In today’s fast-evolving B2B landscape, partner ecosystems have emerged as a cornerstone of sustainable growth. No longer just a “nice to have,” partnerships are now a strategic imperative woven throughout the buyer’s journey. The role of partner ecosystems has never been more critical. According to Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2024, 82% of B2B marketing decision-makers at high-growth companies (those growing revenue 10%+ annually) say their customers prefer to buy through multiple sales channels — including ecosystem partners. What’s more, 80% report that buyers increasingly seek third-party validation before making a purchase.

Yet despite this shift, many organizations overlook a powerful lever for maximizing partner ecosystem impact: a formal partner advocacy program.

Partner Advocacy Drives Insights, Expertise, And Influence Across Multiple Audiences

Partner advocacy is more than just a buzzword; it’s a strategic imperative. It encompasses the activities in which partners share their invaluable insights, experiences, and expertise about a supplier’s offerings, partnership value, and more across a variety of audiences. B2B organizations that formalize programs can significantly amplify the power of advocacy to create new business value, reach new markets, promote third-party validation, and drive supplier and partner ecosystem awareness, influence, and trust by leveraging partners to educate, enlist, engage, excite, and elevate audience awareness. This, in turn, drives mutual growth and success for suppliers, partners, and buyers/customers.

The potential audiences for partner advocacy efforts are extensive and extend across internal teams, prospective partners, existing partners, and buyers and customers, as well as industries and markets.

Partner Advocacy Offers Undeniable Benefits To Suppliers, Their Partners, And Buyers/Customers

  • Supplier benefits. A well-designed partner advocacy program offers a wealth of value for suppliers including advocacy amplification, trust validation, and loyalty attainment.
  • Partner benefits. A structured partner advocacy program provides significant ongoing value to participating partners across the partner ecosystem with key benefits such as partner value recognition, status elevation, and experience advancement.
  • Buyer and customer benefits. Key buyer and customer benefits from a formalized partner advocacy program include buyer preference alignment, solution innovation awareness, and customer community expansion.

It’s Beyond Time To Move From Ad Hoc, Reactive Partner References To Proactive Partner Advocacy

Despite the clear benefits, many organizations struggle to develop or formalize their partner advocacy programs. Only half of global partner ecosystem and channel marketing decision-makers reported that their organization has established a formal partner advocacy program, according to Forrester’s Partner Ecosystem Marketing Survey, 2024. The lack of a structured approach often results in missed opportunities and underutilized advocacy impact and value potential for the partner ecosystem.

Formalizing a partner advocacy program is not just a strategic move; it’s a necessity for B2B marketing leaders looking to thrive in today’s dynamic market. A partner advocacy program enables B2B suppliers to exponentially increase their advocacy potential and scale their voice-of-the-partner efforts across a wide variety of audiences to achieve a vast array of advocacy goals and objectives and amplify their and their partners’ brand value and thought leadership impact.

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