Alliance Marketing Report 2014

Sponsored by
Technology
Marketing
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.
SPONSOR

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 Schulze
B2B Technology Marketing Community
hhschulze@gmail.com
Welcome to the
Alliance Marketing
Report 2014!
Introduction
More B2B
Marketing Reports

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 important
Somewhat important
Not important
87%
New channels/routes to market
Sales engagement and
joint selling
Thought leadership
Co-branding/co-marketing
Joint development of new
products/offerings
Creating share of voice/
conversation within social media
when structuring an alliance marketing
or partner program?Q1What 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 strategy
Difficult to focus resources/
program complexity
Insufficient funds
Lack of commercial success
Not enough content that addresses
the partner solution
Too many partners with
undifferentiated offerings
Process is too cumbersome
Lack of products/offerings or
things to market and sell
Not sure
Other
39%
27%
26%
22%
20%
16%
14%
10%
9%
8%
8%
with alliance marketing?Q2What 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% manage
more than
100 partners
organization currently working with?Q3How 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?Q4How 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%
Q5partner 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 90 100
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
10
8%
33%
22%
16%
8%
6%
2% 1% 1% 1% 2%
35%
Share of
marketing
budget [%]
Share of
responses [%]
Q6allocated 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%
Q8tactics 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 qualified
leads generated
We have difficulty
measuring ROI
Feedback from the
alliance sales team
Not sure
Other
51%
28%
29%
3%
7%
We don't measure ROI 7%
36% don't or
have difficulty
measuring ROI
Q9ROI 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 messaging
and creative
Creation of advertising units
Lead nurturing/scoring
None
Custom content creation for use on
third party sites/channels
Planning and management services
for search optimization (SEO/SEM)
Video production
29%
31%
28%
25%
24%
24%
23%
17%
15%
20%
Q10marketing tactics is your organization
planning to outsource in the next 12 months?
Which of the following alliance

Q11alliance 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 with
your partners
Not sure
100% partner funded
Other
Funded by my company
30%
28%
9%
16%
3%
Q12Funds (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 months
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
14%
11%12%
17%
45%
50%
3-6 months 6-12
months
12+ months They don’t
expire
Q13How 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.
0
0%
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 MDF
budget that
went unused
Share of
responses
Q14went 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 business
goals and objectives
Acts as my advocate within
their company
Insight and expertise on technology
trends 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 the
most mentioned factor among
the "Other" responses.
Q15what 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.
Extremely
effective
0%
10%
20%
30%
25%
10%
15%
5%
12%
33%
35%
25%
15%
5%
Very
effective
Somewhat
effective
Not very
effective
Not at all
effective
Not sure
17% 35%
Q16driving demand and leads for your organization’s
alliance marketing programs?
How effective is social media IN

Q17budget 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 evenly
across 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/or
systems integrator
Marketing services/
advertising agency
Other
Channel/reseller company
20%
18%
9%
9%
Q18best 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 marketing
strategy or direction
Executing marketing
campaigns
Evaluating/recommending media
channels, programs, partners
Authorizing investments in media
channels programs and partners
Setting budgets
Not involved
Other
69%
64%
43%
40%
5%
2%
Q19marketing 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%
Q20are 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%
Q21alliance 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/Marketing
PR/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 hhschulze@gmail.com.
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.
Click to join the
B2B Technology
Marketing Community
on LinkedIn
Technology
Marketing
Group Partner
Contact the Author
Holger Schulze
B2B Technology Marketing
Community
Email: hhschulze@gmail.com

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