Partner Marketing Leaders — March Newsletter

A word from Tom, Founder of Sherpa

“March has been a really exciting month for the community and I wanted to take a moment to say a proper thank you to our Ambassadors. They have hit the ground running and the conversations they have been sparking are exactly what this community is about. It is great to see so much expertise being shared so generously, and it is only going to get better from here. Thank you all.” 

Oh – and welcome to our first Community newsletter! If you’d like to feature in our next editions please drop us a line on the platform and we can include your content, thoughts, announcements or just general observations and lovely news you may want to share!

What's new in March  

A lot has happened this month. We officially welcomed our first cohort of Community Ambassadors, held our first Ambassador meet-ups, crossed 500 members, and added a handful of new topic channels to the community.

If you have not explored the channels lately, it is worth a look. We have added dedicated spaces covering everything from AI in partner marketing to MDF strategy, so there are more places than ever to find the conversations relevant to you.

Meet the Ambassadors

Our Community Ambassadors are experienced partner marketers who have signed up to help shape what happens here. They bring a real mix of geographies, company sizes and specialisms, which means the perspectives on offer are genuinely varied.

Bonnie Gibson.

Suraj Atreya.

Marie Roland.

Nathalie Gandolfo.

Sophie Kramhoft.

Yash Aggarwal.

Eileen Koh.

Varvara Sokrut.

In March we held our first Ambassador meet-ups, giving the group a chance to connect, compare notes and start planning Q2 for the community. Expect more activity, more conversations and some great content coming from this group over the coming months.

What people have been talking about

The conversations in March have been some of the best we have seen in the community. A few topics kept coming up again and again and they are well worth digging into if you have not already.

Partner-led ABM — how to make it genuinely work

Getting ABM right through partners is one of those things that sounds straightforward but rarely is. The conversation here has been about how to design campaigns that partners actually activate, rather than assets that sit in a portal untouched. Members have been sharing what good looks like and where even well-resourced programmes tend to fall down. 

Managing partner marketing across multiple regions with a lean team

Several members are navigating what it means to own partner marketing across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, often without a dedicated team in every market. The conversation has been practical: how do you prioritise, where do you localise and where do you hold the line on a global approach. Sophie Kramhoft's brought some really useful real-world perspective to this one. 

Building the internal case for partner marketing investment 

Partner marketing can be hard to quantify, which makes it hard to fund. Members have been talking through how to frame the value of partner programmes internally, what metrics actually land with leadership and how to get ahead of the conversation before budget season rather than chasing it. Yash Aggarwal is also working on a partner marketing report that will add some data behind this conversation, one to watch. 

Team structure and career development in partner marketing

As partner programmes grow, so does the question of how to build the team around them. Members have been exploring when to hire specialists versus generalists, how to make the case for headcount and what career progression actually looks like in a discipline that is still finding its shape in many organisations.  

Coming up in Q2  

We have a webinar series in the works for Q2 and the first session is not far off. We will be sharing more details very soon — but if you want to make sure you do not miss it, keep an eye on the community and make sure your notifications are on. 

Give it up for this month's most active members  

Every month a handful of people go above and beyond, jumping into conversations, sharing resources, asking the questions everyone else was thinking but hadn't typed yet. This community runs on that energy and we are so grateful for it.

This month's legends: 

Marie Roland.  
 
Avadhoot Patwardhan.  
 
Sophie Kramhoft.
 
Yash Aggarwal.
 
Suraj Atreya.

Thank you. Genuinely. You make this place what it is.

Jobs in partner marketing right now   

Whether you are quietly curious or actively looking, we keep an eye on what is moving in the partner marketing jobs market so you do not have to. Here are the roles that caught our eye in March.

Company: OpenSpace
Job Posted: Partner Marketing & Program Manager
Click here 

Company: Glean 
Job Posted: Partner Marketing Manager
Click here

Company: Adobe
Job Posted: Senior Partner Marketing Lead
Click here

Company: Snyk
Job Posted: EMEA Field and Partner Marketing Lead
Click here

Company: Sherpa
Job Posted: Partner Marketing Manager
Click here

Company: Amplitude 
Job Posted: Partner Marketing Manager
Click here

Know someone who would be perfect for one of these? Share it with them. Good people deserve good opportunities.

Not a member yet?  

The Partner Marketing Leaders community is free to join and built to keep the quality of conversation high. If you work in partner marketing and you are not already in the room, we would love to have you.

Join us here: partner-marketing-leaders.circle.so

Find out more about Sherpa at thesherpagroup.com