Marketing talent brain drain could stunt channel partner success

Valuable partner marketing skills are at risk of being lost as the structure of channel marketing teams continues to shift, according to research from Coterie.

Revealed at the firm’s Coterie Connect event in London, The 2025 Partner Marketing Skills Report was conducted in collaboration with Sapio Research and covers trends, gaps, and opportunities across the industry.

As partner and field marketing teams are increasingly being merged, the data revealed that just 15% of partner marketers are now working in fully independent teams.

This, the study warned, appears to be diluting the specialist skills required to run effective partner marketing programs and reducing these blended teams’ confidence in their own abilities.

According to Coterie, urgent investment in training and development is required to prevent the channel losing the expertise crucial to driving future growth, with company co-founder Jo Dunkley describing the research as a “wake-up call” for businesses.

“We’re seeing partner marketers in integrated teams feeling less confident in their ability to succeed, and that should raise alarm bells,” she said, adding that the shift is being driven by a mix of budget pressure and misunderstanding.

“Many C-level executives assume that partner marketing can just piggyback on field marketing efforts, using the same content, campaigns, and creative,” Dunkley added.

“And because teams often share martech systems, there’s a belief that combining roles will create efficiency. But what’s being lost are the specialist skills that actually make partner marketing work.”

Coterie said attendees at its Connect event echoed the concerns surrounding the trend, agreeing that CMOs and senior executives must act to protect partner marketing skills to aid long-term channel performance.

Future skills

The report also delved into other areas such as marketing budgets, spending patterns, and strategic priorities, and highlighted the skills partner marketers see as crucial for success over the next five years.

At the top of the list, MarTech and digital marketing are viewed as the most important for both the future and the current industry landscape, while AI and automation has climbed up the list into second since last years’ data, up from 15% to 27%.

Rounding out the top three, data and analytics capabilities was found to have doubled from 12% to 27%.

“Senior executives place a lot of value on data and the certainty that data provides,” commented Helen Curtis, fellow co-founder of Coterie Connect. “By using AI, data and analytics, channel marketers can better demonstrate ROI, something that could finally secure the budget increases that partner marketing has long needed.”

Training

As the presence of AI continues to gather pace, the research revealed that partner marketers still feel unprepared for the industry-wide shift.

Respondents ranked the technology as the number one priority area in which they need training for success by 2030, followed by strategic thinking, and data and analytics skills.

While traditional communications and negotiation skills have dropped down the list of perceived importance, Coterie revealed that adaptability has rocketed up the list, from being one of the lowest ranked areas to being one of the six most critical skills for future success.

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