Know Your Digital Marketing Strategy Or Risk Irrelevance

Sharon Hiu, Research Analyst, Canalys

Channel partners are boosting investment in their digital marketing capabilities, with budgets rising in 2018 compared with 2017, according to Canalys’ channel research.

As the channel transforms from selling hardware to software and services, digital marketing will become even more important in 2018. It’s a vital skill for partners to expand into new territories and up-sell and cross-sell new products and services. In Asia Pacific, where the rate of digital transformation is quickest, there’s a strong sense of competition among partners to land the next big customer. In countries where the populace is young, and the IT channel landscape littered with smaller, fragmented partners, digital marketing is emerging as an attractive, cost-effective way to promote quickly and prominently. Larger partners are also throwing a wealth of resources at digital marketing.