Kris Blackmon - Beyond campaigns: partner marketing unlocked

Kris Blackmon - Beyond campaigns: partner marketing unlocked

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Kris Blackmon, Director of Global Partner Marketing at AvePoint. Coming from channel journalism at The Var Guy and content leadership at Channel Futures before moving into her current role, Kris brings a perspective on partner marketing that's genuinely hard to find. Perspective that is built from years of watching the channel from every angle before stepping inside it. Kris opens by reframing what partner marketing actually is. Her remit at AvePoint spans enablement, the partner program, product marketing, and to-and-through execution. Her point is that you can't pull one lever in isolation. A strong campaign with a weak program behind it answers its own question. She also talks through how global strategy and regional field execution divide the work. Global sets direction and builds assets. Field teams localize, execute, and carry accountability for results in market. Sales alignment holds it all together. AvePoint's roadmap to 2030 gives that alignment a clear spine. The second half focuses on AvePoint's partner program redesign. The original tiered model rewarded revenue almost exclusively,  a lagging indicator that told the team nothing about what actually built toward a sale. Eighteen months of design, piloting, and iteration produced a points-based program that rewards partners across certifications, co-marketing activity, lead generation, and more. Kris explains how clean data makes it possible to show partners concretely why deeper engagement leads to better outcomes for both sides, and why redesigning the partner portal UI was just as important as the program structure itself. The frontier she's most focused on: gaining real visibility into through-partner marketing activity before deal registration arrives. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Razvan Todor - The secret power behind cybersecurity at scale

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Razvan Todor, VP Strategic Partnerships & Alliances – CSG at Bitdefender. Razvan brings a rare lens to channel work: a product leader who shifted from owning roadmaps to architecting ecosystems that protect users at population scale through telcos, ISPs, and insurance providers. Razvan starts with what it actually takes to move from millions of users to hundreds of millions: ecosystems, not sales acceleration. He draws a clean line between channel and strategic partnerships based on who owns the end customer. When Bitdefender owns the customer, it's channel; when the partner does, it becomes a strategic alliance where both companies co-create value inside the partner's portfolio. That shift changes the conversation entirely. The negotiation stops being about margin and becomes about direction, priorities, and where both organizations want to be three to five years from now. Scale also makes the product stronger. The more customers Bitdefender protects, the more threats it sees, and the faster it can cluster patterns like the California bridge toll scam that adapts its message by geography. Razvan also reframes the old debate between brand equity and partner-led distribution as two sides of the same success story. Strong brand makes signing new partners easier; big partners make the product sharper and lift recognition. The board-level question becomes how to maximize both together. On AI and deepfakes, Razvan is thoughtful: detecting that something is fake matters less than understanding the intent behind it. Cats dancing on Snoop Dogg and a fake Elon Musk stock tip are technically identical. The future of consumer cyber security is guaranteeing trust and authenticity. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Andy Yen - The Human Edge in High-Stakes Partnerships

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Andy Yen, Director of Partner Marketing for Global System Integrators at ServiceNow. Drawing on seven years at ServiceNow across ISVs, hyperscalers, and now some of the world's largest consulting firms, Andy shares what makes high-stakes partnerships work, and why the human side of the job is becoming a bigger advantage, not a smaller one. Andy starts with what a global mindset really looks like in partner marketing. Each country has its own language, its own business culture, and the real opportunity comes from building genuine relationships market by market. He also shares how he adapts his communication style to each person, not just each persona, and why that human-first approach has helped him build trust with partners across regions.  We also get into what makes a GSI partnership thrive. Andy describes how he builds joint value props where one plus one is greater than ten, creating the kind of stories that pull ServiceNow into deals alongside its partners. He shares how ServiceNow's industry GTM motion has opened up bigger conversations, with partners and account executives moving from product features to outcomes that resonate in the C-suite. The result is broader engagement, larger deals, and a more collaborative model across the ecosystem. Andy closes with a reminder that feels even more relevant in the AI era: authenticity is your greatest strength, and the best partnerships are still built on real human connection. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Nevzat Bucioglu - Building no-bull**** partnerships

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Nevzat Bucioglu, Channel and Alliance Director for EMEA Central at Commvault. He leads the channel business across DACH and Poland and has been in IT since 1996, moving through inside sales, sales coaching, and pre-sales before stepping into the channel in 2013. His early years cold-calling at Dell still shape how he approaches partner relationships today.  The conversation opens on the three lessons that defined Nevzat's first year in inside sales: sound like a human, mindset beats scripts, and activity drives results,  but only the right activity. After a 5% first quarter at Dell, he threw out the scripts, started reading tone, and treated follow-ups as warmed leads rather than second cold calls. From there, Nevzat unpacks his "no BS" philosophy. Non-BS means telling a partner to sell the competitor when the fit is right, calling out when you're being used as a compliance quote, and replacing 50-page business plans with a single page. The ultimate form of respect is directness, and directness is what compounds trust over time. The second half moves into frameworks and AI. Nevzat still runs MEDDIC and still builds business cases, but argues the framework only yields quality information once the human connection is built. He closes on AI: a tool to scale creativity and human experiences, not to replace the story behind the pitch. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners

Erica Radcliff - Tailoring Partner Engagement at Scale

In this episode of Partnerships Unraveled, we sit down with Erica Radcliff, Director of Partner and Ecosystem Growth Marketing at Vertiv, to explore what it really takes to activate partners at scale without losing relevance. With nearly two decades in the channel, Erica has worked across almost every facet of marketing, giving her a practical, end-to-end view of how partner engagement actually plays out in the real world. The conversation starts with a simple but often ignored truth: what marketers think is compelling rarely matches what partners actually want. Erica explains why keeping an open mind and constantly pressure-testing your assumptions is critical,  especially as trends cycle in and out. From the surprising resurgence of tactile, creative campaigns to the steady decline of webinars, she shares what’s gaining traction and what’s quietly fading. We then get into one of the biggest challenges in partner marketing today: balancing scale with personalization. Erica breaks down how her team approaches this through segmented journeys rather than one-size-fits-all campaigns. Instead of over-engineering full customization, they build flexible frameworks and equip partners with ready-to-use assets they can adapt to their own customers. The result is a model that scales while still feeling relevant. The discussion also digs into partner activation. Strong products aren’t enough. Partners need clear direction, accessible resources, and a reason to engage. Erica highlights the importance of recruiting the right partners from the start, aligning on mutual value, and enabling them based on their actual capability and market focus. We also explore the difference between leading the market and chasing it. Erica argues that companies in the number one position often lose their creative edge, while challengers are forced to innovate. Her advice is clear: even if you’re leading, operate like you’re not. Finally, Erica reflects on the role of relationships in an increasingly data-driven world. AI and intent data can guide decisions, but they don’t replace trust. The channel still runs on human connection, and the teams that recognize that are the ones that win. _________________________ Learn more about Channext 👇 https://channext.com/  Watch on YouTube  ►  https://www.youtube.com/@channext [https://www.youtube.com/@channext]  #channelmarketing [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnersuccess]  #c [https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/partnerjourney]hannelpartners