Partner marketing has long been treated as a support role. Create the collateral. Plan the event. Send the swag. But in today's partner-led, AI-fueled, digital customer journey era, those days are over.
In conversations with three leading voices across the industry—Jay McBain (Chief Analyst, Channels, Partnerships and Ecosystems, Canalys), Angie O'Dowd (GVP, Solutions Partner Program, HubSpot), and Karine Elsen (VP, Global Partner Marketing, Avalara)—a clear message emerged: No longer a sidekick, partner marketing is stepping into the spotlight. The people who embrace accountability, leverage AI, and act like revenue leaders will define the future of ecosystems.
Jay McBain: The Race to Reinvent Partner Marketing for the AI Era
Jay McBain has been championing this message for years: the future is platform ecosystem-led. And no surprise, the numbers are backing him up.
According to Salesforce data, 89% of sales reps use partners daily. Of the remaining 11%, half of them plan to in the next 12 months. Even more compelling: of those who hit quota (which is a minority in 2024), 84% attribute their success to partners. That’s not partner marketing claiming success—that’s sales validating it. And that matters.
Across the aisle, marketing leaders are waking up to this too. Jay pointed to HubSpot data that 84% of marketers now see co-marketing and co-selling as essential, especially in a post-cookie world where partners help to unlock data, influence, and trust at scale.
Yet partner marketing isn’t keeping pace. “They’re still doing old-school co-branded campaigns and handing off the MQL to the SQL,” Jay says. “They need to stay involved in the lifecycle. Forever." In a world of digital-first buyers navigating complex journeys, marketing’s job shouldn’t stop at the lead—it should extend deep into deal orchestration, adoption, renewal, and growth. If anything, it should expand - deep into the sales cycle, adoption, upsell, enrichment and renewal - the full customer journey.
AI is about to force the issue. In this new era, software doesn’t just evolve—it disappears. In Jay's words: "Software ate the world. Now AI is eating software." Tools are becoming headless. Agents will bypass UI entirely. MarTech stacks must adapt—and so must marketers. The partner tech stack must also evolve—built to support agents, not just users, and to connect partner intelligence across sales, marketing, CX, and product teams.
He points to a future where agents—digital co-pilots—handle much of the customer journey, engaging with integrated data across CRM, PRM, and ecosystem tools. “It’s about co-selling, co-marketing, and co-innovating,” Jay explains. “If your partner marketing isn’t baked into the customer journey, you’re going to be left behind.”
I asked Jay what his advice would be to a partner marketing executive reading this, wondering how to catch up. His answer? “Build a tribe. Surround yourself with forward-thinkers. Join communities like Partnership Leaders, Ultimate Partnerships, the Channel Marketing Association, Baptie or a small crew of forward-thinkers - it doesn't matter.”
What matters is thinking beyond event banners and swag bags—to full-funnel revenue-aligned strategy.
Karine Elsen: If You Want Respect,
Own a Number
At Avalara, partner marketing isn't a soft function. It's a quota-carrying, revenue-driving engine with twenty-six marketers on staff and direct accountability for bookings.
Karine Elsen, who leads the team, operates more like a revenue leader than a traditional marketer. Her team uses Salesforce and Power BI to track:
- Marketing-sourced partner MQLs
- Bookings driven by partners.
- Campaign performance by partner tier.
"I'm like a salesperson with a quota," she says. "And yes, it keeps me up at night."
That level of accountability is why partner marketing has a strong seat at Avalara's leadership table. Incentive budgets sit within marketing. Campaign strategy is tied to data. And AI is used to analyze customer feedback and personalize outreach—not in the future, but right now.
They’ve also begun scaling top-of-funnel efforts through AI-powered ADRs—automated assistants who schedule meetings and identify target buyers based on predictive models.
“This isn’t about AI for the sake of AI. It’s about using it to get sharper with our messaging, our timing, and our targeting.”
Even Avalara’s partner experience model is layered. From high-touch, one-to-few programs at the top, to on-demand concierge support for long-tail partners, they’re investing in scale and value.
Karine is also involved in the tech stack—owning decisions about PRM, enablement tools, and campaign automation platforms. This end-to-end ownership ensures partner marketing isn't just integrated in strategy but is a driving force behind how partners are enabled, activated, and measured across the full lifecycle.
Karine’s approach is a masterclass in accountability and alignment. By embedding partner marketing across every phase of the funnel—and owning both budget and results—she’s proven the function can be both strategic and indispensable.
Angie O'Dowd: Scaling with Sophisticated, AI-Ready Partners
At HubSpot, Angie O'Dowd is shaping one of the most scalable partner ecosystems in SaaS. With over 7,000 primarily SMB focused partners, her team prioritizes a clear strategy, focused enablement, and AI-first systems and tools. As HubSpot pushes into the mid-market, its partner strategy is evolving fast.
What keeps her up at night? Three things:
- Maximizing partner revenue motions —not just referrals, but co-selling, shared deals, and solution selling.
- Ensuring the ecosystem is enabled and leading on the AI-first shift in services and buyer behavior.
- Attracting more sophisticated mid-market partners as they move upmarket.
AI readiness is not just talk. HubSpot launched a comprehensive AI Readiness Playbook, structured around three pillars:
- Demand: Using the latest IDC data, the playbook guides partners to high-margin services like unifying data and custom agent building.
- Training: Subsidized access to AI education, including certifications via the AI Marketing Institute.
- Tooling: AI-first enablement through no-code platforms like Replit that lower the barrier to technical innovation.
IDC’s latest analyst brief forecasts a $30B opportunity for HubSpot ecosystem partners by 2028. The biggest shift? The traditional lines between services and apps are vanishing and a modern AI-first partner is emerging. “The opportunity isn’t just in apps or services anymore—it’s in agentic solutions that help customers make decisions faster and smarter.” "Our partners are either leading or lagging, some are already building custom agents for customers and embedding AI into their own workflows. Others are just getting started. We need to guide both."
While leading at scale, she is thinking about what it takes to go deeper. As HubSpot goes upmarket, it’s not just product-vs-product, but ecosystem-vs-ecosystem. This requires an even more collaborative approach with ecosystem partners such as:
- Ecosystem- marketing: Cohesive, joint GTM strategy with solutions and app partners
- Ecosystem-driven selling: a unified sales process for app and solutions partners
Both motions are enabled by investments in systems and automation that lead to a seamless buying process for the customer.
It’s not just about referrals its shared strategy, unified data, and outsized outcomes.
Common Themes Across the Board
Across all three leaders, a few trends are undeniable:
1. Partner Marketing Is Now Accountable
No more fluffy metrics. The best are aligning to bookings, MQLs, co-sell revenue, and lifecycle impact.
2. AI Is Table Stakes
From AI agents to content and campaign automation, AI is being used now, not “someday.” It’s enabling personalization, speed, and smarter GTM execution.
3. Ecosystem is Strategy
Ecosystems are no longer peripheral. They are how go-to-market gets done. That means partner marketing must be deeply embedded—not siloed.
4. Lifecycle is Long—and Marketing Must Stay in It
Handing off at SQL is an outdated model. Marketers need to stay in the deal, stay with the customer, and stay with the partner, through advocacy, upsell, and renewal.
Final Thought: This Isn’t a Trend.
It’s a Transformation.
The role of partner marketing is being redefined in real time. From Jay's vision of a headless, agent-led future to Angie's boots-on-the-ground enablement strategy and Karine's revenue-first model, one thing is clear:
This isn’t a campaign. It’s a movement.
Partner marketers who:
- Tie their work to revenue.
- Embed deeply into sales and partner teams.
- Learn and apply AI today.
- Build enablement for the entire lifecycle.
…will position themselves—and their companies—for sustained, ecosystem-led growth.
The next generation of GTM won’t wait for those using yesterday’s playbook.
So, ask yourself:
- Are you measuring activity, or delivering impact?
- Are you only planning the campaigns, or accountable for seeing them through to revenue?
Because the era of partner marketing as a support function is over.
The seat at the table is there to take.
