MarTech360 Interview With Jeff Ballard, Director of Partner Marketing, Aerospike, Inc

“Building a solid foundation that helps guide partners through their journey to create a sustainable practice, and making sure the foundation has the flexibility to address different partner types and partner needs, is paramount.”

Hi, Jeff, can you walk us through your professional journey so far? 

I’ve traveled all around the marketing globe. I began my career in Marketing Communications, then moved to Product Marketing, Global Marketing, then Industry marketing, and finally arrived at Partner Marketing, which I’ve been doing for the last ten years. 

My journey has included startups, mature organizations, and even my own marketing agency. It has led me to over 40 countries around the world, living on both coasts and even a stint in South Africa. But most importantly, it provided the education to understand all the facets and nuances of Partner Marketing.

Tell us about your role at Aerospike. 

I am responsible for the Aerospike Accelerate Partner program. A comprehensive go-to-market program for the development of partners. The program includes everything from creating onboarding programs to partner success programs and everything in between.

How, according to you, are MarTech and marketing automation helping in transforming the entire marketing landscape? 

These advances provide marketers with the ability to pinpoint our efforts and get immediate results. They enable us to pivot efforts to address what is working and what is not working. This is crucial as all markets, especially database technology, are very fluid; pivoting to address needs promptly is easier with automation tools.

As a Director of Partner Marketing, what are the most important steps in creating a partner marketing strategy?

Building a solid foundation that helps guide partners through their journey to create a sustainable practice, and making sure the foundation has the flexibility to address different partner types and partner needs, is paramount. Every step of the journey, from recruiting to contracting to onboarding, enabling, and finally facilitating growth, must be addressed to truly grow with a partner so they can thrive and become a valuable part of your ecosystem.

Also Read: MarTech360 Interview With Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer, Mediaocean

How are digital marketing technology trends shaping business strategies to effectively reach the target audience? 

It allows a deeper personal interaction with the end customer, meeting them where they receive their information and ensuring that our offering is something they are truly interested in. It also gives marketers more data on which to act – tweaking efforts to drive maximum results.

As social media platforms are changing with audience participation and it has become a highly important source of marketing, what Social Media strategies would you rely on for better results? 

Too much social media marketing is simply brochure posts highlighting a product or service by a particular company. The best approach is to be of value to your intended audience. Highlighting something they should know, learn and/or explore something related to but is not your product is key. For sure, keep it relevant to your product, but practice value-add as a benefit for your audience, rather than boasting about your product, services, or company. Finally, all of social media marketing is about engaging and talking with your audience rather than to your audience.

How do you envisage Channel  Marketing evolving, in the years to come? 

Staying with your customers throughout their journey. With customers doing their due diligence and going further into the buying journey on their own, it is imperative for vendors and their partners to team up, earlier and deeper to deliver value-added content for prospects. 

How do you make use of go-to-market strategies to help in more customer engagement? 

When partners sign with Aerospike Partner Marketing, we engage with a well-defined onboarding process, tailored to the partners’ needs, and structured for growth and success.

What are the “Jeff-recommended” 5 steps helpful to drive partner success?

1. Define your organization’s partner goals and objectives 
   • Importantly, you need to define the goals for your partner program –  seek alignment on what type, how many, pipeline expectations, and revenue expectations, as well as define ongoing enablement and support
   • Get everyone internally on the same page
2. Define the partner journey for your company 
   • Identify the path they take – from recruitment through pipeline development, which may be different paths for different types of partners.
3. Create the sales & technical enablement
   • Provide the tools, and resources your partners need to be successful
   • Provide the time and space for them to learn and become prolific with tools and resources.
4. Provide marketing support to help them drive demand.
   • Work with partners to develop demand-generation campaigns to jump-start their customer recruitment and pipeline development. 
   • From launches to campaigns, social media PR, and more
5. Maintain ongoing engagement
   • Ensure regular, ongoing touch-points with your entire partner ecosystem – newsletters, webinars, meetups, workshops, and sometimes pick up the old fashion telephone and call them.

What is the one piece of advice you would give to those who wish to enter the Marketing world? 

Go broad and get as much experience across the discipline as you can. By understanding other aspects of the marketing ecosystem, you can create better programs, deliver better content, and be more successful. In my experience,  the education I gleaned from marketing communications, product marketing, event marketing, and industry marketing has all led to a well-rounded approach to partner marketing.

Thanks, Jeff!