How to uncover existing nearbound marketing opportunities
When nearbound GTM is layered on top of marketing motions, you replace the spam of outbound and the overwhelm of inbound with the subtle surround of nearbound.
It’s up to you, Partner Managers, to facilitate nearbound success.
You see, marketers feel like they already have go-to-market figured out. They’ve got their playbooks and data. Why would they need another method?
Because go-to-market has transformed.
Go-to-market used to be synonymous with product launch or product marketing. Now, it has to be as connected as your potential customers are; it’s a holistic approach between Marketing, Sales, Product, Success, Partnerships, and the ecosystem.
Partner Managers must help facilitate this shift within their departments. The companies that don’t—the ones that try to go at it alone—won’t last to reap the benefits of the decade of the ecosystem.
Let’s take a step deeper and focus on nearbound marketing.
How would a Partner Manager help her Marketing team tap into ecosystem potential?
She’d start with questions.
Why?
Because as French mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot once stated,
Asking the right questions is as important as answering them.
In the upcoming sections, I’ll outline three distinct phases of the customer lifecycle and some questions a Partner Manager can ask her Marketing team to uncover opportunities.
Demand gen and lead gen
Demand gen and lead gen are about creating awareness, generating interest, driving initial engagement, and building a pipeline.
Though marketers often run these motions alone, there’s an opportunity to make each motion more effective with partners.
Partners can help marketers tap into a buyer’s 28 moments, fill content gaps, enhance marketing efforts, and alleviate customer pains.
Ask your Marketing team these questions:
Who are our customers’ trusted advisors?
How do our customers learn about us (partners, people, communities, companies)?
What is our customers’ journey to us (have we mapped their 28 moments?)
Are there content gaps partners could fill with their expertise?
Are there upcoming marketing campaigns where partner collaboration could enhance impact?
How can partners help tailor campaigns for specific audience segments?
What upcoming events are on our marketing calendar, and how can partners be involved?
Are there partner solutions that directly alleviate customer concerns?
Get double the resources and reach for half the cost.
If you want a tactical example, read how Gong leverages partners to reach more of their target ICP.
Education and nurturing leads
Education and nurturing leads are about building trust and guiding potential customers to make informed purchase decisions.
B2B buyers may represent companies, but they’re still humans who want to establish relationships and buy from people they trust.
Partners can elevate educational content with their expertise, influence customer decisions, and amplify product value.
Ask your Marketing team these questions:
Is there a trusted advisor I can tap into for intel or influence?
Which partners can contribute content to position the brand as an educational authority?
Are there gaps in our existing content that partners can fill to enhance the buyer’s knowledge?
Are there opportunities for partners to co-host webinars focused on educating the target audience?
Are there specific topics where partner insights would be valuable in nurturing leads?
Are there joint initiatives (webinars, events, content collabs) that can deepen the engagement during the nurturing stages?
How can partners contribute exclusive offers or incentives to nurture leads further down the funnel?
Your customers want to learn from those who have been to their promised land.
Odds are, you haven’t, but your partners have. Teach your marketers to lean on partners as subject matter experts.
Click here to see how Reachdesk and 6Sense presented their better together story so customers and internal departments could both take advantage!
Check out this better-together story.
Post-sale (enablement, onboarding, and continuing education)
Post-sale, marketers should facilitate product adoption, accelerate time to productivity, educate internal teams, and promote retention.
Partners can fill implementation gaps, showcase joint customer success through case studies, and foster internal alignment.
Ask your Marketing team these questions:
Are there specific onboarding challenges where partner involvement would be valuable?
Are there gaps in our existing onboarding content that partners can fill to enhance the buyer’s knowledge?
Are there opportunities for partners to co-host webinars focused on educating our existing joint customers?
What types of resources can partners provide to enhance buyer education?
Are there partner-driven case studies that can strengthen buyer confidence?
What joint survey or feedback mechanisms can be implemented for continuous improvement or industry insights?
Retention isn’t just a customer success problem. It’s a go-to-market problem. As many marketers work to fill in enablement and onboarding gaps, they can lean on the support of partners.
Click here to read how G2 and ZoomInfo successfully teased and launched their integration to mutual customers.
Your next steps
Marketers are looking for solutions to the infocalypse. Introduce them to nearbound surround and help them to do more with less.
Ask the right questions
Uncover existing opportunities
Detail a plan of action
You’ve got it, partner pro!
Share this with a fellow partner leader
Make sure they don’t miss this list of curated questions.
