I recently had the good fortune to attend the GeekWire Cloud Tech Summit in Bellevue, Washington. Focused on Cloud Technology, this is the second year GeekWire has hosted the conference. Attended mainly by developers and techies, I found my way to the business track which was just as valuable. Topics discussed centered around Serverless Environments,
The New Software Marketplace: Should you partner with a Software Distributor?
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
I got my start in the channel working for a newly appointed Microsoft software distributor where I managed the Microsoft product line. In those days, working for a distributor meant moving heavy boxes filled with thick training manuals, managing floppy drives and SKUs, expediting shipping, executing
What I Learned at the B2B Marketing Exchange Conference
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to spend a few days at the B2B Marketing Exchange conference. Though I was excited to spend time almost exclusively with my marketing peers, my emotions ranged from being eager to try new things out to, “What are
A Step-by-Step Guide to Customer Journey Mapping
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
It may sound daunting to pull together, but a customer journey map comes with a powerful impact on your business. The idea is centered on optimizing every touch point a client or prospect has with your company. I recently had the good fortune to participate in
How to Use a ‘Pain Chain’ to Add Customer Value
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
A ‘Pain Chain’ is a powerful visual map first introduced by Keith M. Eades in his book, The New Solution Selling: The Revolutionary Process That is Changing the Way People Sell. Software and technology providers can use the Pain Chain to help determine the source of
4 Lessons I Learned as a Managed IT Services Mystery Shopper
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
A Managed IT Services client of mine recently asked me to be their ‘mystery shopper’ and call all their competitors to ask for pricing and a formal proposal. They wanted to review their pricing and offers to ensure they aligned with current customer and market expectations
A Day in the Life of Our Virtual Marketing Directors
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
Software and technology partners and ISVs come to us seeking marketing assistance, but are often unclear as to what exactly they need. What they do know is they want to improve their marketing, build an effective marketing plan, establish a regular cadence and create powerful content
The New Case Study: More creative ways to tell your customer stories
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
As technology marketers, or technologists, our comfort zone often lies in our product knowledge. If you are the MASTER of telling people how awesome your products are and why they should use them, your potential customers probably checked out a long time ago.
As my colleague
‘Tis the Season (to make a marketer crazy)
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
Thanksgiving is done and my turkey leftovers have been reduced to pot pie. Now it’s time to hang the lights and empty the bank account! And with that thought often comes a big sigh. How did the year go by so fast? From a marketing perspective, everything
Love it or hate it, your business needs social media
By Cheryl Salazar, The Partner Marketing Group
How many of you are feeling the same way I do about social media? The constant stream of drivel—according to Miriam-Webster is ‘to talk stupidly or carelessly’—is definitely what social media is starting to mean to me. Talk about information overload! Whether you personally love it
