Rethinking the Traditional Funnel
The traditional marketing funnel: Awareness > Consideration > Decision has long served as the go-to model for B2B marketers. But within the complex world of partnerships and indirect sales, it simply doesn’t hold up. Channel and partner marketing require a more nuanced approach—one that accounts for varied partner resources, extended sales cycles, and the need for long-term relationship building.
That’s why we’ve developed the Partner Marketing Funnel.
Why a new Funnel?
In partnership ecosystems, success hinges not just on the buyer journey, but on how well vendors and partners align their marketing efforts. Traditional funnels focus on the end customer, often sidelining the needs and realities of the partner. This results in fragmented messaging, underperforming campaigns, and missed revenue opportunities.
The Partner Marketing Funnel has been designed to address these challenges head-on. Built specifically for the partner landscape, it provides a structured, strategic pathway for vendors and partners to co-create value at every stage of the marketing journey.
A Funnel Built for the Realities of Partner Marketing
Unlike traditional models that treat marketing as a linear march toward purchase, the Partner Marketing Funnel recognizes the need for:
- Clear, data-driven audience profiling
- Shared persona development
- Joint value propositions that reflect both vendor solution and partner capability
- Contextual messaging aligned to target audiences/personas
Each stage is grounded in a practical, repeatable process that encourages strategic alignment between Vendors and their Partners.
The Seven Stages of the Partner Marketing Funnel
- Audience Identification
- Persona Alignment
- Joint Value Propositions
- Market Context: Why Change
- Opportunity Framing: Why Now
- Solution Value: Why This Solution
- Partner Fit: Why This Partner
Together, these seven stages guide joint go-to-market efforts from strategic insight through to tactical execution.
A Foundation in Strategic Insight
At its core, the Partner Marketing Funnel is not just a marketing framework—it’s a strategic planning tool. It supports internal alignment across marketing, sales, and product teams, develops greater understanding of the end-user journey, and fosters deeper, more impactful collaboration between Vendors and Partners that meets users on this journey.
This approach is not about accelerating leads through a pipeline. It’s about building the right foundation for repeatable, measurable success.
Powering the Funnel: Sherpa Momentum
While the Partner Marketing Funnel stands alone as a strategic tool, it aligns naturally with Sherpa’s own methodology—Sherpa Momentum.
- Insight: Guides the initial stages of audience profiling and persona definition.
- Activation: Powers context-driven messaging and joint value creation.
- Delivery: Ensures partners are supported with the infrastructure, content, and expertise needed to execute at scale.
This integration reinforces the funnel’s purpose: to enable smarter partnership marketing, underpinned by data and delivered through expert execution.
What to Expect in This Series
This is the first in a six-part mini guide series designed to help both Vendors and Partners: - Understand the stages of the Partner Marketing Funnel - Apply each stage to their own go-to-market strategies - Align efforts for greater impact and performance
In the next guide, we’ll explore Stages 1 and 2: Audience Identification and Persona Alignment—and how to turn raw data into powerful insight.
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