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eBook - The long tail is undervalued in partner marketing: stop mistaking inactivity for lack of potential
Long-tail partners do not fail because of a lack of potential. They fail because the program makes it too hard for them to get started. 86% of vendors say ease of doing business is the biggest driver of partner loyalty (per ChannelScaler), yet most programs design enablement for top-tier partners and leave smaller partners to figure it out alone. The fix is scalable, self-serve enablement, not more meetings. We just published an interactive ebook on this with insights from th
Martin Pietrzak
23 minutes ago4 min read
MDF for MSPs: how to turn vendor funds into approved pipeline campaigns
MDF for MSPs works when the campaign does three things: ties cleanly to a vendor strategic priority, translates that priority into a managed-service outcome the MSP buyer recognizes, and gives the vendor enough budget, timeline, execution, and proof-of-execution detail to approve with confidence. Most rejections trace back to one of three failure modes: launching before pre-approval, failing to connect the vendor solution to the MSP offer, or shipping an incomplete proof-of-e
Arun Kirupa
8 hours ago6 min read
Partner marketing content strategy: stop syndicating vendor toolkits, start publishing what AI engines cite
AI engines cite original research (82%), proprietary comparisons (76%), rankings (57%), and FAQs (41%) far more often than opinion pieces (16%) or video (2%), per Neil Patel's May 2026 NP Digital study. HubSpot 2026 data shows 49% of marketers saw traditional search traffic drop while LLM referral traffic converts at materially higher buying intent. The fix is to stop syndicating vendor toolkits and publish the four formats AI actually cites: partner-led original research, pr
Martin Pietrzak
1 day ago5 min read
PRM platform comparison 2026: ZINFI, Impartner, Unifyr, ChannelScaler, PartnerStack, and Magentrix scored on partner attribution
A PRM platform is only as valuable as the data it feeds into your CRM. Scored against the four CRM fields that hold up at the next quarterly review (Partner_Name_Attributed, Vendor_Funding_Source, Campaign_Objective_Type, Lead_Lifecycle_Status), Impartner is the deepest at enterprise scale. ZINFI is the broadest unified partner management suite. Magentrix is the strongest if you live in Salesforce. PartnerStack is built for partner-ecosystem and incentive-driven SaaS models,
Accounts Pinch
6 days ago8 min read
Your next buyer may be an AI agent: how AWS Partners should rethink Marketplace GTM strategy
Your next AWS Marketplace buyer may not begin with a demo form. They may begin with a prompt. Agent Mode can now help buyers compare Marketplace options in seconds, which means your listing has to be easier to understand, compare, and validate. Express Private Offers can route qualified buyers through automated private-offer paths without a sales call. If your AWS Marketplace GTM strategy still treats the listing as a procurement checkbox owned by alliances, you risk being un
Martin Pietrzak
Jun 105 min read
B2B video marketing strategy in the age of AI: video is the answer to low-trust content, not short attention spans
B2B video marketing strategy in 2026 is a trust system, not a distribution tactic. AI has made written content cheaper to produce and easier to ignore. Video earns the budget when it makes expertise, conviction, and customer proof visible (tone, specificity, judgment) in a way buyers can verify in 60 seconds. For partner marketers, the strongest move is the Partner Video Trust Stack: vendor authority, partner expertise, customer proof, buyer enablement. One credible expertise
Accounts Pinch
Jun 95 min read
How to build an AI agent for partner marketing: ship one MDF readiness agent before you build a "partner marketing assistant."
Stop building a generic partner marketing AI assistant. Build one MDF readiness agent that reviews proposed partner campaign briefs against MDF rules, vendor priorities, and your own approved-vs-rejected history, then produces a scorecard, a revised brief, and a proof-of-performance checklist. The agent recommends. A human approves. Four building blocks (job, knowledge base, instructions, intake template) get you to a working pilot in a week. Integrations come after the workf
Martin Pietrzak
Jun 96 min read
Partner field marketing collaboration: most teams align calendars when they should be moving accounts
Partner field marketing collaboration breaks because teams align around calendars, not customer movement. The fix is account-first sequencing: market, accounts, partner, play, follow-up, measurement. Four plays carry most of the work (regional acceleration, vertical wedge, install-base expansion, executive roundtable). Six functions own defined slices, the 30-minute planning agenda runs the sequence in order, and the metrics that matter are target account attendance and downs
Arun Kirupa
Jun 45 min read
The best partner and channel marketing events in 2026 and 2027 (and the ones to skip)
The best partner or channel marketing events in 2026 and 2027 are not the biggest ones, they are the ones that match your role and your pipeline target. Catalyst 26 (Brooklyn, August 2026) is the flagship for partnership and alliance leaders. Channel Partners Conference and MSP Summit (Las Vegas, March 2027) is the flagship for the IT channel. Ultimate Partner Live! (Reston, October 2026) is the must-attend for the Microsoft ecosystem. Directions North America (New Orleans, A
Accounts Pinch
Jun 46 min read
How Millennials buy technology: they build their own version of the truth before sales gets a word
Millennials now make up the majority of B2B buyers, and they have already left the seller-led funnel. They learn the category from peers, reviews, communities, AI summaries, and ungated frameworks, then build their own version of the truth before they ever talk to sales. Sixty-seven percent of B2B buyers now prefer a rep-free experience (Gartner, 2026). The marketing job is no longer to push buyers into a funnel, it is to become part of the validation process they already tru
Arun Kirupa
May 294 min read
B2B lead generation for tech: why the form-wall model is killing your pipeline (and what to deploy instead)
Forty-three percent of B2B buyers, and 54% of millennial buyers, want a seller-less buying journey, and they complete more than half of their evaluation before they ever talk to a vendor. If your B2B lead generation for tech is built around forms, gated PDFs, and cold SDR outreach, you are invisible during the window where buyer opinion is actually formed. The fix is ungated content, real-time deanonymization (RB2B), enrichment and ICP filtering (Clay), and a quiet nurture pl
Martin Pietrzak
May 295 min read
Partner marketing tech stack: why a $5,000 stack with clean data beats a $50,000 stack nobody trusts
A partner marketing tech stack is not judged by how many tools it includes. It is judged by how cleanly data flows from a vendor dollar to a sales conversation. A $5,000 stack with clean data outperforms a $50,000 stack nobody trusts. Before you buy anything, settle the sourced vs influenced definition, lock down the campaign taxonomy, and enforce four partner influence fields on every form.
Martin Pietrzak
May 296 min read
MDF vs marketing budget: why partner funds shouldn't be your marketing strategy
Your internal budget is the machine. MDF is the fuel. Internal budget funds the assets you own (brand, website, SEO content, CRM, thought leadership). MDF funds the work you want to accelerate (co-branded webinars, field events, paid media bursts, account-based plays), and if your campaigns stall the second MDF pauses, you do not have a marketing engine, you have a funding dependency.
Martin Pietrzak
May 285 min read
Quarterly partner marketing plan: stop running it like a mini annual forecast
Most quarterly partner marketing plans I see are revenue forecasts in disguise, and that is exactly why they keep missing. A 90-day fiscal funding cycle was never built to produce closed-won pipeline against a 6 to 12 month B2B buying cycle, and pretending otherwise is how vendors and partners end every quarter explaining a number that was never realistic.
Martin Pietrzak
May 285 min read
Amazon Connect MDF: why the AWS $50k APFP cheque is table stakes, not a win
AWS expanded APFP funding for Amazon Connect, which means many partners now potentially have roughly the same $50,000 budget. The win is no longer the cheque, it is the strategy underneath it. Pick one of the four new Connect agentic AI suites (Customer, Health, Decisions, or Talent), shift your audience from IT to the LOB executive who owns the metric, and lead with Agentic AI rather than cloud contact center. The partners who do this will compound the $50k.
Martin Pietrzak
May 265 min read
Choosing the right partner attribution models: a decision tree matrix
There is no single best approach to data mapping here. There are right matches between specific models and organizational decisions. The seven partner attribution models worth knowing are last-touch, first-touch, linear, time-decay, deal-registration, sourced versus influenced, multi-partner shared credit, and marketplace channel attribution.
Martin Pietrzak
May 228 min read
The partner case study template: how to write co-sell stories both sales teams will actually use
Most partner case studies are not bad because they are poorly written. They are bad because the partner case study template they were built from is structurally incomplete. It tells the vendor's story, it mentions the partner, it quotes the customer, and it does not equip the field.
Martin Pietrzak
May 217 min read
eBook - Mastering Partner Marketing Attribution Models to Prove Real Impact
Most partner marketers are drowning in data but starving for clarity. If you’ve ever found yourself defending your budget instead of scaling your program, you’re likely using the wrong partner marketing attribution models.
Accounts Pinch
May 152 min read
eBook - How to Master Partner Marketing ICP Alignment for Better GTM Results
Our interactive guide, "Adjusting Your Audience Lens," is designed to help you pressure-test your current strategy. Explore the data, hear from the experts, and take our 6-question pulse check to see if your ICP is actually ready for today’s market.
Accounts Pinch
May 131 min read
![How to develop an ideal partner profile [template] (IPP) that actually predicts partner success](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d20b85_908cd528293546a48008163a107a3698~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1336,h_1000,fp_0.50_0.50,q_35,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/d20b85_908cd528293546a48008163a107a3698~mv2.png)
![How to develop an ideal partner profile [template] (IPP) that actually predicts partner success](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/d20b85_908cd528293546a48008163a107a3698~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1224,h_916,fp_0.50_0.50,q_95,enc_avif,quality_auto/d20b85_908cd528293546a48008163a107a3698~mv2.png)
How to develop an ideal partner profile [template] (IPP) that actually predicts partner success
Your best partners probably do not match your Ideal Partner Profile. That is not a flaw in your top performers. It is a flaw in the IPP, and most channel teams are scoring partners against criteria that describe their past, not their future contribution.
Accounts Pinch
May 136 min read
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