One of the best parts about working at Zift is celebrating our customer successes! My professional commitment to the product disciplines of product management and product marketing has less to do with my affinity for products and much more to do with the love of seeing customers succeed in solving their business challenges.
I’m just back from this year’s SiriusDecisions Summit where I had the chance to watch as two of Zift’s customers were named Channel Marketing Program of the Year Award Winners by SiriusDecisions. Both award winners, Cisco and Citrix, shared a similar focus: The digital transformations of their programs working alongside their partners, SiriusDecisions and delivering through Zift.
Citrix’s Marcio Moerbec, Director of Worldwide Partner Marketing, framed the challenge this way: Partners are in a tug of war to grow business outside of their referrals and customers, and the only way to win new business is to activate digital marketing. He described how their Kickstart Program married content, planning, budget and resources to deliver education and content to partners. The results of the investments are paying dividends.
Kelsi Doran, Omnichannel Strategy Lead, Global Partner Marketing, shared how Cisco is connecting disjointed programs across the omnichannel to create personalized experiences for their partner communities.
Their successes showcase how people inspired to create change — and equipped with innovative processes supported by a capable platform — drive measurable change within the business.
Change and transformation was a theme. In another post next week, I’ll share insights that Kerstin Demko, Partner Marketing Director at Sage, shared in her best practices case study with conference attendees.
So, channel marketing leaders, what does this mean for you?
First, in a world where 6 in 10 B2B buyers make decisions about who to talk to about a product or service offering before EVER talking to a salesperson, your reach has to cast a net to best-fit buyers. Second, digital marketing when combined with personalized content is hands down one of the best ways to cut through the clutter to reach and communicate to the needs and challenges of your best-fit buyer. And finally, to execute and deliver with your partners’ communications, training is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s imperative. They need to know how to execute.
World-class channel marketing programs have learned to trust our solutions to support their programs.
We are inspired by their creativity and their success and hope you are, too. Congratulations to Citrix and Cisco!
