Presentation to the IAMCP Virtual Chapter on May 3rd, 2022 on how partners can better leverage the channel to expand their businesses.

1. Accessible content is available upon request.
Collaborate with Confidence
How to Leverage the Channel
to Build Your Business
May 3rd, 2022

2. Refining your channel approach
Defining the partner experience
Building robust communication channels
Focusing on the right partners
Agenda

3. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
AvePoint
Lehi, Utah
Brand Alliance Director
Christian Buckley
Profile Summary
• Joined AvePoint in December 2020
• Lead global alliances with Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce
• Help drive channel evangelism and build advocacy
• Microsoft Regional Director + Office Apps & Services MVP
• Been in IAMCP for 10+ years, former president of the Seattle chapter
• Was part of Microsoft Managed Services (MMS) and Business
Productivity Online Services (BPOS) which became Office 365
• Over 30 years in information management and collaboration space

4. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
We Are AvePoint
Leader in Microsoft 365 data management solutions
is headquartered in Jersey City, NJ,
with approximately 1,500 employees across 29 offices,
14 countries, and five continents.
8M
Cloud Users
88
Countries
7
Continents

5. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Refining your channel approach
• Publicity
• SEO/SEM
• Content Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Business Development
• Engineering
• Affiliate Programs
• Trade Shows
• Community Building
• and more…
https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-
Achieve-Explosive-Customer/dp/1591848369

6. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Refining your channel approach
• Partner ecosystem as a channel
• Benefits of an indirect sales approach
o Helps generate awareness
o Builds trust
o Converts leads
o Generates repeat sales
o Helps identify cost-cutting opportunities
o Improves speed to market, especially as you expand globally
o Turns customers into raving fans

7. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Defining the partner experience
• Make it easy to work with you
• Make value props simple and straight-forward
o Have a very clear idea of what makes your business successful, how your product or service compares to the
competition, and what your business vision is for the future.
• Align with the customer experience
• Build your GTM strategy
o Plan and enable
▪ Initial training
▪ Access to sales and marketing materials
▪ Joint marketing opportunities, MDF
▪ Ongoing training (webinars, product deep dives, in-person training)
o Teach partners how to extend the value of your offerings
o Provide support to help them become SMEs

8. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Defining the partner experience
• Performance measurement
o Regular pipeline discussions
o Show partners that their investments (and yours) are paying off
• It is critical that your direct sellers understand the partner strategy
o Clear compensation models
o Know when to go direct, when to bring in partners

9. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Building robust communication channels
• How are you communicating with your partners?
• Partner portal
• Consistent email comms
• Webinars
• Groups / communities
• Advisory boards
• Listen to their feedback, take appropriate action
• As you measure, share insights
• Leverage your partners to pilot new ideas/programs/products

10. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Focusing on the right partners
• Finding the right partners mirrors the sales process
o Many partners enter the top of the funnel, few become stars
• Many channel programs attempt to "boil the ocean" and treat all partners alike
• Focus on those who are successfully selling
• Don't forget the partner experience
o Ensure the underperforming partners have the self-service tools to improve

11. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
Focusing on the right partners
• Allow your partners to create their own sales journey
o Many partners will wait for you to launch a large program, and passively get involved
o Provide the tools and support for partners to create their own paths forward
▪ Partners should not simply act as fulfillment center
▪ They have the ability to drive value throughout the entire sales cycle
o Give your partners high-value content
▪ Messaging and positioning
▪ Campaign templates
▪ Co-brandable marketing materials

12. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
What content is working?
• Identifying the top or best content is clearly a subjective task
o What is meant by “best content”?
o Was it the content that drove the most awareness, the most engagement or the most traffic?
o Or the content that generated the best leads and most conversions?
• In reality, different content has different objectives, and typically a piece of content will support
one or two parts of the sales funnel

13. Content Strategy Areas
Entertain Educate Persuade Convert Keep
Quizzes Guides Case studies Webinars Top tips
Videos Trends Reviews Demos How to articles
Games Whitepapers Awards Pricing Webinars
Competitions Tips Testimonials Calculators
Infographics How to posts Comparisons Implementation guide
Animations Checklists Client interviews
Challenges Expert interviews FAQs
List posts E-learning Sector focus
Newsjack posts Webinars Use cases
Best of post Surveys / polls
Debate post Why posts
Glossaries What posts
Mythbuster Slideshares
Guest blogs
eBooks

14. ©AvePoint, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary information of AvePoint, Inc.
https://avpt.co/grow-with-avepoint

15. www.AvePoint.com
Christian.Buckley@AvePoint.com