As we head into late summer, we’re taking a look back over the insightful conversations we’ve had on our First Friday webinars and at our Connect event, in 2025 so far. We’ve explored AI, partner communications, partner marketing skills and more.
Here is a roundup of our top 5 takeaways from our Connect discussions this year.
1. Tailor and personalise your communication
The February First Friday webinar focused on the complexities of effective partner communications. The group discussed common challenges including communication overload, lack of personalisation, and internal barriers like siloed teams and restrictive corporate policies.
One key issue was the sheer volume of content sent to partners – often resulting in important messages being buried and ignored. Solutions explored included simplifying communications with a “less is more” approach, tailoring messages to specific personas within partner organisations, and meeting partners where they are – whether via bi-weekly enablement sessions or targeted webinars. The importance of having accurate partner data was highlighted as a foundation for personalisation.
2. AI tools
In April we were joined by Imran Farooq, CEO and James Partington, CMO at MMC Learning. They talked to us about generative AI tools, giving us insights into how fast these tools are progressing. During the session they shared 6 useful AI tools.
HeyGen – realistic, customisable avatars for photo and video. With 175+ languages and dialects. More video tools include, RunwayML, Descript and Invideo AI.
Suno.ai – run by a team of musicians and ai experts. Allowing anyone to create great music.
Elevenlabs – text to speech and AI voice generation. This tool can be used to make, and answer calls for your business with an in-depth set of personalisation settings and integration capabilities.
Gamma.app – this content creation tool is packed with features and allows you to quickly and easily create websites, documents and slide decks from scratch or from existing content.
Gemini – this is Google’s AI tool. A great option for helping you with planning, writing and learning.
Midjourney – a portal to transform text into amazing images, and as we saw above, the images are getting more and more realistic.
3. The future of partner events
In the June First Friday webinar, we explored how the landscape of partner events is evolving with digital innovation, account-based marketing (ABM), and deeper personalisation. With challenges such as low engagement, alignment challenges between partners and vendors, and the need for better ROI measurement.
- We noted that pre-event AI-driven personalisation can dramatically increase attendance and engagement. By leveraging attendee data, organisations can curate relevant event content, send tailored invites, and dynamically adjust event sessions for maximum relevance.
- Secondly, merging ABM principles with partner events allows for stronger alignment between vendor objectives and partner needs. Targeted messaging, activity mapping, and shared success KPIs help create more strategic, outcome-focused events.
- We also discussed embedding AI tools – like chatbots, live polling, and post-event sentiment analysis – enables real-time adaptation and deeper attendee insights during events.
4. Using AI as a thought partner
Our July First Friday session explored how AI, particularly ChatGPT, can serve as a powerful thought partner rather than just a productivity tool.
Guest speaker Barnaby Wood, Director of Product Management at Arctera, shared his journey from casual experimentation to embedding AI into his everyday thinking, workflows, and decision-making processes.
Barnaby emphasised the importance of approaching AI as a conversation rather than a one-off tool. Unlike search engines that respond with single answers, AI models like ChatGPT are most powerful when treated as a thinking companion – engaging in a back-and-forth dialogue that evolves over time. Central to this approach is the concept of training the AI. Barnaby has developed a range of structured “technique prompts” that shape how the AI responds to him, including the tone of voice it uses, how it handles uncertainty, and how it challenges his assumptions.
5. The unseen challenges of partner marketers
This year we conducted some research on partner marketing and the skills needed for success now, and in the future. We presented the research at our annual London event. You can read the full report here.
Our research reveals a major shift in how partner marketing teams are structured. With only 15% of partner marketers now working in fully independent teams, the merging of partner and field marketing functions is raising alarm bells. The pressure to streamline operations is understandable in the current economic climate, but this trend may be eroding the specialist skills that make partner marketing effective in the first place.
Many partner marketers in integrated teams are already reporting lower confidence in their ability to succeed. And it’s not hard to see why. The belief that partner marketing can simply piggyback on field marketing efforts is widespread among C-level executives, who assume that shared content, campaigns, and martech systems will create efficiencies.
In reality, this approach overlooks the nuance and strategic depth required to market through an ecosystem. The result? Blurred responsibilities, reduced impact, and a reduction in confidence within teams.
Our next First Friday session is coming up in September. Join Connect for free to receive more details and your invite shortly.
