The channel is facing a pivotal moment. As businesses reshape their marketing structures, critical partner marketing skills are quietly being diluted, leaving organisations vulnerable to lost expertise and missed opportunities.
The unseen challenges of partner marketers
Recent insights in The 2025 Partner Marketing Skills Report: Trends, Gaps and Opportunities, with Sapio Research, reveal a major shift in how partner marketing teams are structured. With only 15% of partner marketers now working in fully independent teams, the merging of partner and field marketing functions is raising alarm bells. The pressure to streamline operations is understandable in the current economic climate, but this trend may be eroding the specialist skills that make partner marketing effective in the first place.
Many partner marketers in integrated teams are already reporting lower confidence in their ability to succeed. And it’s not hard to see why. The belief that partner marketing can simply piggyback on field marketing efforts is widespread among C-level executives, who assume that shared content, campaigns, and martech systems will create efficiencies.
In reality, this approach overlooks the nuance and strategic depth required to market through an ecosystem. The result? Blurred responsibilities, reduced impact, and a reduction in confidence within teams.
Addressing the needs through community and training
The move towards integrating partner and field marketing teams is often driven by budget pressures and a desire for efficiency. But efficiency can’t come at the expense of capability. The skills required for successful partner marketing, such as relationship building, co-marketing execution, and ecosystem strategy are distinct from those needed in field marketing. Failing to recognise that difference could have long-term consequences for the channel.
Without dedicated investment in training, partner marketers risk falling behind. The pace of change in technology, buyer behaviour, and ecosystem growth means these professionals need ongoing support to evolve with the role.
Investing in skills for the future
The very nature of our sector means it changes fast, and the skills partner marketers need must keep pace. The report reveals that AI and automation alongside data and analytics capabilities are rising rapidly on the skills agenda. With senior executives placing increasing value on data and the certainty it provides, the ability to leverage AI, data, and analytics will be critical for partner marketers to demonstrate ROI. Having the ability to quantify marketing impact could finally secure the budget increases that this function has long needed.
Despite the growing importance of AI and automation, there is a clear skills gap, demonstrating that partner marketers feel unprepared for this shift. Training in AI, strategic thinking, and data literacy has emerged as a top priority for professionals looking to stay competitive.
Let’s not lose what makes partner marketing different
Interestingly, as AI and automation rise, traditional communications and negotiation skills have slipped down the priority list. In contrast, adaptability is climbing fast as partner marketers need to navigate increasingly broad, demanding roles.
But I think there’s a risk here too. As teams stretch to cover more ground, the distinctive value of partner marketing, such as human relationships, trust-building, and the ability to drive joint value, is at risk of being deprioritised. If organisations fail to protect and nurture those skills, they may undermine the very relationships and connections that fuel our ecosystem’s growth.
To remain competitive, businesses must rethink their approach. Investing in training, recognising the unique value of partner marketers, and fostering the right talent will be critical to ensuring channel success in the years ahead.
Attracting talent and closing the gap
Attracting and retaining talent in partner and ecosystem marketing is critical. Building a strong employer brand, creating visibility, supporting clear career pathways and evangelising about the role all help. But there are still hurdles: vague job descriptions, unclear development opportunities, and a general lack of awareness about what partner marketers actually do.
If we want our ecosystem to thrive, we need to elevate the role, not just with martec tools and technology, but with recognition, training, and team structures that help them to flourish. With more than 70% of IT spending going through the channel, partner marketers have never been more important. Now is the time to invest in their future.
Jo Dunkley
Jo Dunkley is a Director at Partner Ecosystems GTM specialist Coterie
