Channel marketing is how a company markets and sells through third parties, such as resellers, managed service providers, distributors, referral partners and affiliates, instead of reaching every customer itself. The vendor supplies the product, messaging, campaigns, funding and tools. The partner brings customer relationships, local knowledge and trust that a vendor can't build quickly on its own.
If your direct sales are optimised and growth still feels like pedalling harder for the same speed, this is usually the missing piece. In most B2B markets, the customer already trusts someone else. Channel marketing makes that someone recommend you.
This guide covers how channel marketing works, what mid-market companies do well, a 7-step strategy, the tactics that produce pipeline, and how to run it all in a PRM.
What is channel marketing?
Channel marketing is a go-to-market strategy in which a vendor reaches end customers through intermediaries (channel partners) that market, sell, implement or recommend its products. The vendor's job shifts from selling to every buyer to making partners willing and able to sell for it: recruiting the right partners, giving them campaigns, funding joint activity, protecting their deals and measuring results.
Unlike direct marketing, channel marketing trades some control of the customer journey for reach, credibility and speed. Unlike peer-to-peer partner marketing, it is about your route to market: partners sell, resell, implement or refer your product.
How channel marketing works
Every channel marketing programme follows the same loop, whether you have 10 partners or 1,000:
1. The vendor builds the programme: partner types, tiers, margins or commissions, and rules of engagement.
2. Partners join and get enabled: onboarding, training, certification and access to a partner portal.
3. Campaigns go to market: the vendor provides co-branded campaigns, content and funding; partners run them to their customers.
4. Partners register leads and deals: registration protects the partner's opportunity and gives the vendor visibility.
5. Deals close and partners are rewarded: commissions, margins or MDF flow back to partners.
6. Both sides measure and optimise: sourced and influenced revenue decide where the next budget goes.
The three directions of channel marketing
Most programmes that stall are only doing one of these.
The strongest programmes run all three: they attract the right partners, build campaigns with the most committed ones and make it effortless for the long tail to market on their behalf.
Why channel marketing matters now
A smaller share of technology money passes through partners' invoices, yet partners matter more to buying decisions than ever.
Who your channel partners are
Channel marketing usually runs through a mix of resellers and VARs, MSPs, distributors, referral partners, agencies, technology partners, system integrators and affiliates. Each needs different campaigns and incentives: an MSP wants demand generation it can package into a service, while a referral partner wants a simple form and fast payouts. For a full breakdown of each type, read what is a channel partner.
Channel marketing examples from mid-market companies
You don't need Big Tech budgets to make channel marketing work. These examples come from each company's own disclosures.
Telnyx: rewarding every role in the sales cycle
Voice AI and communications platform Telnyx launched a new partner programme in June 2025, backed by a newly formed partner team, for channel partners, distributors, solution providers and system integrators. Partners can resell, refer qualified leads or act as strategic advisers, and the Telnyx Partner Program rewards each role in the sales cycle, with co-marketing through joint campaigns, partner spotlights and shared success stories. To support those different motions, Telnyx set up separate deal registration forms for each partner type in Journeybee, gaining around 30% in partner programme efficiency, as described in our Telnyx case study.
Inspiration to take: give each partner role its own path, from registration to rewards, instead of forcing referrers, resellers and advisers through the same process.
Pipedrive: separate tracks for implementers and referrers
Pipedrive's revamped solution provider programme introduced Authorized, Gold and Platinum tiers, a partner portal with performance insights and co-marketing resources for its 700+ partners. Eligible partners can apply for co-marketing funds, while a separate affiliate programme pays a 20% revenue share for a new customer's first 12 months, rising to 30% for affiliates who refer two to five customers a month.
Inspiration to take: give partners who implement and partners who only refer their own rewards and marketing support.
Salsify: benefits that grow with each tier
Commerce experience platform Salsify runs a Solution Partner Program for agencies and consultancies with five tiers, from Registered to Platinum. Every partner gets the partner portal, sales and marketing collateral and a website listing. Leads from Salsify start at Bronze, co-marketing and case study support at Silver, and joint customised marketing campaigns at Gold. Salsify also publishes partner case studies, such as how furniture brand Walker Edison worked with implementation partner Aleysian to launch on 10 retail channels within six months. Salsify has said that more than half of its local customer base in EMEA also works with its partner ecosystem.
Inspiration to take: publish exactly which marketing support each tier unlocks, so partners know what they gain by investing more in your product.
HubSpot: agencies as a revenue engine
Solutions Partners and the customers they referred accounted for about 49% of HubSpot's 2025 revenue, according to HubSpot's annual report. HubSpot's sales rules separate "partner sourced" deals from "partner assisted" ones.
Inspiration to take: publish clear rules of engagement and reward each kind of contribution differently.
How to build a top channel marketing strategy in 7 steps
Step 1: Set goals and define your ideal partner profile
"Grow partner-sourced revenue to 20% of new ARR within 12 months" is a goal you can plan around. "Do more with partners" isn't. Then define your ideal partner profile: the customers they serve, their technical capability and whether your product makes them more money or less work. Then package it all into a channel partner programme with clear tiers and benefits.
Step 2: Recruit with a clear value proposition
Find partners through industry associations, events, LinkedIn, your customers' advisers and integration overlaps. Give them a reason to choose you: margin or revenue share, a product their clients ask for, marketing support and a programme that is easy to work with. Journeybee's partner recruitment tools help you find and qualify them. See our guide to recruiting B2B channel partners.
Step 3: Onboard and enable partners quickly
Signing an agreement and hoping for the best is why most partner onboarding fails. Aim to get every partner to a first campaign and a first registered deal within 30 days, with structured partner onboarding, training and partner enablement, certification, a partner portal full of current assets and a named contact.
Step 4: Agree joint plans and rules of engagement
With your top partners, build a joint business plan with target accounts and a campaign calendar. Then prevent channel conflict with deal registration, protection periods and clear rules for when your direct team and a partner chase the same opportunity.
Step 5: Choose your tactics and fund them
Offer three levels of effort: ready-to-run kits for the long tail, market development funds (MDF) for partners with a plan, and fully joint campaigns with your top partners. The tactics section below explains which tactic fits which partner, and our B2B partner marketing campaigns guide shows ten formats in full. Most budgets combine three funding types:
Our comparison of MDF vs. co-op vs. SPIFF and guide to tracking MDF ROI go deeper.
Step 6: Build relationships and community
Partners give their time to the vendors that are easiest to sell, so a great partner experience is a competitive advantage. Communicate regularly, act on feedback and give partners a place to learn from each other, such as a shared Slack channel or a partner summit.
Step 7: Measure and optimise
Review these KPIs with key partners in quarterly business reviews:
Reliable partner attribution and partner analytics make these numbers credible to your CFO. For more, see our 33 partnership KPIs and guide to partner marketing metrics.
Channel marketing tactics that work
The best tactics give buyers something useful neither you nor your partner could create alone, and make every lead traceable to the partner and campaign behind it. For ten fully worked formats, from a partner podcast sprint to a CISO incident tabletop, see our guide to B2B partner marketing campaigns.
Co-branded campaign kits
A kit bundles emails, social posts, a landing page and a one-pager, with the partner's logo added automatically. It's the fastest way to get the long tail marketing for you. Build kits around a buyer problem, not your product launch, and refresh them quarterly. For large dealer or reseller networks, through-channel marketing automation lets each partner launch localised versions in a few clicks.
Joint webinars and LinkedIn Lives
Put your partner's practitioner on screen answering a question buyers already ask, not two sales pitches. Agree in advance who owns registrations and how leads are registered. Our campaigns guide shows how to turn a webinar into a hands-on workshop for the accounts that attend.
Workshops and field events
Small, high-intent formats, such as a half-day workshop, a tabletop exercise or an executive dinner, often beat a conference stand for pipeline and suit MDF well. Invite from the partner's customer list and follow up within 48 hours. See how to generate leads at partner events.
Integration launches
For technology partners, you already share customers. Use account mapping to find overlapping accounts, run a launch week with a demo and a sales play for both teams, then co-sell on the accounts that engage.
Customer evidence campaigns
Buyers trust customers more than vendors or partners. Turn joint wins into case studies, short videos and reference calls, and give partners the assets for late-stage deals.
Referral campaigns
Consultants and advisers don't want to run campaigns; they want a timely reason to mention you. Give them a seasonal message tied to a client deadline, a one-click referral form and fast payouts. See our tips on getting more referrals from partners.
SPIFFs and affiliate programmes
A SPIFF rewards partner reps for a specific sale over a few weeks, which suits launches and quarter-end pushes. Affiliates suit self-serve products; give them tracking links, creative and clear commission rules. See our guide to building an affiliate network.
Match each tactic to the partner's capacity: partners with marketing teams can run webinars and events with MDF; partners without them need kits and referral campaigns that take minutes. Start with one or two tactics per tier, measure for a quarter and double down on what produces pipeline.
Channel marketing best practices
1. Make the first 30 days count. Partners who launch a campaign and register a deal early are far more likely to stay active.
2. Segment partners by tier. Joint plans for the top tier, MDF for the middle, self-serve campaigns for the long tail.
3. Keep assets current automatically. Outdated decks and pricing in partners' hands damage your brand.
4. Reward influence, not just transactions, as Telnyx and HubSpot do.
5. Tie every euro of MDF to pipeline with approved plans and proof of performance.
6. Track every lead from campaign to closed deal. Without attribution you can't fund what works.
7. Put an owner on it. A channel marketing manager aligns sales, product and marketing with the channel.
Channel marketing opportunities
Three shifts are creating the biggest openings right now:
- Influence over transactions: with well over 90% of tech purchases partner-assisted, fund partners that advise and implement, not only those that resell.
- AI-mediated buying: Forrester argues partner expertise only creates advantage if buyers, and the AI systems assisting them, can find it (Forrester). Partner directories, certifications and customer evidence are now channel marketing assets.
- AI agents in partner programmes: AI is moving from writing content to recommending assets, routing leads and answering partner questions. See PRM and MCP.
We cover these in depth, alongside ecosystem-led growth, in our channel marketing trends guide.
How to use a PRM to run channel marketing
Once you have more than a handful of partners, spreadsheets and email threads stop working. A PRM platform becomes the system that runs channel marketing, from first campaign to final payout.
Campaigns
Build a campaign once and push it to the partners or tiers it's meant for. Journeybee's partner marketing software delivers co-branded campaigns in Slack, Teams and the partner portal, keeps assets up to date automatically and scores engagement, so you know which partners are active and which assets drive leads. Need ideas for what to send? Start with our B2B partner marketing campaign examples.
Partner portals
A partner portal is where partners find campaigns, collateral, training, deal registration and their own performance. Journeybee's portal is headless and customisable, so it matches your brand and programme structure. Courses and certifications live in the partner LMS.
Funding, leads and reporting
Partners request market development funds and upload proof of performance in the same platform, and every fund links to the leads and revenue it produced. Campaign leads flow into deal registration, which can use a separate form for each partner motion, as Telnyx does with Journeybee. Registered deals then sync to your CRM through native integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Zoho and Microsoft Dynamics 365. Buzz, Journeybee's MCP-native AI copilot, helps channel teams with everyday partner work.
Comparing tools? Our roundup of the best partner marketing software explains what to look for.
Next steps
Channel marketing works when it runs as a system: the right partners, campaigns they can launch, funding tied to pipeline and measurement both sides trust. Start with one partner type and one region, prove the model, then scale. To see how teams such as Telnyx do this, read the Telnyx case study or browse more customer stories.
Want to see channel marketing campaigns, partner portals, MDF and deal registration in one platform? Explore Journeybee or book a demo.
