Welcome to this special edition of our Partner Marketing Insights series. We had the privilege of speaking with eleven industry-leading marketing professionals who shared their Partner Marketing predictions for the year ahead.
Featuring insights from:
Ashleigh Auld (MariaDB) • Ginelle Bell (Ringover) • Nicole Daignault (Google) • Andy Grant (Jamf) • Tanguy Le Roux • Neda Perisic • Tatianna Ruggiero (Paessler GmbH) • James Stacey (Red Hat) • Samantha Strachan (NetApp) • Bogdan Stefan (Keysight Technologies) • Neha Verma (Fiserv)
1. The Rise of Ecosystem-Led Partner Marketing
Partner Marketers predict that 2026 will be dominated by an ecosystem mindset. Instead of isolated MDF-funded campaigns or one-off partner activities, marketing teams will increasingly orchestrate technology, services and partners around shared customer problems.
“Ecosystem-led can lead to extended reach, improved win rates and lower acquisition costs.” — James Stacey
The economic pressure is pushing this shift: customer acquisition costs are rising, sales cycles are getting longer and buyers expect complete solutions. Ecosystem-led Partner Marketing will extend reach and improve win rates.
How does it look in practice?
- Campaigns will be built around shared use cases (multi-vendor solutions) rather than single vendor product launches
- Partner Marketers will spend more time on co-planning with sales and alliances than on individual events or campaigns
- Focus on the right partners and going deeper where there’s real impact
- If 2025 has been focused on the selection of strategic partners, the focus for 2026 will be on the orchestration and coordination of these relationships
- Increased collaboration between services partners and hyper-scalers, driven by customer demand for end-to-end outcomes
“Software purchasing habits are evolving. Marketplaces are becoming increasingly important and Services partners need to understand this shift and view it as an opportunity rather than a threat.” – Tanguy Le Roux
2. Vertical & Industry Specialisation Takes Centre Stage
Partner Marketers agree that industry specialisation and focus will be a key differentiator in 2026, especially for the channel where buyers will expect sector-specific expertise and packaged solutions.
Partners and customers want industry relevance, industry language and industry proof.
Building campaigns, enablement & content tailored to vertical sectors like Financial Services, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Public Sector will be a top priority.
“The channel will see a clear shift toward partners who specialise by industry or vertical.” – Tatianna Ruggiero
“The channel marketing landscape for 2026 will be characterised by creating even deeper partner relationships and a strong focus on specialised partner types.” – Andy Grant
3. Sales Alignment & Enablement Become Deal-Makers
Strengthening the link between partner marketing and sales on both the vendor and partner sides is a major focus.
On the vendor side that means better shared data and clearer visibility that helps sales and marketing teams to move into the same direction.
As for partners, enablement must become simpler and directly tied to sales motions:
- frictionless onboarding
- creating lightweight formats that partners’ busy sales teams will use
- clearer follow-up workflows
- shifting focus from “knowing who your partners are” to “knowing what constantly drives them to you”.
“It’s time we admit it. Enablement has to match how partner teams actually sell, not how we wish they’d sell.” – Ginelle Bell
4. Personalisation & Human Storytelling are key differentiators
Marketers realise that audiences are overwhelmed with digital noise, meaning personalised experiences and creative storytelling will stand out – on both the customer and partner side!
Partner Marketers plan to invest more in highly targeted ABM, through more experiential events such as sports hospitality, concerts and networking experiences that build stronger relationships.
Additionally, thought leadership content that builds trust and is centred around use cases and real customer impact will continue to be more important than product-led collateral. Educational, creative, human led content will stand out.
“Stories will matter more than specs. Partnerships that show real customer impact – not just product features – will stand out.” — Neha Verma
AI personalisation for partner communications and for customisation of partner campaigns at scale is predicted to make a huge impact next year. Tailored partner communications will help to build awareness and engagement with partners. Whilst partner ready campaigns can go beyond co-branded assets to be more tailored around messaging for joint ICP or vertical that is relevant to the partnership.
“Personalised marketing is back and we’ll see a rise in thoughtful, personalised outreach again. Direct mail – done well – mixed with an online presence will make a fun, memorable way to cut through and create a more human connection.” – Samantha Strachan
5. The rise of the performance-based model
The days of “activity based” MDF might be numbered. A clear theme across contributors is that 2026 introduces a more performance-driven, data-backed approach to partner investment.
Vendors are predicted to adopt more automated workflows, clearer governance and ROI-linked criteria, prioritising partners who can demonstrate impact on pipeline and customer activation.
“MDF is moving to a performance-based, data-driven model.” — Tatianna Ruggiero
Everyone is under pressure to do more with less which leads to a ruthless focus on ROI -and budgets will be allocated to strategic partnerships and programs that can deliver measurable results.
“Budgets will be allocated far more surgically in 2026, with the emphasis on strategic partnerships and programs that can deliver measurable, data-backed results.” – Neda Perisic
6. AI as the Accelerator
If there’s one thing Partner Marketers agree on for 2026, it’s this: AI is shifting from experimentation to acceleration.
The focus is no longer on testing tools. Teams are starting to embed AI into real workflows that remove manual work, speed up execution and free up time for strategic work for the business, which limited bandwidth previously prevented.
“AI-orchestrated partner marketing will go mainstream.” — Ashleigh Auld
On the data side, AI will inform which partners to prioritise, which activities and partners genuinely drive revenue and which motions should quietly be retired.
On the execution side, AI is becoming the engine behind faster content creation, multilingual asset localisation and personalised partner enablement. The goal is to remove the repetitive layers that slow teams down.
But to really benefit, Partner Marketers will need strong data foundations. Without clean, structured data, AI can’t meaningfully support partner selection, activation or attribution.
We can’t afford another year of simply trying out AI tools. One of the key goals for 2026 is to truly embed AI into partner GTM operations to design scalable, repeatable processes across partner selection, activation, enablement, co-marketing, and attribution”. – Neda Perisic
7. Smarter Partner Engagement
If 2025 was the year of scaling programs, 2026 will be the year of strengthening connections.
Partners — just like customers — are drowning in digital noise, constant updates and now a rising wave of AI-infused messaging. While AI gives Partner Marketers the ability to communicate faster and personalise at scale, it also risks becoming yet another source of fatigue if overused.
The prediction is two-sided: AI-powered communication will unlock huge efficiencies but it may also overwhelm partners if everything becomes automated, generic or too frequent. Partner inboxes are already full and AI will only accelerate that trend.
But here’s the positive counter-shift:
Co-run marketing campaigns are set for a comeback.
Partners crave collaboration, not just content. Joint execution, joint learning and shared ownership are becoming far more powerful than one-way enablement pushes. Partners are looking for campaigns that are done with them, not for them.
And the real priority for 2026? Marketing to partners — not just enabling them.
“One category people should pay more attention to is ‘marketing to partners’ (not just enablement)” — Bogdan Stefan
Most teams invest heavily in enablement hubs, playbooks and product training but they forget that partners are an audience too. They need inspiration, storytelling and relevance just like customers do.
Coupled with this is the biggest success factor of all: Alignment and planning.
Misaligned objectives remain one of the top reasons partner activities underperform — not the execution itself, but the direction. Whether it’s targeting new customers vs. the install base or pushing brand awareness when partners care about leads, poor upfront alignment kills ROI.
In 2026, smarter partner engagement will be defined by:
• clearer objectives
• more thoughtful communication
• more collaborative campaign execution
• and a renewed focus on treating partners like a true audience
It’s less noise. More connection. And finally, partner marketing that feels genuinely partner-led.
Disclaimer: The views represented above are solely those of the individuals contributing to this article and may not reflect the organisations they represent.