

100% partner funded

Other

Funded by my company

30%

28%

9%

16%

3%

Q12 Funds (MDF) be funded in the next 12 months? HOW WILL MARkEtING dEVELOPMENt





The most common period of time before expiration of MDF funds is 6 to 12 months.

1-3 months0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

14%

11%12%

17%

45%50%

3-6 months 6-12months

12+ months They don’texpire

Q13 HOW fASt dO Mdf fuNdS ExPIRE?





49 percent of organizations did not let any MDF funds go unused. 39 percent of organizations lost up to 30 percent of their MDF funds.

00%

10%

20%

30%

40%

49%

14% 14%

50%

10 20

11%

30

3%

40

5%

50

1% 1% 1%

60 70 80 90 100

39%

Share of MDFbudget thatwent unused

Share ofresponses

Q14 went unused last year? HOW MucH Mdf fuNdS





The ability to understand an organization’s business goals and objectives is the biggest

factor to be considered a strategic partner for 48 percent of organizations.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

48%Ability to understand my businessgoals and objectives

Acts as my advocate withintheir company

Insight and expertise on technologytrends and directions

Knowledge of their competitors/competitive offerings

Post-sales support and service

Advanced notice on product/service changes

Knowledge of my vertical industry

Other

Knowledge of their product portfolio

Peer references

Customer service/response time

Not sure

35%44%

27%21%

19%

15%

15%13%

12%11%

10% Partner commitment was themost mentioned factor amongthe "Other" responses.

Q15 WHAt IS tHE dIffERENcE bEtWEEN a partner and a strategic partner?





Only 17 percent of respondents consider social media to be very or extremely effective in driving demand or leads. 33 percent consider social media somewhat effective, and 35 percent

characterize it as ineffective.

Extremelyeffective

0%

10%

20%

30%

25%

10%

15%

5%

12%

33%35%

25%

15%

5%

Veryeffective

Somewhateffective

Not veryeffective

Not at alleffective

Not sure

17% 35%

Q16 driving demand and leads for your organization’s alliance marketing programs?

HOW EffEctIVE IS SOcIAL MEdIA IN





Q17 budget is used for the following categories? WHAt PERcENtAGE Of YOuR ALLIANcE

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

MDF/BDF/Co-op Funds

SPIFF Rebates Other

29%26% 24%

21%

On average, alliance dollars are split somewhat evenlyacross the different types of funding categories.





The majority of survey responses are from technology vendors (44 percent), followed by consulting firms and system integrators (20 percent).

0% 20% 30%10% 40% 50%

44%Technology vendor

Consulting firm and/orsystems integrator

Marketing services/advertising agency

Other

Channel/reseller company

20%

18%

9%

9%

Q18 best describes your organization?WHIcH Of tHE fOLLOWING





The majority of survey respondents set marketing strategy or direction in their organizations (77 percent). 69 percent execute marketing campaigns, and 64 percent

of respondents evaluate and recommend media channels, programs and partners.

0% 40%20% 60% 80%

77%Setting marketingstrategy or direction

Executing marketingcampaigns

Evaluating/recommending mediachannels, programs, partners

Authorizing investments in mediachannels programs and partners

Setting budgets

Not involved

Other

69%

64%

43%

40%

5%

2%

Q19 marketing decisions for your organization? HOW ARE YOu INVOLVEd IN tHE





56 percent of respondents are part of marketing communications teams, followed by partner alliance marketing (49 percent) and product solutions marketing (also 49 percent).

0% 20% 40% 60%

56%Marketing communications

Product solutions marketing

Partner alliance marketing

Corporate marketing

Channel marketing

Sales

Field marketing

Product management

CEO/president/owner

Other

16%

26%

33%

41%

42%

47%

49%

49%

2%

Q20 are you aligned with? WHIcH fuNctIONAL AREA





61 percent of respondents are managing their company’s alliance marketing relationships and programs. 53 percent promote and 47 percent explore alliance marketing

relationships and programs.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

61%Manage

Promote

Explore

Establish

Not involved

Other

9%

43%

47%

53%

3%

Q21 alliance marketing relationships and programs? WHAt IS YOuR ROLE IN YOuR cOMPANY’S





The survey was conducted in January 2014. Here

is the detailed breakdown of the 327 respondents

demographics.

High Tech

Business Services

Other

Advertising/MarketingPR/Media

Telecommunications& Utilities

What industry is your company in?

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

44%

17%

16%

5%

18%

CEO/President/Owner

Consultant

Other

What is your job title?

Director

Manager

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

35%

22%

16%

9%

18%

Where do you live?

33% | EMEA

47% | NORAM

19% | APAC

1% | Other

How many employees work at your company worldwide?

27% | 10-99

23% | Fewer than 10

19% | 100-999

7% | 1,000-4,999

7% | 5,000-9,999

6% | 10,000-49,999

9% | 50,000-99,999

5% | more than 100,000

SuRVEY dEMOGRAPHIcS





tHANk YOu

Many thanks to everybody who participated in this survey.

If you are interested in co-sponsoring upcoming focus reports (or creating your own custom report) based on the wisdom of more than 60,000 members in our B2B Technology Marketing Community, please contact Holger Schulze at [email protected].

About the B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn

With more than 60,000 members, the B2B Technology Marketing Community is the single largest LinkedIn group exclusively focused on B2B technology marketing topics. This group is ideal for marketing professionals in B2B high-tech industries to enable networking, sharing of ideas, best practices and opportunities.

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holger SchulzeB2B Technology Marketing Community

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